Retire In The Philippines Without Good Medical Cover At Your Peril

[tiger31]

one thing you must make sure of before retireing here in the philippines is make sure you are covered by a good medical insurance ..policy ,not all insurence policies are recognised by philippine hospitals .I have double hip replacements and cannot get cover as i have an existing condition which is one of the main reasons that i can,t retire here as i can,t afford the medical side of things .most hospitals here want cash up front before admitting you now if your unconsious now there is a dilema lol.so always make sure your g f or wife can access your bank account in case it ever happens to you .thats if you ever make it to the hospital alive because the quality of ambulances have to be seen to be believed .the ones i have seen are nothing more than toyota hi aces with the seats ripped out with no or very little life saving equiptment on board .not many philippinos have heard of sat navs which brings another problem of them trying to find where you live lol.sorry to be so negative but that is the reality of things here its not always a paradise but a paradise with risks if you know what i mean.its very common here for the hospital to ask for blood donations if you are being operated on if you have a rare blood group you better pray .

[Jake]

one thing you must make sure of before retireing here in the philippines is make sure you are covered by a good medical insurance ..policy ,not all insurence policies are recognised by philippine hospitals .I have double hip replacements and cannot get cover as i have an existing condition which is one of the main reasons that i can,t retire here as i can,t afford the medical side of things .most hospitals here want cash up front before admitting you now if your unconsious now there is a dilema lol.so always make sure your g f or wife can access your bank account in case it ever happens to you .thats if you ever make it to the hospital alive because the quality of ambulances have to be seen to be believed .the ones i have seen are nothing more than toyota hi aces with the seats ripped out with no or very little life saving equiptment on board .not many philippinos have heard of sat navs which brings another problem of them trying to find where you live lol.sorry to be so negative but that is the reality of things here its not always a paradise but a paradise with risks if you know what i mean.its very common here for the hospital to ask for blood donations if you are being operated on if you have a rare blood group you better pray .

Excellent advice Tiger! I was nodding my head in agreement as I read through your boots on the ground report.

Seems like very little improvement as far as ambulance service over the last couple decades. Some of the med

equipment are either not working, stolen or sold. Instead many white Hi Aces vans with the red cross are used as

private passenger services. Regarding GPS navigation or a simple road map of a particular region is simply not

readily available among the Filipino motorist. Besides, just about every region's physical geography can change

drastically. Original street address with real families can either be buried or moved a couple KM downstream.

I think your advice about a close companion having limited access to bank accounts and emergency contact

information, is a bulls eye head shot!

Well done my friend -- Jake

[wombatphil]

Mate, I've been looking all over inmy computer for what I copied and pasted about a week or so ago... What it was was the copy of the Republic Act, describing how a hospital MUST take you in, in an emergency AND give you all the appropriate treatment, wether or not one can pay any money or not, at the door so to speak... It is huge penalties and jail time from memory, for hospital staff and admimistrators, to deny medical treatment in an emergency...

[Old55]

Very good heads up Tiger.

My wife said hospitals will admit an indigent patient who will share a bed with one or more other patients or a spot on the floor and provide minimal treatment until the patient departs (one way or the other).

Edited August 27, 2012 by Old55

[JJReyes]

I have hotels make a blank imprint of my credit card as a guarantee that I will pay the bill upon check out. The payment is made later in cash and the blank imprint is destroyed in my presence at the cashier's desk. (Credit companies have a lousy foreign exchange rate and many now charge an additonal 3% service fee for foreign exchange transactions.)

Perhaps the hospital would agree to something similar. Since you more likely have established a relationship with a medical doctor, ask him which hospital he is accredited. Visit the hospital's accounting department and establish a relationship. Show them a copy of your monthly pension amount or bank statement. This is to demonstrate that you are capable of paying the hospital bills in the event of an emergency. What the hospitals want is assurance of funds to pay. This is the reason why they demand a cash deposit before admission. The private hospitals in the Philippines that go bankrupt is usually because of the substantial amount of receivables.

[sjp52]

Mate, I've been looking all over inmy computer for what I copied and pasted about a week or so ago... What it was was the copy of the Republic Act, describing how a hospital MUST take you in, in an emergency AND give you all the appropriate treatment, wether or not one can pay any money or not, at the door so to speak... It is huge penalties and jail time from memory, for hospital staff and admimistrators, to deny medical treatment in an emergency...

Hey Phil, Try and find that. It could be handy to have a print out of that to show the hospital

[Steve & Myrlita]

Mate, I've been looking all over inmy computer for what I copied and pasted about a week or so ago... What it was was the copy of the Republic Act, describing how a hospital MUST take you in, in an emergency AND give you all the appropriate treatment, wether or not one can pay any money or not, at the door so to speak... It is huge penalties and jail time from memory, for hospital staff and admimistrators, to deny medical treatment in an emergency...

I think it might be RA9439. Just a guess.....

[MikeB]

R.A. 9439 is the so-called illegal detention act prohibiting a hospital from not allowing you to leave w/o payment if you are in a non-private room.

There are government (public) and private hospitals, perhaps this other law pertains to the former? You don't want to be in a public hospital with a critical medical emergency. The only sure way to assure you will be treated and admitted to a private hospital in an emergency is to have cash or a credit card with adequate balance. Having an insurance card helps but they will often require a cash deposit even with insurance. Otherwise you go to a public hospital. Medical insurance is much cheaper here then the US, there's no excuse not to have it. There are many options and a lot of threads on this subject.

Edited August 27, 2012 by MikeB

[Okieboy]

Get Phil Health that will get you in the hospital, here the cost of most procedures are less than the cost of insurance if your over 65, if your on Medicare fly to Guam, i have more friends die in good hospitals than at home ,the death rate dropped 46% when the doctors went on strike in California a few years back, if your sickley by all means stay at home ,maybe move next to the best hospital, i do not fear death it is a part of life.

[nor cal mike]

if your over 65, if your on Medicare fly to Guam

Can you please elaborate on the Guam medicare comment for those of us who might see this as an option.