Latest news with #hospitalcharges
BreakingNews.ie
06-07-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Hospitals made nearly €19 million from parking fees last year
Seven hospitals made over €1 million last year from parking charges. Patients, visitors, and staff paid nearly €19 million in parking fees nationally in 2024. Advertisement Cork University Hospital had the highest bill at €2.3 million. The figures were released to Labour TD Mark Wall, who is calling on the Health Minister to ban such charges for patients and staff. Speaking on Newstalk, Wall said: "Well the government have to foot the bill, like I don't think anybody would be against reasonable hospital charges, you know, for the care of the car park, the upkeep of the car park. "I don't think anybody would be against that. But €2.3 million would cover an awful lot of car parks over the period of a year. "It's really about the cost of being sick, and it's unacceptable that hospitals are raking in €19 million when people are at their lowest ebb."
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Black Country hospital car parking charges to increase
Car parking charges are to increase for visitors and patients at two Black Country NHS rise came into force on Tuesday at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton and Cannock Chase Hospital. From Monday 21 July, it will come into effect at Walsall Manor additional money raised will be put back into the trusts running the sites - Royal Wolverhampton and Walsall applied increases range from 20p to £1 depending on the length of the stay, although existing concessionary arrangements will continue, according to bosses. A stay of one, two, three and four hours will now cost £3.50, £4.50, £5 and £6 respectively - a hike, in each instance, of 20p. Stays of between four and five hours will cost £6.30, and stays of between five and seven hours will cost £7 - a respective increase of 50p and £1 compared to previous rates for those stays.A new tariff of £10 has been introduced for stays of between eight and 24 continue to be waived for anyone using the car parks for 15 minutes or fewer. Disabled parking will remain free of charge and concessionary passes are still being made available for patients undergoing regular treatment such as chemotherapy, or for parents of babies in the neonatal NHS trusts said number plate recognition systems were being used across both trusts, adding the last increase to charges was more than a year ago. Gwen Nuttall, managing director at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "We appreciate any increase is going to affect people using our services and we have avoided doing this for as long as possible."But we do have to introduce these slight increases in line with other costs that are rising that the Trust has to meet."Ms Nuttall also said the trust was improving its car parks by looking at how to offer payment by app."Our teams also offer many more phone and video consultations, where appropriate, so fewer patients are having to travel and incur charges," she said."This is also having an effect on our clinics, meaning those for whom a face to face appointment is necessary are having shorter waits and report a more efficient service." Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
CNA
27-06-2025
- Health
- CNA
Deep Dive Podcast: Great Eastern suspends Mount Elizabeth pre-authorisation - time to relook how health insurance is managed?
When insurer Great Eastern suspended pre-authorisation for admission to Mount Elizabeth hospitals, it raised questions about the way health insurance is managed in Singapore. With increased medical bills and insurance premiums, who is paying for what and where are the gaps? Steven Chia and Otelli Edwards speak with Associate Professor Jeremy Lim of Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Dr Yoong Siew Lee, a health services consultant. Here is an excerpt from the conversation: Otelli Edwards, host: Why are hospitals charging differently for the same treatment? Dr Yoong Siew Lee, a health services consultant: Different hospitals have different charges and Great Eastern will have access to the data on those charges, so the detailed bills actually show the differences. So you have surgeon fees that can be standardised with fee benchmarks. But you also have occupational therapy facility fees, you have bed charges, which vary between the hospitals. Otelli: Like a five-star bed versus a three-star bed? Dr Yoong: Versus a six-star. So the facilities are all different and that attracts different price points. Some insurers have actually dealt with that by tiering the insurance. So if you choose a certain tier of insurance, you can go to all the hospitals. Or if you choose a sub-tier, you can go to some of the hospitals and you pay a lower premium. If they pool all the hospitals, then naturally the premium will go up if everybody chooses the most expensive hospitals. Steven Chia, host: But right now we don't (pool all the hospitals), right? If you choose to adopt the private one, will you have access to all the private hospitals? Dr Yoong: No, not all insurers are like that. Insurers have different schemes for customers with different pockets. Otelli: What's the difference between choosing public versus private (hospitals)? Because in public, you can choose the class A ward or the premium as well, right? So what would you say is the main difference there? Associate Professor Jeremy Lim, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health: Generally, the insurers don't impose a pre-authorisation on public hospitals and this includes the private wards of public hospitals, because there's a high degree of predictability in the public hospitals. Doctors' fees are pretty much set, the hospital charges for room and other services are very, very predictable and they're well within the range of what the insurers are prepared to pay. So policyholders who go to a public hospital generally find the experience pretty fuss-free, because there is a high degree of conviction amongst the insurers that the fees are going to be reasonable. Steven: Versus the private hospitals, which, you seem to be suggesting – are a bit more volatile? Assoc Prof Lim: There is much more variability (in private hospitals) because the doctors price differently, as Dr Yoong mentioned, has been attenuated by the fee benchmarks and by the negotiations that the insurers have had with the doctors.
