The costs of private maternity care to health insurer VHI rose by more than 60 per cent over five years, according to new figures released yesterday.
The combined cost of all claims for private maternity care amounted to the highest payouts for any treatment in the financial year 2004/2005, according to VHI Healthcare, the largest health insurance provider in Ireland
Just under €30 million was paid out in private health insurance claims for maternity care by VHI Healthcare in the financial year 2004/2005 as compared to some €19 million in the financial year 1999/2000.
Curiously, the number of maternity claims to VHI Healthcare decreased in the same period from 16, 248 in 1999/2000 to 14,834 in 2004/2005. This decrease in the volume of claims from maternity services occurred in spite of an increase in the number of births. There were approximately 7,000 more births in Ireland in 2004 than in 2000.
Director of Midwifery and Nursing at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin Mary Boyd said that there has been no significant change in the percentage of women opting for private or semi-private maternity care in the previous five years.
"There has been no significant increase in the number of women choosing private or semi-private care even with the more recent addition of other health insurers," she said.
Chemotherapy treatment came in as the second most expensive treatment in terms of VHI payouts in 2004/2005 at almost €18 million. The cost increase here at 240 per cent was due in part to the use of more advanced and more expensive cancer drugs.
The cost of covering cancer drugs increased by 70 per cent in the last year, according to a VHI spokeswoman. However, there was also a doubling of the number of claims for chemotherapy drugs in the five-year period.
Hip replacements were the third most expensive treatment, costing just under the chemotherapy treatment costs at €17, 824,727. The introduction of a new expensive treatment called hip resurfacing in 2004 was deemed to the reason for the large cost base in this treatment. The number of claims increased from approximately 1,600 to 2,200.
Speaking about the increased volume of claims generally, a VHI spokeswoman said there are a number of factors involved.
"These include an ageing, more affluent population, greater access to information about health, new treatments and preventative actions in health."
According to VHI Healthcare, the top five most expensive treatments in private hospitals in the 2004/2005 were heart bypass, knee replacement, hip resurfacing, angiplasty and hip replacement.
