You don't get any treatment before they see cash on the table, I got a broken hip in a bike accident, first after 2 days when my gf brings the money I get the operation. A local Filipino in my barangay needs an operation that cost 80 k, been at the hospital for one week, now they send him home until he has the money, that's the reality in the Philippines, not much fun in a non private room if no treatment
It's been a few years since I read the rules. As I recall if the patient is in a ward (non-private) room they must allow the patient to sign a promissory note. There did not seem to be any qualification on the conditions of that note. It is up to the hospital to decide what is acceptable. Recently a friend (in a private room) had an outstanding balance of 50K. The hospital would not accept the CR on their pickup truck worth about 350K. Another patient had a fairly large outstanding bill. My friend gave the hospital his passport and promised to pay a portion of the bill. He paid his share of the bill but the hospital refused to return his passport once he paid his part. Other guarantors had not yet met their obligations was the excuse given. The situation was fairly quickly resolved when the hospital administrator found out my friend was not taking that sh!t. He got his passport back but was told not to darken their doorway EVER. Someone suggested self insuring by having a credit card with a fairly high credit limit. That is probably the best idea I have ever heard.
Is it the same for public hospitals? I was treated in a public hospital for a motorcycle accident years ago on another island. There was no cost for the doctor/treatment, I only had to pay for the electricity the x-ray machine used. The provincial hospital here also treated without payment first on one other occasion. I was also recently treated at Holy Child (for another motorcycle accident) without having to pay upfront. No major surgery or anything like that but they treated me no questions asked. Maybe they are only asking for money up front if there is a risk of you dying during treatment (which is a possibility with any surgery) or if it hits a certain peso threshold?
Philhealth has a catalog of diagnoses and a fixed case rate they will pay for each of them. In public hospitals, the policy is that this is all the hospital will get, no additional payment has to be done by the patient. Private hospitals will bill the difference of course. There's also a couple other rules, e.g. they won't pay anything if you leave the hospital early or come back with the same illness a second time around in a certain number of months. https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/8/12/philhealth-case-rate-2019.html here's the case rates of 2017 - don't know if there is a newer version already though: https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/circulars/2017/annexes/0019/AnnexA-MedicalCaseRates.pdf
One could argue that mountains of debt is better than 6 feet of dirt. Of course I think it would be advisable that a person has enough savings/investments/property/assets to cover such a credit limit but if they are old and don't have much time on this world remaining does it really matter? What can the credit card company do once you are dead? It's not like you own any property here they can come after. Or maybe they can come after your family when you are gone here, which would make that a pretty bad idea.
I must say only visit a public hospital, no experience with treatment, I guess you are right if an operation or expensive treatment in a public hospital they want cash upfront or all/most Filipino's would go there for treatment
For people that don't have saving a mountain of debt would be better than being 6 feet under. The main advantage to having a credit card is the hospital can get their deposit right away. Imagine breaking a leg Friday evening and having to wait until the bank opens on Monday. Sometimes families have to make a hard decision when it comes to a loved one. This isn't the only country where people face that problem.
Correct. If you were in a private room you can be held until you pay. If not, you still must sign a promissory note guaranteed by a mortgage or a co-signer to be released. It can be googled at Philippines Administrative Order 2008-0001. Most poor foreigners do not have mortgages or have friends who will co-sign the note but that is a possibility, however, failing that you will be held. I do not think the person I knew would have stayed in a private room unless the choice is between private room or open air hospital ward (do they have semi-private here?). In any case, he couldn’t get out until the wife got a loan from a friend in the USA. That took a few days during which the patient was charged for room and meals. The bill was several hundred K php. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
