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Half of Irish households grossly underestimate their routine medical spend

Tuesday 28th June 2011

Half of Irish households are underestimating their spend on routine medical expenses, such as visits to the GP, dentist, prescriptions, consultations and treatments, by 27%. Families with young children are miscalculating by almost a half (45%). Less than 20% of Irish households are budgeting for these costs.

These are some of the findings of a new study* which investigated the expected versus actual spend on routine medical expenses amongst households in Ireland over the three-month period from February to April 2011.

The study, conducted by Amárach Research on behalf of HSF Health Plan, tracked the spend on routine medical expenses of four main household types - families with young children under 12yrs, families with children over 12yrs, single males in their 30s and single females in their 20s – as well as examining their attitudes and behaviour.

The research also revealed that everyday healthcare bills have increased for more than 60% households with children over the last 12 months and that there is widespread consensus in the belief that medical costs are consistently rising. Meanwhile income has decreased for the vast majority (88%) of households. As a result, 67% of households are finding it much harder to budget for medical expenses, with younger families finding it most difficult (82%).

Commenting on the study, Roy Smith, HSF Health Plan said: “There has clearly been a huge shift in the balance of money coming into Irish households over the past year and coupled with rising medical costs, families have a real concern about meeting their everyday medical bills.”

When the study commenced at the end of January 2011, the majority (52%) of households had never budgeted for medical costs. However, after going through the process there has been a dramatic turnaround in these households’ perceptions of the need for budgeting, with the vast majority (84%) saying that they will now budget.

Smith adds: “The experience of the participants in this research shows that all types of households will inevitably incur everyday medical bills, whether it’s a planned or unexpected visit to the GP, dentist or specialist but that typically, we underestimate what we will need to spend. The lesson for households is to take a proactive approach to managing these costs so that they can be afforded and the worry or the decision not to make the visit can be avoided.”

Other key findings in the HSF Study include:

GP visits/prescriptions:

• 40% of Irish households underestimated their average spend on GP visits by 31% over the three-month period. For most households, routine visits to the GP were to fill a prescription or check ups while unexpected visits were caused primarily by respiratory tract infections, common colds and stomach upsets.

• Young families spent considerably more with their GP than expected with half (51%) underestimating their spend by 49%. Young families also showed the highest incidence of unexpected visits to the GP (7 in 10 visits).

• Spend on prescriptions was underestimated by 40% of Irish households by a margin of 20%. Young families underestimated their spend on prescriptions the most by 43%.

Dental:

• Changes to the PRSI Dental scheme that came into effect in January 2011 limiting cover to one annual check-up have had a significant impact on Irish households. 70% of households are concerned about meeting their household’s dental costs and 58% said that they will visit the dentist less often as a result.

• Families typically underestimated their expenditure with the dentist – older families by a margin of 31% and younger families by 67%. Unexpected visits were driven primarily by fillings with 2 in 3 visits for this purpose, followed by root canal and abscess.

Consultation and treatment from practitioners:

• In relation to costs for consultation and treatment from practitioners, single males were the most likely to underestimate their spend by 47%, followed by young families (36%). Visits to the physiotherapist topped the list, followed by chiropractor and chiropodist.

Smith said: “The results from this study examining expected versus actual spend on everyday medical expenses proves that the majority of Irish households are not effectively managing these costs. The concern is that family health will suffer as households defer this spend in these hard economic times. The key message for Irish households, young and old, is to expect the unexpected and plan ahead.”

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