Prices of goods have risen by 1.8%, according to CSO figures.
Last week, Cian McCormack showed his weekly trolley of groceries jumped 36% in cost, when 2021 and 2025 receipts were compared.
With that in mind, this week he has looked at how everyday medical costs are getting more expensive for people.
It’s clear, just like groceries, everyday medical expenses – like going to the doctor or dentist – are getting more expensive.
Right across the board, there are increases.
My starting point for this experiment was looking back at old GP visit receipts.
In 2018, visiting my doctor cost me €45 and by 2021, it had climbed to €65. Today that fee at my local Dublin-based practice is €70.
While the Irish Medical Organisation does not hold records of GP fees throughout the country, CSO figures show a 14.25% increase in doctor fees when February of 2020 and this year are compared.
In real terms, what this means is that visiting a GP can cost anywhere around €50 to €90 – depending on where you live.
Rural areas are mostly cheaper, whilst urban ones are mostly more expensive – according to Denis McCauley, President of the Irish Medical Organisation.
The Donegal-based GP says increases in fees for doctor visits have not been excessive. Just like other businesses doctors face increased running costs, Mr McCauley told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“Medical fees have increased in general practice. I would argue that that increase has been reasonable and not excessive,” said Dr McCauley.
Commenting on costs for GPs around the country, Dr McCauley said fees were “random”.
He said in rural areas people would “probably find that it would be the cheaper area” for GP fees.
In Dublin, he added “where the costs are much higher” that fee “would be higher”.
The price of visiting a dentist has also gone upwards.
CSO data shows those costs jumped about 20% in the five years from February 2020 compared to last February.
Deep diving a little further, Irish Dental Association figures show a dental examination – if you are not getting one free under PRSI – cost €50 last year, a rise of 10% from 2020 when the average price was €45.87.
Saying that, and looking around dentist websites, that kind of examination is now priced at €55 in many places.
The average price of a small dental X-ray in 2024 was €19.68, according to the association. Today that can be anywhere around €25 to €40, when you look on dental websites.
The dental association figures show the average price for an (amalgamation) silver filling was €109.44 last year. That figure today – when you look at dentist websites – is anywhere around €125 to €140 to €160.
Fintan Hourihan of the Irish Dental Association says the rise in costs reflects the rising cost of business.
“I think it reflects the operating cost that dentists incur. What we’ve seen in the last number of years is that between staff costs, utility costs and general equipment that there’s been a noticeable increase in the charges dentist incur in kitting out and running their dental practice. And that’s reflected in the fees charged to patients,” said Mr Hourihan.
One man I met while getting vox pops said he was avoiding getting work done to his teeth because it is too expensive.
The 29-year-old man from Co Meath, who is saving to build a house, explained getting extractions for overcrowding and other dental work is too expensive and he has considered traveling abroad to get work done in his teeth.
“Last year I was looking at going to Turkey down. Because it’s cheaper,” he explained.
“I have two overgrown teeth … I have a bunch of other things that needs doing. Money is tight at the moment. I am building a house. I won’t get them fixed until my house is done. Money is prioritised elsewhere. I’m saving up for a house … then I can worry about other things,” the man said.
While doctor and dentist fees have increased, not everything is going up in price.
CSO figures show they are down 6.47% when February 2020 is compared with the same month this year.
The decrease is down to how medicine prices are negotiated nationally, according to the Irish Pharmacy Union.
“Other medicines” – over the counter items like vitamins and supplements; pain tablets; cough mixture and those kinds of things were up 14.9% during the same period.
Health Insurance has seen massive increases since 2020.
CSO figures show a 26.73% increase – when February 2020 and 2025 are compared for “insurance connected with health”.
Similarly, Health Insurance Authority’s figures show a 22.96% increase in health insurance.
The authority says that in January 2020 the average price of a policy was €1,415. In January of this year, that average price was €1,740.
Health Insurance Authority CEO Brian Lee said there are “a number of reasons why insurance price increases have occurred over the past number of years”.
“Mostly … medical inflation,” he added and said: “Part of that inflation is the cost of high tech drugs.”
“There are also demographic changes,” he said. “We’re getting older, which means healthcare costs are going up.
“There’s an increase in activity in the private healthcare sector as well,” he said.
The number of people taking out policies in 2024 was up 1.3% last year compared to the previous year. However, this represents a slide in numbers.
2.52 million people had health insurance cover at the end of last year. That included the 1.3% increase. But in 2023 the increase in the number of people taking out health insurance was 1.6%. In 2022 it was 3.4%.
On this Mr Lee told Morning Ireland that while “the number of policies has continued to go up … the percentage increase is certainly slowing down”.
The slowdown he added is “possibly an impact of the price increases”.
However, he also said “the number of people purchasing plans is continuing to go up”.
He said there is not a “significant amount of evidence of that” people are cancelling policies because of price rises.
“The message from the Health Insurance Authority is for people to shop around. There is value out there and people can look at the type of cover that they have and look to see if they can make any savings by: increasing the excess on their account; reducing day-to-day benefits; the level of private hospital and private room cover that they have … and if they have a family on a plan, they could look at putting each member of the family on a different plan … from that people can actually make significant savings,” said Mr Lee.
Suzanne Rogers – Research and Policy Analyst with Social Justice Ireland – says increases in costs areas are having a big impact on middle earners.
“All of our costs are going up. Our wages are not keeping pace … wages just don’t go as far as they used to,” she said.
“If you’re a middle earner … there’s a lot of difficult choices. It is very alarming. People may be forced to cut back on their medical care.
“If cost is going to be a barrier, that’s a real concern.”
That concern is real for one woman I met when I was carrying out a vox pop.
The woman, a mother aged in her 50s, who says she is part of the “squeezed middle” said she often does not go to the GP because it is too expensive and said private health insurance is not an option for either herself or her husband – who are both working.
“I wouldn’t put it [visiting a GP] off for my child, but I would put it off for myself or my husband,” she said.
Asked whether she would have done the some five years ago the answer was: “Probably not.”
