Retire In The Philippines Without Good Medical Cover At Your Peril

[MikeeW]

Regarding the cost of meds.....a lot depends upon exactly which meds you are taking. For example, some maintenance meds for cholesterol, high blood pressure and such have discounts offered thru the prescribing physician. Unfortunately, these are irregular as some of the discounts are only good for a while and then stop. Sorry I can't be more specific, but just wanted to advise you.

Mercury drugs has a website with a customer service contact email address you can use. They will respond to queries regarding the cost of typical meds. Be aware, I've used this in the past and got misleading info, so it may require more than one attempt.

There are plenty of generics available if you can use those. Much cheaper, even have pharmacies that specialize in them.

[i am bob]

There is nothing wrong with generic drugs. My insurance prefers them as well here in Canada.

[JJReyes]

(4) Fil-Am groups in the US are lobbying to allow all Medicare recipients to receive treatment in the Phils.

The Fil-Ams are pressuring both parties as in, "Hey, you want our votes in November, this is what we want. One of the demands, excuse me, one of the requests is portability of Medicare.

I take 4 medications daily and for the rest of my life supposedly. I have been trying to find out what the cost of medications are in the Philippines without much success. Some people say they are lower while others say they are higher.

The brand name for the medications in the United States and Canada maybe different in the Philippines. You also need to find out the generic equivalent from either your doctor or pharmacy. Someone in the Philippines needs to do the research to determine if the medication is available in what brand name or generic equivalent. During my last visit, my Philippine dentist prescribed antibiotics. He wrote both the brand name and generic on the pad. The generic was $3.00 for 21 pills. The pharmaceutical company was Pfizer.

Pharmaceutical companies practice "local market pricing," which is charging what the locat market can afford. Because Americans are "rich" they get hit with highest prices. Canada is lower because the Canadian government negotiates prices. I read that HIV medication in the USA could cost several thousand dollars (paid by insurance companies) a month. The same medication in Africa is $7 a month.

By the way, the doctors at Kaiser Permanente automatically send the prescription to their in-house pharmacy. I always ask the nurse for a copy and take it either to Walmart or Costco for a 40% to 60% discount.

[Beachboy]

I have been trying to find out what the cost of medications are in the Philippines

This study is 10 years old but it might give you some information. http://www.haiweb.org/medicineprices/surveys/200502PH/sdocs/survey_report.pdf

The price of drugs will depend on the pharmacy and the location of the pharmacy. If there is no generic available, the price will not be less than in Canada, most likely more. The Phils gov't has proposed price controls. Pfizer responded with a threat to not sell in the Phils (there goes the real :hystery: Viagra ). Bangladesh has offered to supply drugs at a discount (here comes the fake Viagra :bash: )

I wouldn't be too quick in cancelling my policies ... I'd research my particular situation in the Phils.

BTW Traveler's Insurance might be a useful too ... (worldnomads.com -- $5,000,000 CAD policy for $1000 CAD / yr)

[Beachboy]

t Kaiser Permanente automatically send the prescription to their in-house pharmacy.

I've found Kaiser Medicare prescriptions to be reasonable. $10/prescription/month is the max price (if the generic costs less you pay the lower price). You can refill on- line and and have them mailed at no extra charge. Plus you save all the money you spend at Costco/Walmart while waitng for the prescription to be filled. :hystery:

[JJReyes]

I've found Kaiser Medicare prescriptions to be reasonable. $10/prescription/month is the max price (if the generic costs less you pay the lower price). You can refill on- line and and have them mailed at no extra charge. Plus you save all the money you spend at Costco/Walmart while waitng for the prescription to be filled.

My wife is already on Medicare. She pays nearly $100.00 a month, which is automatically deducted from her Social Security benefits for Medicare Part B. Kaiser bills us an additional $129.00 for Medicare Part C and D. "D" is for prescription medication. The reason why the price for prescription medication is reasonable is because the $129.00 is already partial payment, whether or not you need any medication. You are co-paying for 20%. Kaiser then bills Medicare for 80%. In this situation, Costco/Walmart is more expensive. Until I become eligible for Medicare in 2013, the Costco/Walmart prices for me are lower than Kaiser Pharmacy.

My new business is Overseas Retirement Care in the Philippines. The cost for Alzheimer's care in Hawaii is prohibitively expensive. We are offering equivalent care in the Philippines at $1,500 to $3,500 per person a month. This includes medical care. A physician will visit the nursing home twice a month as part of the service. One of the challenges is Medicare stops at the border. What happens if the resident requires hospitalization? My associates in Manila are studying the possibility of offering an insurance to replace Medicare. To make it work, we need a sufficiently large pool of subscribers.

I will be exhibiting our program at the Blaisdell Exhibit Hall during the Hawaii Seniors Fair from Sept. 28th to 30th. The booth number is 204. Come by and say, "Hello."

[Call me bubba]

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 .

Are you aware of the various/different BLOOD Types /Groupings RH factors?

the Asian Blood type is different from the WESTERN. due to the RH factor.

make sure you know what is your BLOOD TYPE.

here is a link from a past topic that could be of use to the newer members

it could save your life

/#5

Posted 12 March 2011 - 04:48 PM

I have been in hospital 3 times in the Philippines. I found it extremely cheap.

So cheap, I gave up insurance in 1996 after the first 2 times and now self insure.In any case,

if I had a medical emergency on Leyte,

I would be dead before I got to a decent hospital.

So no point paying for non existent health care.Provided I survive the initial problem,

i will just head back to Australia where I can get free health care.Otherwise, being dead, I am sure I will no longer care!

Regards: Jim Sibbick

[tiger31]

There is nothing wrong with generic drugs. My insurance prefers them as well here in Canada.

p m a list of drugs you use and i will go along to rose pharmacy here in mactan and get the prices for in ok

[tiger31]

i,m not sure if this is true or not but if you donate some of your blood to the hospital that you may end up in in case of emergency they will not charge you for the blood you receive ,maybe other members may clarify this rumour

[wombatphil]

i,m not sure if this is true or not but if you donate some of your blood to the hospital that you may end up in in case of emergency they will not charge you for the blood you receive ,maybe other members may clarify this rumour

Mate, they have costs to extract, then process and split the whatsits in your blood, store it and etc... They might be rip of merchants but there are costs to do this... I gave, 2 or 3 weeks ago, 500ml of my blood for a little Filipino boy with my same rare blood group, along with another foreigner (a Dutchman). I asked the family later, if the hopsital charged anything for my donation??? "Yes sir, P4,500"... Go figure, when you can get blood from the red cross for about P1,800. (But they wouldn't take our blood and sent us to Chong wa and they wouldn't either coz we weren't patients and we ended up at elsewhere ... Perpetual or something?)