Survivor’s story: how private health insurance saved my life

Cancer survivor Gerard Ingoldsby is a lucky man, not just because he has overcome the disease but also because he got the right tests at the right time that allowed for its detection.

“My private health insurance saved my life,” says the resident of Ballincollig, Co Cork. “If I had had to wait for a colonoscopy on the public list my cancer would have spread to stage four.

“That would mean a completely different treatment plan, and a hugely reduced prospect of coming out the gap.”

Ingoldsby’s case highlights the fork in the road faced by so many patients worried about unexplained symptoms: the choice between languishing on the public list for diagnostic tests for an indeterminate period or paying privately, through health insurance or hard cash, for immediate testing.

Failings

Though conscious of feeling unwell in the time before his diagnosis, Ingoldsby had undergone a first colonoscopy two years earlier. That meant he was unlikely to be considered a priority for the public waiting list.

At the time of his illness, back in the mid-noughties, a public patient in Kilkenny, Susie Long, was enduring a long wait for testing that would lead to the late detection of her cancer.

Long would die from the disease but not before her case had become a cause célèbre that highlighted the failings in the system and the huge disparities between public and private treatment.

While too many men can be passive about their health, Ingoldsby brought his concerns back to his GP and got a colonoscopy in the private system within weeks. It showed a large polyp in his lower colon. He was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of 62 per cent. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery followed and he has made a complete physical recovery.

The psychological impact of the disease proved more enduring and although he returned to work as an electronic engineer, he found it too intense and tiring.

Invasive treatment

“Cancer turns your life upside down. After six months, it was going to be my wealth or my health, and I chose my health.”

If he had waited to be tested on the public list his cancer would have advanced to stage four, which has a survival rate of 10 per cent and involves more invasive treatment.

Although a decade has elapsed since he was unwell, Ingoldsby believes little has changed. “I’m a lucky man. If I had been forced to wait for a public test, I wouldn’t be here today.”