I have no first hand experience, but I have a friend who was diagnosed with bowel cancer here about 7 years ago (I guess) and he was extremely happy with his treatment on the public system. As far as I know he's fully recovered. He had major surgery within a couple of weeks of being diagnosed and several months of chemo with follow-ups etc. The total cost was well under HK$10,000.
I believe he posts here as well, but I guess he may choose not to relate his experience first hand.
Last edited by Gruntfuttock; 02-08-2013 at 05:26 PM.
Pregnancy!
Also, any type of illness that is well studied and common.
eg : Foot problems, Ear/Nose&Throat, Counselling/Psyc, Emergency dentistry, Infections&influenza etc etc
The care in Public system is perfectly fine but the private system goes so much further. Speak with those who have been thru it and visit a couple of hospitals to see the very obvious differences.
In public system you get a good doctor and a clean bed. At the Sanitorium hospital you get your own TV, Phone and Bed-top Computer as well as 24h room service.
If you have the funds, there is really no point lining up at the public system (unless you are involved in serious trauma).
It seems to me that there's no difference in the medical care (and in serious acute cases it may be better in the public system). And if I have a finite pot of money I would far rather pay for hotel services when I am well enough to enjoy them rather than when I'm sick!
I would agree with you 95% but in cases of Cancer there is a small but significant difference. Top hospitals in Hong Kong have equipment that the public system does not have (or it has very few of). In the public system you will only be given that treatment if you meet some very strict criteria while in the private system its available at will. One specific one I know of from first hand experience is Tomotherapy.
That is a very logical choice to make for a person with a fixed pot.And if I have a finite pot of money I would far rather pay for hotel services when I am well enough to enjoy them rather than when I'm sick!
Fair enough, and sorry that you needed the first hand experience.
If there were an insurance policy that covered "private treatment only where the best medical treatment is not available on the public system, and hotel services only insofar as they are necessary to receive that treatment" then I'd very probably buy in if it were sensibly priced (it would be pretty cheap if in 95% of conditions the public system also has the best available treatment).
If only health insurance were that sensible. As I'm finding, it's absolutely not. It offers benefits that are mainly the things that you might not need and doesn't offer the things you DO want.
I have, however, got one of my partners over the line on "self-insurance" but only if it is on top of a basic coverage of the kinds of things he worries about. It may be the way to get to the middle ground I was looking for - so thanks for all the input because I might not have thought of that as a solution were it not for the posts by Editor and Gruntfuttock.
Any other real life experiences are also helpful to make sure I'm finding something that's useful to all my staff (including the older decrepit ones) as well as the younger ones. (Pregnancy is not something I care about at all, but I guess some of my younger staff might!)
Last edited by MovingIn07; 02-08-2013 at 06:20 PM.
The closest thing I found when looking for something like that was a policy with a very high excess (from memory I think it was some tens of thousands of HK$). That was reasonably cheap and covered against the stuff that was very unlikely to happen but if it did the treatment would be unaffordable for me. Obviously all the stuff under the excess amount I would simply pay myself directly.
Apocryphally, I've heard that there may be two price lists for many private medical services in Hong Kong, depending on whether you have insurance or not, so that might be worth investigating a little further as well.
Gruntfuttock : Public Hospitals have best doctors, no doubt about it. However the wards are crowded, overloaded, nurses are in short supply. At night it is difficult to sleep, what with patients crying in pain, sudden emergencies, etc. Distance between beds is hardly 2 feet. Total lack of privacy. Also strict visiting hours for family members. Food is not appetizing. If you are there for few days, may be ok. If you have to stay months then it is a night mare.( These observations are from personal experience)