A lot of people in the North think the Irish health system is like the US's because it's not fully free like the NHS. I used to think the same before I lived here. To see a GP it costs between €50 to €70. If you have a medical card, it's free. Medical cards are given to people who earn under a certain income or on the dole, disability etc. About a third of the population have a medical card. Medical cards get you free everything medical wise. If you don't fall under the medical card bracket but are just a bit above it you can apply for a GP visit card, 10% of the population have that. So a bit under half the population don't pay for the doctor, the rest do. I don't qualify for either and it really pisses me off paying for the doctor when I've been accustomed to getting it for free in the North. In the south you pay for prescriptions (apart from medical card holders), to a max of €120 a month per family. An A&E visit is €100 but free if a GP referred you. A hospital stay is €80 a night to a max of €800 per year. So if you were in the hospital for the full year, your bill would be €800. The Irish government have plans to introduce a scheme called Slainte care which is pretty much the exact same as the NHS, free at the point of use. It's taking longer to implement than they had planned though.