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SOME WOMEN CONTINUE to be charged for their contraception despite a government scheme that promoted it as free for those within a certain age group.
The Free Contraception Scheme was rolled out in September 2022 and was incrementally expanded to include all women between the ages of 17 and 35.
It includes implants, IUDs, and oral contraceptives, such as the pill, as well as all contraception-related appointments.
Zoe Coady is an influencer from Dublin who took to TikTok to share her own experience of almost being charged €70 for getting her bar (contraceptive implant) changed.
“I said, ‘Hi, I’m here for my appointment’. And she just said, ‘Yes, a consultation for the pill. That’ll be €70 please’.
She says the receptionist was the same person she’d booked the appointment with over the phone just two hours prior.
Zoe informed her that the appointment was for the bar, which is free under the scheme.
“She kind of looked at me, made a bit of a huff, and grabbed the form from behind her.”
Zoe said there were “stacks” of forms printed out. She filled in her details and ultimately didn’t have to pay.
She posted a TikTok about it to make others aware of what had happened, concerned that some young women wouldn’t stand up for themselves like she had.
The video now has over 25,000 likes and more than 300 comments, many of which are from women sharing similar experiences.
One commenter said she was almost charged €300 for appointments related to the coil. She said the receptionist was “not impressed” when she informed her that it was free.
Another said the receptionist was “snarky” after she refused to pay for her repeat prescription.
Lara (20) told The Journal that she tried to renew her prescription for the pill over the phone at a GP surgery in Dublin. After the call, the receptionist sent her a payment link. Lara thought it was “a bit strange”.
“I was kind of second guessing myself, saying, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t qualify for the scheme, but I 100% do. I’m only 20 years old and that’s within the age range.”
The link prompted her to pay €25 so she called back the receptionist, who admitted it was a mistake.
Lara told a colleague who goes to the same GP about her experience and the colleague said the same had happened to her.
In a statement, the HSE said that the scheme is provided by GPs “who hold a Free Contraception Contract”.
“GPs who have not signed up to the Scheme may charge patients a private fee for a contraception service.”
Currently, 2,428 out of 2,538 GPs working in Ireland hold a Free Contraception Contract.
Lara’s GP surgery was one of them, which she knows as she previously availed of the scheme there without any problems.
She thinks it’s “an absolute disgrace” that doctors have the option of not signing up to the scheme, adding that this is not how it was advertised to women by the government and the HSE.
“This scheme was shown to us as if it was completely free for everything, and for that to have not been specified especially when these announcements about the free contraception scheme were coming out – that’s a disgrace.
“There are some people who can’t afford that and some people who rely on contraception to keep them well.”
Abi (21) went on the pill earlier this year, but after feeling unwell she returned to the doctor to change her prescription.
“I had every single negative side effect of that pill.” But she says the doctor insisted it was nothing to do with the pill and that she was depressed and should go to counselling.
Abi left the GP but soon received a call saying she hadn’t paid. She says she was told that, because she spoke about “unrelated things” in her appointment, it wasn’t covered under the scheme.
She explained that she would not pay as it was a contraception-related appointment, but she continued to receive automated messages requesting payment.
She eventually blocked the number, went to a different doctor about her symptoms and has since been taken off the pill.
Saoirse (23) told The Journal that she went to get the bar removed at a GP in Galway and the receptionist attempted to charge her €35 for the surgical kit used for the procedure. According to the HSE website, all parts of implantation and removal are now free.
Saoirse said the receptionist argued with her and was “really rude”, so much so that she ended up paying the fee. She no longer attends that GP.
“I don’t really want to be taken advantage of, especially as a young woman.
It happens more to people who are younger and have less of a voice.
She added that it concerns her that some people would have the expectation of a free appointment and perhaps wouldn’t have the funds to cover a significant unexpected expense.
The HSE advised patients who meet the criteria to ask their GP practice if they have a contract before booking an appointment or requesting a prescription.
The HSE website is also updated, as required, to inform the public of any service changes.
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Somebody should start a crowd fund for this poor poor woman, she should know that the public believe she was wronged, deserves redress and support! If it’s done I’ll be donating, I can’t imagine how she feels right now.
Why dont you go ahead and do and post the link back here. I’ll donate
I’ll donate what I can.
I would love to but ashamed to say I’m to much of a coward to take on the responsibility for it however I’m going to ask the author of the piece if they can find out if there’s somewhere we can make donations to support these victims. I couldn’t imagine what this is doing to this poor woman’s generaL health!
Horror story from the dark ages, you’d certainly hope so.
To think that this procedure was banned in France in 1798 … Holy Catholic Ireland should hang its head in shame . The suffering that poor woman went through !!
The way these women are being treated is absolutely disgraceful. is it not bad enough that they were treated so badly at the time and that they have suffered so much since? .
I’ll happily donate to a fund set up for this woman & victims of this barbaric practice in general. It’s bullshit that this was a good option in the 1950s! The same procedure was outlawed in Paris in 1798 as it was deemed barbaric. Yet some religious nut (Dev jnr amongst others) thought this was a great way to ensure a woman wouldn’t need those pesky c sections so she could go on and have loads of babies! In all fairness considering women were left incontinent and could barely walk and were in constant pain why on earth would you ever even consider getting pregnant again! I hope these women get the justice they deserve. They were butchered somebody is accountable!
Outrageous.
It means any incompetent can can claim he/she “had reason to believe that the procedure did not generally have adverse effects”, even if he didn’t have a clue or was motivated by other than medical imperatives.
I hope this is appealed.
I really hope this is appealed.
It’s like saying that when the Brothers and nuns beat the crap out of you years ago ‘it was the times that was in it’
You either have empathy or you have not. Breaking a woman’s pelvis, how could a trained Doctor ever have thought it was ok. ‘ oh that was the times that was in it’
Did those doctors ever go to bed at night and wonder what it would be like to have their pelvic bone broken!
No tears from Enda?
Oh wait, the State defended this case…
Europe I hope.
The new hep c. Wonder what Michael Noonan will have to say.
has the health minister made a statement? or is he too busy speaking on every other ministers remit?
Exactly what I thought when I heard it tonight Anne Marie. I can’t believe this poor woman lost her case. It’s barbaric. So sorry to this brave lady
I wonder how many hours of research the defending side took to ‘prove’ that doctors didn’t know this was barbaric? Surely the fact that it was later proven to be barbaric is enough? Guess they were told to hold flood gates closed until a few more victims have passed on.
This is what happens when you have a compliant passive people , this woman could be any of our mothers or grandmothers , it’s a disgrace, does anyone know how to start a crowd fund for this woman or who she is , we need to get off our arses and get rid of the establishment .
Deliberately break a woman’s pelvis in an operating theatre today and what would happen .
State rules again. That poor woman. The psychological trauma of reliving those events day in day out to a packed court room. How that judge can sleep tonight I don’t know. His hands are not tied. He is a judge. The state already offered every woman €50,000, and that was without a trial. How is it now that the judge can award nothing? Something is amiss.
Money waisted, paying lawyers yet again, while the victim isn’t redressed, enough is enough, we know these procedures shouldn’t have accrued, compensate them, ensured their health going forward , pay top class health insurance for them, and refund any expenses they have receipts for, above all in this cost conscious world stop waiting money on the courts
The judge’s reasoning was that, while it may seem unnecessary and barbaric now, at the time it was standard and accepted procedure given the knowledge available.
Make of that what you will but his hands seemed tied to some extent.
The problem with that reasoning though is that there was an alternative less damaging procedure available that they did know of but refused to use as it would mean limiting the amount of children the women could have which was against the Catholic ethos. I don’t think it took a lot of knowledge to know that a caescarean would do less damage to a woman’s body.
France outlawed the procedure in 1798 I think… that would suggest they were well ahead of us in figuring out what was barbaric. Beyond ridiculous result for this case.
Sarah you say France outlawed the procedure in 1798? This was also stated above in a post. So 217 years ago, before the advent of modern medicine, you are saying this procedure was outlawed by France? I think this highly implausible. How did they perform this procedure in the absence of anaesthesia, no knowledge of germ theory and no antiseptics? Would you lie there while your pelvis was sawed apart. I doubt it. How is this statement true?
Whether you think it’s implausible or not John R it’s true.
http://www.thejournal.ie/symphysiotomy-un-1355549-Mar2014/
Look it up yourself if you still think it’s implausible .
Inexplicable.
I have nothing but sympathy for this poor woman being tormented still because of this barbaric practice.
On a side not – and as a woman of almost this age – those hands in the picture belong to at least a 90 year old
Just like Noonan and the Hepatitis case. I feel very sorry for this poor lady.
If that’s the law then the law is surely an ass. How can it possibly be right for our government to oppose these cases?
Folks there is a survivors assistance fund you can donate here http://symphysiotomyireland.com/funding-appeal-from-survivors-of-symphysiotomy/
What type of monsters thought up and allowed symphysiotomy and why did it take so long to recognise that it existed?
State / Judiciary ????
have your say