You have been asked to sort out a healthcare benefit for the team. Full private health insurance quotes have come back expensive and complicated to administer, and you are looking at whether a simpler, telemedicine-only benefit actually works: what it costs, whether it counts as a taxable benefit for your staff, and how much admin it creates for you.
The quick answer: HealthDoc's employee healthcare benefit gives your team same-day GP consultations, prescriptions, certificates and referrals, billed to the company rather than the employee, with no setup fee and no minimum headcount. You choose pay-per-visit or a flat monthly subscription, applications are usually approved within a business day, and you can see who used the benefit and how often, but never what they discussed with a doctor. This is a private, elective healthcare benefit, not an emergency service and not a substitute for in-person care where that is genuinely needed.
What the benefit actually includes
Every employee you add gets access to same-day phone or video GP consultations, digital prescriptions sent to a pharmacy of their choice, medical certificates, and specialist referral letters, the same core service HealthDoc offers individually, just billed to your company instead of the employee's own card. Consultations are with IMC-registered doctors, and every request is reviewed individually. You can check any doctor's registration yourself through the Irish Medical Council's own public register rather than take our word for it. Nothing is guaranteed in advance: a doctor decides what is clinically appropriate, the same as any other HealthDoc booking, company account or not.
This is the same practical value most employees actually reach for a healthcare benefit in the first place, not the parts of full insurance they rarely use. A prescription renewed without a missed half-day at a GP surgery, a sick cert sorted from home before a shift, a referral letter that does not wait on an in-person appointment slot two weeks out. It is a narrower benefit than full private health insurance by design, and that narrowness is exactly why it is simpler to set up and administer.
What it costs: two billing models
HealthDoc offers two ways to pay for the benefit, and which one makes sense depends on how often your team is actually likely to use it.
Pay-per-visit has no flat monthly fee. Employees are charged individually per service, pricing is customisable per service type, and you get a monthly reconciliation rather than a fixed bill. This suits a team that will use the benefit occasionally rather than constantly.
Subscription is a flat monthly fee that covers all eligible visits, giving you predictable per-seat costs regardless of how often any one employee actually books. This suits a team that expects heavier or more regular use.
There is no setup fee and no minimum employee count required, from a single employee up to several thousand. Applying takes under 5 minutes, and approval is typically within one business day. For comparison, HealthDoc's own individual pricing starts at €34.99 per consultation outside any company plan, which is the baseline your company billing replaces.
Is this a taxable benefit for your employees?
This is worth getting right rather than guessing. Here is what is actually established, and what genuinely needs your own confirmation.
The general rule: private health insurance. Employer-paid private health insurance premiums are a Benefit in Kind in Ireland. Per Revenue's own guidance, when an employer pays a medical insurance premium on an employee's behalf, the value of that premium is treated as notional pay, and the employee pays Income Tax, PRSI and USC on it. Separately, employees can claim Medical Insurance Relief (tax relief at source, currently around 20%, capped per adult) on qualifying premiums. That is the general rule most company health plans in Ireland sit under, and it is well established.
A less widely known distinction: retained GP services. What no competitor guide we researched for this article mentions is that Revenue's own guidance, and Grant Thornton Ireland's published analysis of employee-benefits tax treatment, both describe a separate category: where an employer chooses to "employ or pay a retainer to a general practitioner" to provide care to staff, "any benefit received by employees shall not be treated as a taxable BIK", provided the service is generally available to all staff. That is a genuinely different category from paying an insurance premium, and it is the part worth raising with your own advisor.
Why we are not answering this for you. Whether a particular employer-paid telemedicine arrangement, HealthDoc's included, falls into the "retained GP" category or is treated more like insurance depends on exactly how your company's arrangement is structured, and Revenue's published guidance was written with traditional retained-GP arrangements in mind, not telemedicine platforms explicitly (Grant Thornton Ireland's own analysis of employee-benefits tax treatment covers the same distinction, and is worth reading alongside Revenue's page). We are not going to tell you it definitely is or definitely is not a taxable benefit, because that answer depends on your own arrangement, and getting it wrong has real payroll consequences. Confirm your specific structure with Revenue directly or with your accountant before assuming either way. It is a genuinely useful question to raise with them, not a settled fact to repeat.
What you can, and can't, see as the employer
This is the part every HR person asks eventually, and it is worth stating plainly rather than leaving it vague. As the employer, you can see who used the benefit and how often. You cannot see what they discussed with a doctor, their symptoms, or their medical records. Doctors on the platform see a corporate booking only as a neutral indicator, never your company's name attached to clinical content. Employees can withdraw consent for anything fit-to-work-related at any time.
This matters for two reasons. Practically, it means the benefit does the one thing an employer actually needs (confirming the benefit is being used, and roughly how much) without turning into a surveillance tool nobody on the team wants to be signed up for. And it is also simply the honest answer to the question every employee asks before they book: does my boss find out what this was about. With HealthDoc, no.
This is also worth being upfront about internally before you roll the benefit out, not after someone asks. Telling your team plainly, in the same email that introduces the benefit, that usage is visible but content never is, tends to be the difference between a benefit people actually use and one people quietly avoid out of caution about who might see what.
How setup actually works
Apply. Submit your company details and choose a billing preference (pay-per-visit or subscription).
Configure. Set pricing where relevant, and invite employees by email or CSV upload.
Employees consult. Staff accept their invite and book covered appointments whenever they need one, without further admin from you.
Approval is typically within one business day, and there is no waiting period beyond that before employees can start booking.
Who this is, and isn't, for
A telemedicine benefit like this is a genuinely useful, low-admin addition for a team that mostly needs quick access to a GP for everyday things: a prescription, a sick cert, advice on something that does not need a physical exam. It is not a replacement for full private health insurance if your team needs hospital cover, specialist consultant fees paid, or in-patient treatment, none of which this benefit includes. It is also not an emergency service. If any employee has a genuine emergency, the honest answer is 999, 112, or their nearest emergency department, not a booking through this benefit, and nothing about a company account changes that.
Frequently asked questions
Is a healthcare benefit for employees a taxable benefit in Ireland?
Employer-paid health insurance premiums generally are. Whether a specific employer-paid telemedicine arrangement is treated the same way depends on how it is structured for your company. Confirm your own arrangement with Revenue or your accountant rather than assuming either way.
How much does it cost to offer employees an online GP benefit?
HealthDoc has no setup fee. You choose pay-per-visit (charged per service used, reconciled monthly) or a flat monthly subscription covering all eligible visits. Which is cheaper depends on how often your team is likely to use it.
Is there a minimum number of employees to set this up?
No. HealthDoc's company plans run from a single employee up to several thousand, with no minimum headcount required.
Can my employees see a doctor without their employer knowing what for?
Yes. As the employer, you see who used the benefit and how often, never the clinical content of what they discussed with the doctor.
How is this different from private health insurance for staff?
This is a telemedicine-only benefit: GP consultations, prescriptions, certificates and referrals. It does not include hospital cover, specialist consultant fees, or in-patient treatment the way full private health insurance does.
How long does it take to set up?
Applying takes under 5 minutes, and approval is typically within one business day.
Written by the HealthDoc team. This article is general information about HealthDoc's employee healthcare benefit. It is not tax, legal or financial advice; confirm your specific arrangement's tax treatment with Revenue or your own accountant. It does not guarantee eligibility or a particular outcome from any booking. Last reviewed 11 September 2026.
Ready to set this up for your team? Apply for a company account.