Quinn Healthcare Removes Psychiatric Hospital

Last month private medical insurance company, Quinn Healthcare removed health cover for St Patrick's Hospital, a not-for-profits private psychiatric facility. St Patrick's is the largest psychiatric hospital in Ireland with over 300 beds and a reputation for excellence in the treatment of eating disorders and depression as well as alcohol and substance abuse.

Reportedly Quinn have not contacted all their 400,000 customers but have informed current and past patients of St Patrick's of their situation:

'We have been in negotiations with St Patrick’s since June 2008 and ideally we would not be in this position.

'However, we have been unable to resolve contractual issues and agree reasonable reimbursement rates. Quinn Healthcare covers a range of alternative facilities which have similar programmes of similar length.'

VHI, Quinn's state owned competitor, said that it would take Quinn customers and would not make them wait the customary two year period before they could make a claim. They said, 'It’s unthinkable to leave vulnerable people in a situation where they’ve effectively no cover for a centre such as St Patrick’s for at least two years.'

According to VHI, the average stay in St Patrick’s over 30 days long and claims average between €15,000-€20,000.

Psychiatric health insurance cover can be expensive and many medical insurance policies do not cover it as standard. If offered psychiatry will usually only be available in the more expensive policies. Alternatively many companies offer psychiatric cover as an add-on package.

Many conditions that are treated in psychiatric hospitals are not actually covered by health insurance companies. Sometimes this is because they are part of the exclusions within the health cover policy. For example all conditions triggered by alcohol and substance abuse are not covered. Also, anything which is long-term, for example, some types of depression, are not covered. Health insurance covers acute illness (short term) only.