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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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You also have to have a lot of free space available …. About 4gb I think , that means you can’t have to many apps or pictures on your phone .. Pain in the ass having to delete them all
Plug your phone into iTunes and you won’t need to.
That’s if you install it over without iTunes (over WiFi), just install it with iTunes and you don’t have to worry about space.
Cheers
I’d say this is holding a lot of people back in fairness
Ios8.2 still has a few bugs. I’d hold off updating for a while yet
iMessage and E-mail banner notifications like to ‘hang’ ontop of the screen after the timeout delay, it’s a little annoying.
I’m still having wifi connection issues. I’m regretting updating
Facebook keeps crashing for me since even after deleting the app and reinstalling.
That’s actually doing you a favour Conor!
@Conor Both Facebook and Apple are to blame for that. iOS 8 has removed a lot of functionality and replaced it with improved implementations. A lot of the time this results in the code trying to execute something that no longer exists and that causes the crash.
Facebook and all other app developers had advanced beta versions of iOS 8 well in advance of the official launch, so they should have ironed out all of those kinks in good time. But for things like notifications, which have undergone a big rejig, Apple defaults to crashing if they’re not done the modern way, which they didn’t need to do, it was a design choice. I’d say the majority of the apps that are crashing because of iOS 8 are doing so because notifications weren’t updated or tested fully.
On 8.0 I found my keyboards kept forgetting that I had made swift key my default, 8.02 fixed that.
I’m getting far more force closures now – even with the settings app, I used to get them with this party apps and figured that was the developers fault, but now it happens with the in built apps too.
Apparently the most important reason to update is the security updates, it fixed some of the vulnerability issues if you’re using a public WiFi network, which is kinda crucial.
I just realised I’m still on iOS 6
ios 5 here.
Probably wait till all bugs are caught, got stung in the past updating too soon, last time round battery life was shocking due to a wifi issue … Guessing most are thinking the same?
Updated the ipad to 8 and the wifi connectivity is crap. download speeds have dropped siginificantly and the connection keeps dropping/reconnecting every few seconds. Avoid until they patch this.
Updated at the weekend ios 8 is brilliant I would recommend every apple customer who can to update.
I bet you microwaved it to charge it aswell…
Frank is if safe to assume you don’t own an iPhone? Buy one you won’t regret it you’ll never consider any other Apple rip off again.
You had me at hello…
I’d an awful time updating mine, took all day (& half the night) to do. Some error occurred at the end & my phone was stuck on recovery mode … Took about 20 attempts to restore it … Nightmare. Now I’m just like ‘meh’ all that effort for what?!
Kind of a pointless statistic given that it included devices that can not be upgraded to ios8
The differences between 7 & 8 aren’t all that major, on the surface at least. The reason for the large adoption of iOS 7 when it came out was because it was such a radical departure from iOS 6 and everyone rushed to download it.
A better comparison would between the adoption rates going from iOS 5 to 6.
Ah but ios 7 made your phone waterproof so people rushed to download it.
Is a requirement by law to update it or something?
Many like myself will not be updating till ios 8 is jailbroken.
Update completed just as 8.2 arrived glad to report no problem delighted with new look and extras
Updated mine & phone started Over heating. Apple replaced it after 3 weeks of crap & this one keeps crashing out. #neverbuyinganotherappleiphone
Since I updated I’ve had niggly little problems,Apple can piss off,after four years of iPhones I’m getting an android device,a change is as good as a rest and all that,can’t be arsed with all the “syncing” anytime you want to do anything,o can’t wait to just load up an SD card and away I go….
Shame Apple feel the need to compel all their customers to either pay for extra GB’s (32gb or 64gb), or extra I-Cloud GB! IOS8 is a complete waste of time, & GB, absolutely rubbish!
This is unreal.. They only made about 8 phones.. same manufacturer for each one.. same closed system.. youd think they can test them all properly for bugs.. how is it you don’t see these bugs in the same scale with android releases?
I can’t down load it that’s y I have everything off my phone and still can’t get enough space and now my phone is slow has fxxk over it it’s a joke what u have to keep doing to the phones
Why can’t they upgrade without the consequence of killing the battery?
Phone has become slow.
Apple support told me
Settings -general-reset -reset all settings -
It has made it a bit faster
But you loose all your settings etc and by the time you put them back I would imagine it grinds to a halt again
“Hello Hello, my iphones gone really slow, it’s everything I wish I didn’t know…”
Still having problems with reception for phone calls won’t be up dating to anything else in a hurry.
have your say