How do Irish immigrants enjoy free medical care at public expense?

In China, even minor illnesses such as colds and fevers have to go to the hospital for consultation, which leads to overcrowding. Coupled with the difficulty of registration, long queues and short consultation time, people are complaining. Compared with China, both Ireland and Britain adopt the basic medical service mode of family general practitioner (GP), while hospitals deal with some more complicated and serious incurable diseases. The Irish Medical Services Authority (HSE) is mainly responsible for providing medical services to residents living or studying in Ireland. Everyone has the right to enjoy this kind of medical service, but only those with medical cards can enjoy public medical care free of charge.

In Ireland, everyone should have their own family general practitioner, and residents must strictly follow medical procedures. Unless it is an emergency or other special circumstances, the patient must first go to his family general practitioner's clinic for medical treatment. Before seeing a doctor, patients should make an appointment by phone in advance. The cost of each diagnosis by public family general practitioners is 50 to 60 euros, which does not include the cost of drugs and treatment.

According to Xue Chen, a pharmacist who has lived in Ireland for many years, is the family general practitioner the representative of basic medical care? . Except for some emergencies, most patients will go to the family general practitioner for primary diagnosis first. If the condition requires, the family general practitioner will write to refer the patient to an expert doctor or hospital for higher-level diagnosis and treatment. ? If you just want to continue taking prescription drugs for a long time, some doctors may only charge about 30 euros, because this does not require diagnosis time. If you need to go to another clinic or go to the hospital to see a specialist, there will be an extra charge. ?

Family general practitioners are only open to residents who have lived in Ireland for more than one year. In contrast, medical insurance targets a wider range of groups and is more efficient. In addition to ordinary residents, tourists, visitors and international students can buy it, so the cost is naturally higher. Different insurance companies provide different levels of hospital insurance. Xue Chen said? Expensive medical insurance covers the expenses of all private hospitals and high-tech hospitals, while relatively cheap medical insurance can cover the expenses of all public hospitals and some private hospitals and high-tech hospitals. ?

? Some companies will buy medical insurance for their employees, but the estimate that Irish people consciously buy private medical insurance for themselves is only 10%. An ordinary Irishman's monthly income is usually more than 2000 euros, and they often choose medical insurance below 100 euros. And a friend of mine, because of his high income, bought the most expensive family medical insurance in Ireland for a family of three, paying 1280 euros a month. ? Ms. Wu, an Irish Chinese registered nurse, said.

Private family general practitioners pay a certain fee to the medical company every month, so they don't have to pay any consulting fees when they go to the designated family general practitioners. ? This is a private family general practitioner program newly launched by a medical company three years ago. The consultation fee of public family general practitioners starts from 50 euros, while the consultation fee of private family general practitioners is fixed at 15 euros per month, so there is no need to make an appointment with family general practitioners after illness. At present, I use a private family general practitioner. At that time, the company had a preferential price, and I paid 1 0,000 euros to see any private GP clinic under the company for free for life. ? Ms. Wu seems to be satisfied with the new scheme of private family general practitioners.

At present, more and more Irish people choose private family general practitioners, which is more efficient than public family general practitioners. ? Private family general practitioners can see a doctor when all the appointments of public family general practitioners are full. I remember when I first came to Ireland, I once caught a bad cold and went to see a public family general practitioner. The front desk said that the appointment was full that day, and I'll make an appointment in two days. But I couldn't afford to delay my illness, so I went to a public family general practitioner in other places and finally got sick. It took another five days to know the result, and finally the doctor just prescribed some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. ? 1999 When she first arrived in Ireland, Ms. Wu didn't know that drug control in Ireland was so strict.

Things are always good and bad, and because of this, Irish people don't have to worry about hospitals prescribing a lot of expensive drugs for the benefit. ? According to the condition, if the drug is expensive, the patient can apply for a drug payment plan. After approval, a family only needs to spend a maximum of 144 euros per month on prescription drugs, and the excess will be borne by the Irish government. Everyone has the right to apply for this plan, with no age or income limit. In addition, some patients with designated chronic diseases (including diabetes and multiple sclerosis) can apply for long-term $ TERM disease records. After application, medical care and prescription drugs related to this disease will be free. ? Xue Chen said.

For patients who need hospitalization or long-term medication, in addition to applying for drug subsidies, the hospitalization fee in public hospitals is 75 euros per day, with a weekly limit of 175 euros, and the hospitalization fee for one year is only 750 euros. For low-income groups or elderly people over 70 years old, the Irish government gives them a medical card, which means they can enjoy free public medical care in Ireland. The most important thing to apply for a medical card is the proportion of income and expenditure. Your family's after-tax income should be lower than a figure set by the Irish government. They will also consider your expenses during the audit, such as how many children you need to raise, housing loans or rent. Some families with slightly higher income but high medical expenses can also apply for medical cards. For example, your illness requires frequent hospitalization. In addition, the Irish government will issue GP access cards according to the applicant's conditions. Different from the medical card, you only need to pay the medicine fee to hold the GP access card.

Of course, there are still people in Ireland who think that their medical expenses are expensive. ? Especially during the economic crisis a few years ago, the income and social welfare of most Irish people declined, but the medical expenses did not decrease. Many people who have a cold and fever choose to go to a pharmacy to consult a pharmacist and buy some drugs that don't need a prescription, instead of going directly to the GP clinic. ? Xue Chen said. ? Drugs in Ireland are also much more expensive than those in other European countries. Many locals choose to drive to Britain or Spain or Portugal to buy drugs for half a year at a time. Sometimes it can be more than half cheaper than here. ?

However, in an interview, Ms. Wu believes that although Ireland can't achieve free medical care for all at present, its medical concept is very good. ? The 85-year-old man needs a femoral transplant, and the hospital's medical expenses are 60,000 euros. We won't give up treatment just because the elderly are old. When we are on-the-job training, medical workers are required to treat patients as if they were themselves. Therefore, patients here have full trust in doctors, and doctors are particularly responsible, with special emphasis on people-oriented. In China, the notice of operation is still signed by the family to decide whether to operate on you. In Europe, if you are insane, it is your doctor who makes the final decision for you, not your family. Postoperative care is also the responsibility of the hospital, not your family. Our doctors and nurses need constant training, and they will have fixed time to study every week, such as meeting and discussing or having institutional personnel to explain new technologies. When I first came to Ireland, I thought about going back to China when I was old. After all, fallen leaves come back to their roots. Now my mind has changed. The medical conditions and system in Ireland are so good. Why should I leave?