HOW LONG MUST I WAIT FOR FREE HIP OP ABROAD?
Q A friend tells me she arranged to have a cataracts operation overseas. I need a hip operation. How long do I need to be on a waiting list to get an overseas operation paid for? Would I have to pay anything towards it? And is there a catch if all this is true? A There is a cross-border directive, giving any EU resident the right to medical treatment in any European Economic Area country and to be treated on the same basis as they would in their home state, provided certain criteria are met. They then receive reimbursement of the cost of the qualifying treatment from their home healthcare system.
It basically means you have the right to get treated in any other member state and the HSE has to pay for it. Almost everything is included, including hip and cataract operations but not organ transplants.
The catch is that the cost must be no more than the procedure would cost in an Irish hospital. That’s not much of a problem, however, as Irish hospital costs are extremely dear. It wouldn’t be hard to find private hospitals in most countries who charge the same or less than us. The other catch is that you have to pay your own travel costs.
And you can’t use a private outpatient appointment to avail of cash-back from the HSE for getting treated abroad; you must be a public patient. Thousands of people are availing of this magic bullet solution to the waiting list crisis in our health service and the HSE can’t complain as it is getting the job done for the same price and removing pressure on the system. You can find a guide to the process on hse.ie/crossborderdirective
The HSE’s national contact point is at the Cross-Border Healthcare Directive Department, HSE, St Canice’s Hospital, Dublin Road, Co. Kilkenny. Tel: 056 778 4546/4547/4556 or email: crossborderdirective@hse.ie
The HSE advises that patients should take out adequate health and travel insurance to cover their trips and inform their insurer of what they are doing. Q I find it very hard to remember passwords for so many different things online. I end up using the same one for most of them. Aren’t there apps that do this automatically. Which are best? Are they safe? And how much do they cost? A I think we’ve all reached the stage where we need help to manage our passwords online for both convenience or security. Otherwise, people will just use the same one for everything, which is a really bad idea. As is using complex ones you can’t remember or a variety of simple ones – such as your birthday or child’s name – that are too easy to crack.
We can never say a password-managing app is completely foolproof. But it’s a lot safer than what most of us currently do, which is usually all of the above.
All it takes is for one site to be hacked or compromised and your whole life can be unlocked by scammers. You need a strong (complex) password for every site and the only way to do that effectively is through a password manager.
Password managers will save you time as well by storing and automatically filling in your data on forms – which is more secure than allowing websites to store your credit card details.
The best ones will help you to gradually eliminate duplicate passwords and will evaluate and improve the rest.
It even doesn’t have to cost anything. The best free password managers are Lastpass 4.0 and LogMeOnce, according to a recent survey by PC Mag.
These are way out in front of the competition in terms of the features offered, which include automatically filling in web forms, even for multiple identities. They also have a digital legacy feature where secure information is passed on to a nominated loved one if you die.
The same two password managers have premium versions that make the top four of PCMag’s best paid-for app options. The other two are Dashlane 4 and Sticky Password Premium.