Everyone, regardless of nationality, who is accepted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) as being ordinarily resident in Ireland is entitled to free maintenance and treatment in public beds in Health Service Executive (HSE) hospitals and voluntary hospitals. Certain visitors to Ireland are also eligible. Some people may have to pay some hospital charges. Holders of medical cards and certain other groups do not have to pay charges.
The HSE has the discretion to reduce or waive the charges entirely in cases of hardship.
There are daily in-patient charges and some long-term stay charges.
If you go to the accident and emergency or casualty department of a public hospital without being referred there by your family doctor (GP), you may be charged €100 (since 1 January 2009).
There is no charge if you are referred by a GP.
The charge of €100 also does not apply to the following groups:
If you have to return for further visits to an out-patient clinic in relation to the same illness or accident, you should not have to pay the charge again.
You can be referred by your family doctor to the out-patients department of a public hospital for specialist assessment by a consultant or his or her team or for diagnostic assessments (i.e., x-rays, laboratory tests, physiotherapy, etc.). If you attend this service as a public patient, you will not have to pay for this service. If you wish to attend a consultant in a private capacity, you must pay their fee.
If you are in a public ward under the care of a consultant for treatment and you remain overnight, you are receiving in-patient services.
If you are admitted to the hospital under the care of a consultant where you do not require the use of a bed overnight and your discharge from hospital is planned, you are receiving day services.
The charge for in-patient/day services is €75 per day up to a maximum of €750 in a any 12 consecutive months. The charge does not apply to the following groups:
If you are in a private bed in a public or voluntary hospital, you must pay for your maintenance at a rate set from time to time. The following charges are in addition to the public hospital in-patient charges, as above.
Rates from January 2012 are:
| Hospital Category | Private | Semi-private | Day-care |
| HSE Regional Hospitals and Voluntary and Joint Board Teaching Hospitals | €1,046 | €933 | €753 |
| HSE County Hospitals and Voluntary Non-teaching Hospitals | €819 | €730 | €586 |
| HSE District Hospitals | €260 | €222 | €193 |
If you are a private patient, you must pay for the services of the consultant who is treating you. You must also pay for the services of any other consultant who is involved in caring for you (i.e., the radiation oncologist, anaesthetist, etc.)
You have the same entitlement to public health services for mental illness as for any other illness. You must pay for maintenance and treatment in private psychiatric hospitals. Health insurance companies sometimes treat psychiatric hospital costs differently from general hospital costs. The same rules apply to long-term institutional care for psychiatric patients as to long-term institutional care for other patients.
Mental health in-patient and out-patient services are provided free of charge to children aged under 16 years who are suffering from mental illness.
The HSE may impose hospital charges on long-stay or extended care patients, separately from the normal in-patient charges. If you have been an in-patient for more than 30 days within the previous 12 months, you will be liable for these charges. This applies to everyone, including medical card holders.
The Health (Charges for In-Patient Services) Regulations 2005 provide for different charging arrangements, depending on the level of nursing care being provided.
From January 2012, the maximum charge for anyone in public long-stay care is €153.25 per week. In addition, those in public long-stay care are divided into two groups;
If you are in hospital for more than 30 days and a doctor certifies that you do not need medically acute care and treatment you may be charged as if you were receiving long-term residential care services.