VHI criticised over private hospitals ‘average-stay’ charging

THE VHI was severely criticised yesterday for allowing private hospitals to charge patients €6,000-plus for care regardless of whether they were kept in for one day or 12.

One caller to RTÉ’s Liveline was outraged that her father was charged €6,721 for an overnight stay in a semi-private ward in Dublin’s Mater Private last May following a 20-minute operation to clear blocked vessels around his heart.

It was more than half of the total cost of €12,764 which included the purchase of two new drug-coated stents to keep the vessels open longer.