This was posted by Lee Zeltzer, blogger and owner of Boqueteguide.com. It tells a great story from someone who lives and breathes Boquete. The story of being able to receive compassionate, quality health care and have it affordable at the same time, reverberates through the inane discourse in the US that was the health care debate. Read on and enjoy!
Recent Health Care Experiences
Posted by Lee on August 9, 2010
Those who have known me in Panama also probably remember I have had more experience than most people with health care in Panama.
I have had flocks of guests in the past couple of months. In that time two arrived with health issues and required medical attention. I want to share the experiences they had while withholding their names.
One arrived with a problem with his pelvis, a chronic problem of the femur popping out of the socket during exercise. Mayra’s daughter, a doctor, referred him to Dr. Evcilio Barria at Hospital Chiriqui. First bit of amazing, we had the appointment the day after we called. The doctor listened and requested an X-ray at hospital Chiriqui. We walked across the street, and in less then 30 minutes at a cost of $38 we had a pelvic X-ray and we were back in for second consultation. Based on the X-Ray the doctor scheduled a pelvic MRI. The professional fee for the visit was $20. I am not sure what a specialist in orthopedics would charge for an office visit in the US, but I think the $20 might be a copay for good insurance and I suspect we will would still be waiting for the appointment.
I was curious about the cost of the MRI, I suspected the procedure could be expensive. I did some digging on a site called New Choice Health which has prices from around the US. First I looked up the $38 pelvic xray. On this site the range for this in the US was from $210 to $1,600.
On Thursday we went to Hospital Chiriqui for a Pelvic MRI, both with and without contrast dye. The cost was several hours and $600. I used the same site for the US prices in Miami, FL the range was $2,325 to $7000.
Even more interesting was at about 8:30 in the evening, as I was sitting in the waiting room, the doctor came in and sat with me to just chat. He asked about me, asked about his patient, and then went back to see the results with my guest.
My other guest arrived tired, dehydrated and with red urine. Next day I called for a Urologist, Dr. Khayam Arias at Hospital Chiriqui was recommended, and we were in his office the same day. He wanted a urine sample and had it tested, $3. His diagnosis cost $30 in professional fees and resolved with $41 in antibiotics and the passing of some small kidney gravel.
My reason for airing medical history should be clear by now. I am not sure how this would have played out in Canada or Europe or anyplace else, except here and in the US. In the US we would still be waiting for appointments for specialists, then we would be waiting for test results, all the while paying far more in medical and lab fees.
If you can afford private health care in Panama, it is first class at coach prices
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