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Chronic disease - Private or public hospitals?

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  1. #11

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    Can't your current healthcare provider offer international packages? Because you described them as "one of the best insurance coverage of the world". I know many EU national insurance companies provide international packages to their national clients' when they move abroad.
    Excellent suggestion!! Can you negotiate with your employer to pay / reimburse fully or partially - to extend your existing insurance to Asia?

  2. #12

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    For a chronic condition or anything that does not require a few pills and a pat on the back, you'll need a GP to refer you to the public system.

    Your first appointment can take weeks / months. (I know of someone who was told that they had to wait about a year for an angioplasty).

    This document should give you some timeframes: https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cad_bnc/AOM-P974.pdf

    Waiting Time on Specialist Outpatient Attendance

    6. All clusters could meet the overall median waiting time for first
    appointment for first and second priority cases. Amongst the eight specialties being
    monitored, the 90th percentile waiting time for routine cases of Ophthalmology (OPH)
    had been shortened to 71 weeks, i.e., a 27.6% improvement as compared with last
    year. Improvement was also seen in Surgery (SUR) from 112 weeks to 108 weeks
    and Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) from 56 weeks to 54 weeks when compared with the
    same period last year. The waiting time for other specialties had been lengthened
    from five weeks to 13 weeks.
    Do not wear rose tinted glasses when it comes do dealing with the Hospital Authority - yes, it may be a step up for some people .. but it is also a step down for some other people.
    Fiona in HKG and iliketurtles like this.

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Excellent suggestion!! Can you negotiate with your employer to pay / reimburse fully or partially - to extend your existing insurance to Asia?
    When the OP talks about national insurance, I expect they are meaning the public healthcare system in France, where you pay for Doctor visits etc and are then reimbursed by the government. It seems to cover almost everything, and copious amounts of drugs, which the French are very fond of.

    Being the national health scheme of the French Government, it is not available outside of France.

    OP if the condition is severe and you are not overly wealthy, I would think a lot about the pros and cons of coming. While my experiences of the public health system are generally good, these have only been for acute one-off situations. Experiences where you can ignore the cultural and language issues because it is just a one-off. Anything requiring extensive contact over a long period would have me considering options to leave Hong Kong.
    usehername and bibbju like this.

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    When the OP talks about national insurance, I expect they are meaning the public healthcare system in France, where you pay for Doctor visits etc and are then reimbursed by the government. It seems to cover almost everything, and copious amounts of drugs, which the French are very fond of.

    Being the national health scheme of the French Government, it is not available outside of France.

    OP if the condition is severe and you are not overly wealthy, I would think a lot about the pros and cons of coming. While my experiences of the public health system are generally good, these have only been for acute one-off situations. Experiences where you can ignore the cultural and language issues because it is just a one-off. Anything requiring extensive contact over a long period would have me considering options to leave Hong Kong.
    What particular cultural or language issue is such a problem? The public hospitals in my experienced are all staffed by bilingual nurses, doctors and admin staff. While some of their English may not necessarily be the best, most can get by without too much difficulties. And doctors in particular should have a higher level of english than the average local, since med schools in HK uses english as the language of instruction. In terms of medical standard and quality, they are of a high standard, not inferior to their Western counter-parts.

    As for cultural-not sure what you mean by it. Yeah some of the staff can come off as surly, cold and indifferent. But that goes for most of HK, so nothing particularly unique about that. The main problem is the long wait time as I said, although I don't think French hospitals (or Canadian ones for that matter) have shorter wait times.
    Last edited by Watercooler; 08-07-2014 at 08:27 PM.

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    For a chronic condition or anything that does not require a few pills and a pat on the back, you'll need a GP to refer you to the public system.

    Your first appointment can take weeks / months. (I know of someone who was told that they had to wait about a year for an angioplasty).

    This document should give you some timeframes: https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cad_bnc/AOM-P974.pdf



    Do not wear rose tinted glasses when it comes do dealing with the Hospital Authority - yes, it may be a step up for some people .. but it is also a step down for some other people.
    That is a good question, step down for who exactly? Most likely those accustomed to private healthcare? Not saying anything is wrong with that. Just wondering who this group is you are referring to. Because if you are talking about the public health care system, I don't think HK is so drastically different to a comparable Western public health care system, in terms of wait time or quality of medical service provided.
    Last edited by Watercooler; 08-07-2014 at 08:31 PM.

  6. #16

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    Fine world's best system and all that. Happy?

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using GeoClicks mobile app

    Watercooler likes this.

  7. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by shri:
    Fine world's best system and all that. Happy?

    Sent from my Nexus 5 using GeoClicks mobile app
    Not the finest certainly. But if you look at it overall, I don't really see it worse than a Western public hospital system (or that much worse anyway).

  8. #18

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    Completely agree with kimwy66. I had my baby on the public system and I can't fault it from a medical point of view. However I was happy to put up with the negatives knowing that it was only temporary (and how much money it was saving us). If I was going to be going through that system for years with no end I sight I would feel very different about going public.

    Would a move to hk still be worth it if you decide to pay insurance premiums that are through the roof?

    Last edited by usehername; 08-07-2014 at 08:52 PM.

  9. #19

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    I've had quite a bit of experience of the best private medical care hk has to offer, and put it this way I'm suing one doctor and making a complaint about another hospital. The treatment received was below the medical standard each time.

    I'm currently sat in TKO hospital and, whilst i can't fault the medical care, it took four hours of bureaucracy just to get admitted, and then the level of spoken English not just by the nurses but also the doctors is atrocious. This is day two and is a very isolating experience - staff don't want anything to do with is because we're too much hard work for them. We're stuck in a corner of a room far away from the nurses as possible. Huge coincidence.

    OP, if you're coming from France you're probably going to be displeased with the hk medical system. I've vowed never to use hk medical care where it isn't an emergency. My experiences are subjective of course. Others might have better experiences.

    bibbju and shri like this.

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by iliketurtles:
    I've had quite a bit of experience of the best private medical care hk has to offer, and put it this way I'm suing one doctor and making a complaint about another hospital. The treatment received was below the medical standard each time.

    I'm currently sat in TKO hospital and, whilst i can't fault the medical care, it took four hours of bureaucracy just to get admitted, and then the level of spoken English not just by the nurses but also the doctors is atrocious. This is day two and is a very isolating experience - staff don't want anything to do with is because we're too much hard work for them. We're stuck in a corner of a room far away from the nurses as possible. Huge coincidence.

    OP, if you're coming from France you're probably going to be displeased with the hk medical system. I've vowed never to use hk medical care where it isn't an emergency. My experiences are subjective of course. Others might have better experiences.
    I really am not sure about your experience. Its subjective as you said. Best that private practice has to offer? Or maybe you just went to the wrong doctors? Or was poorly recommended? I have experienced both private and public doctors in HK, and while I wouldn't call them the best in the world, they are nowhere as bad as you say either.
    Last edited by Watercooler; 08-07-2014 at 10:27 PM.