Updated Hospital Costs in the Philippines

Have not updated this blog in almost two months. I apologize for that. Spend most of my time working on my daily blog, The Rooster Crows at 4am!,” but a recent trip to our local emergency room in San Miguel, Jordan municipality, Guimaras province, in the Philippines, and a subsequent ambulance ride and the pump boat ride to a hospital in Iloilo City gives me the opportunity to relate some first-hand  costs associated with those hospital visits.

Had severe lower abdominal pain the other night, and paid a visit to our emergency room.  I was transported to a hospital in Iloilo City via a 15 minute pump boat ride where, after undergoing an ultrasound, it was determined I had two small kidney stones and a polyp on my upper abdomen. One of the kidney stones had moved and caused my pain. I have more details on the actual visit on my other website.

Here is a breakdown of the basic costs from my actual bill, I will give the amounts in approximate USD figures:

Surgeon from Guimaras that accompanied my wife and I to Iloilo: $100.00
It was thought that I might need an emergency appendectomy at the time. Very expensive charge  for here according to my wife. Thankfully, no surgery was needed, but the price for the doctor’s  appendectomy  fee would have been $300 to $500.

Attending physician                           $3.45
EKG                                                $7.75
Emergency Room Fee                      $8.00
Room (One Night and One Day)      $20.00
Ultrasound                                       $55.00

Now these are just the major expenses aside from my medications. However, medicine is quite expensive in the Philippines. There are other miscellaneous costs which I will be posting later. My total bill, including the costs above, plus the miscellaneous expenses and the medications,  was approximately $450.00.

Philippines. Live Cheap! Hospital Costs in the Philippines

Philippines. Live Cheap!  Hospital Costs in the Philippines. Just some general hospital costs I have found for the Philippines. I have some information coming from an insurance company that covers expats in different countries. As soon as I receive those quotes I will be writing about them. My wife and and I have health insurance through my retirement plan from AT&T that will cover us in the Philippines, but for the benefit of those who are considering retirement in the Philippines, I wanted to get a quote from this company.

Let me tell you briefly about some hospital costs my mother-in-law in the Philippines incurred several months ago. She had a stroke in June, and thankfully is fully recovered, and the cost for her total bill, and one week stay in the hospital, including the doctors' fees, all medicines,  MRI, EKG, blood tests,  and all other tests and fees was around $450 (USD.) Very reasonable compared to costs in the United States. Had to take my wife to St.Luke's in Iloilo City, one of the best hospitals there, since she had severe bruising in her knee. Took her to a orthopedic surgeon and head of orthopedic surgery, trained at Massachusetts General in Boston, and who also had a practice in New York City; his office visit was $8, and he spent a half hour with her. 

Here are some approximate general costs I found online in a Google search on Google Philippines:

• surgeon's professional fees         $300 
• anesthesiologist fees                   $150
• operation room costs                 $120
• 5 day hospital room costs          $120-$300

As soon as I get those quotes from the expat health insurance company, I will share those. Thanks for checking out  Philippines. Live Cheap!  Hospital Costs in the Philippines.