Posted on 10/18/2019 7:38:24 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
My wife has just been released from the hospital after a 3 week stay. Since most FReepers have never sought health care under a socialist system I thought I would share my experience.
As a requirement to emigrating to Spain, which we did in 2016, you have to buy health insurance good for at least one year. After that you can buy into the Spanish health care system for 150 Euros per month if you are under 65 and 165 Euros per month if you are over 65. My wife is a British citizen but wasn't retirement age at the time so we both bought private insurance at a cost of about 1800 Euros per year for the both of us plus 20 Euros per visit to a private doctor. I'm pretty healthy so the only time I used it was to get a required exam for a Spanish driver's license but my wife went several times and was always happy with her treatment.
After a year my wife became English pension eligible so she obtained an S1 card, which means that she could go into the Spanish health care system but they bill it back to the NHS. Since I considered the cost of our private insurance to be a bargain I kept her on mine and she could use either system. She used the Spanish part mostly for prescriptions, which were 5 Euros or less for each medicine she took for her cholesterol and Thyroid.
About a month ago she started having back pains and losing the feeling in her legs. Because she couldn't feel her feet she had a lot of difficulty walking so we booked an appointment at a private clinic. The doctor did a vibration test on her feet and recommended that I take her to the local hospital in Motril, about 20km from our house. Cooperation between the private and public health care systems are pretty common and the doctor knew she had an S1 so it was a good choice.
The people in Motril put her in a room with 2 other patients and did 2 day's worth of testing on her: blood test, Spinal tap, brain scan and an MRI. After all of those tests they decided she needed more testing so they sent her to the Campus de Central Salud in Granada, about 80km from our home.
The Campus is pretty new and not only has a hospital but also a group of specialized medical, nursing and physiotherapy schools. My wife was put into a private room. I'm not sure why since all of the other rooms on her floor had 2 patients except one other that had biohazard signs on the door and people had to dress in clean room suits to go in. Perhaps they were afraid she couldn't cope with Spanish speaking companions or maybe, since they were billing it back to the NHS, they figured they could make more money off of her, but in any case it was a large, comfortable room with a picture window and a view of the mountains that surround the city.
My next door neighbor, who was from England, said that if you are in the UK and need a series of tests you have to get separate appointments for each and they can drag on for months. In Spain once you get admitted they keep testing you until they are done with it. She had another blood test, another Spinal tap, another MRI and a day trip to another hospital in town that had a specialized imaging camera. In between those she had treatment and a physiotherapist that came in every day to work on her walking skills. The food in Motril was so-so, kind of what you would expect from any institution but the food in Granada was excellent. She had breakfast at 9, lunch at 1, a snack at 4:30, dinner at 8 and juice before bed at 11pm.
Personally I am one of those kind of guys who believe that if you treat the help like people rather than people like the help they will respond in kind. There was a grocery store within walking distance of the hospital so I would bring muffins and donuts for the nurses, chocolates for the cleaners, licorice candies for children of other people who were visiting patients, etc. After a day they decided that because of my long daily commute I was entitled to be fed whenever my wife was so they brought 2 of everything into our room. We had salmon, tuna steaks, swordfish, chicken, beef stew, paella. No complaints whatsoever about the food. In fact, when my wife took ill we were 2 days away from a vacation to Belgium, which we had to cancel. I joked that we were staying in a Spanish all-inclusive resort instead.
Speaking of resorts, they are very lax about what the patients do when they aren't being treated. I would take off my wife's hospital gown, put her in a dress and take her to one of the nearby local cafes for a drink. One day I put her in the car and took her to a shopping mall food court. The head nurse on duty saw me wheeling her out and only said "have a nice time." The weather was always in the 80's during the afternoon so we would spend a lot of time outside getting some fresh air. It was a very pleasant experience.
After 24 days total they finally decided she could go home but she has to go back for a biopsy. Besides inflammation in her spinal column they found some lumps in her chest so she will get the biopsy and if that doesn't make them happy she will get an endoscopy. Before she got sick she would walk a minimum of 10,000 steps per day to stay fit but when she got her first physio test in Granada she couldn't do 200. Now she is back to 2000+ but still needs more work on her strength and balance.
I have never been hospitalized except for my tonsils when I was 4. I've never broken a bone or had a serious illness. I haven't even had a headache in years so I may not be the best judge of hospital quality but from what I saw the place was spotlessly clean, the staff was efficient and they went out of their way to make her comfortable. I really have no complaints. In fact I'll probably end up buying into the Spanish system myself since it's so cheap.
‘Health care will keep us from going back...’ says Texas couple who retired to Spain on $2k a month ^
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3786937/posts
So what was wrong with her? Is she better? Or was this just rest paid for by government?
So they didn’t figure out what the problem was - but you got to stay in a resort style room with 5 star dinners and dozens of expensive tests at multiple hospitals while the health system billed ANOTHER country for the costs...
And you think this is good or sustainable?
Clearly, the Spanish syetem is not run by democrats.
“She had another blood test, another Spinal tap, another MRI”
This is a scam we are getting tired of here with our own system. So the central database recording of all these testing results are just incredible and take up 50% of the professionals time and effort. Yet... They never go look at what has already been recorded with previous test results and you have to start all over and go through it all over again each time you are referred to another specialist?
It is a scam and redundant on purpose for profit. How many times do you have to take the same test before someone finally believes the results? Why do you have to do the same test over and over even though nothing has changed and the first time already has all the same data needed?
“After 24 days “
That’s a long stay. I don’t think she would have been in hospital that long in the U.S. Not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing. In general, the least mount of time you spend around other sick people, the better.
I hope her biopsies turn out okay.
Let us know if she needs surgery & how that goes.
Thanks for the post. It’s interesting to hear about others’ experiences.
Foreigners are treated differently. Spaniards I know hate the system - long waits for any procedure (one friend’s husband died in the meantime), bored and indifferent personnel, sloppy procedures - just the whole thing you get anywhere with socialized medicine.
;^)
It sounds like the difference in treatment may be whether you’re on the national health insurance or private insurance. This FReeper is paying for private insurance.
Skywise is correct. They were billing another country and a private insurance. I would like to see the results of a person from Spain with just Spain health insurance. I see doctors’ eyes light up when they see my Tricare coverage, and they will order all types of test.
Here is my experience with the USA Heath Care:
My mother had something similar happen to her this year. She had hydrocephalus and spent about a month in the hospital total. The first surgery had some complications that require her to do another surgery and rehab. She is on Medicare and her bill is only around maybe $6700.
My wife has inoperable cancer. When she was first diagnosis, we were scare because of all the horror stories we heard about people insurance not covering the cost. I think those cases was because people go for the lowest cost insurance plan or choice not to get insurance. The first year (non Obama) the total cost was $3500 out of pocket and her insurance was around $2500 a year.
This year her grand-father waiver insurance went up to around $6000 and the out of pocket is $4500. I had her pick the best plan (highest cost) they had to offer. Her out of pocket is not costing us anything that is cover by my Tricare. I am not having to sell my house and cars to pay medical bills.
Over all I think we have a good system if you find a employer with good plans and sign up for it. I like my doctors and plans:
Only issues I can think of:
What about the people with lower paying jobs like $30K a year in the South?
What happens if you get cancer then change jobs or get layoff?
Her Hospital stay time of one month included Rehab... Only 7 days in Hospital...
We were staying in Belgium when my son got a bug. The closest hospital was in Germany. You could drive from Belgium to Germany in 5 mins. They wanted prepayment and husband barely had enough euros to pay the 200. They had my son all day and gave him 2 IVs and medicine. It was a new hospital and were blessed to have my daughter’s nanny who was from Germany.
My husband’s coworker fell in Toronto and broke her leg. It was going to be months before they could get to her, so they wrapped her up with meds and they drove her 4 hours back to Detroit.
I think they are being overly cautious because they don't want to get it wrong, but they think it is either Sarcoidosis or Lymphoma. That is why they have to do a biopsy to make sure.
My next door neighbor, the guy who complained about the long waits in the UK, was taken to the hospital with a heart attack last month. They put 3 stents in and he was out in a couple of days. He says he feels great now and has nothing but good things to say about how he was treated.
BTW he is not part of the NHS like my wife. He has been living in Spain for 20+ years, is self employed and pays into the Spanish health system. His wife is a nurse who works both in Spain and the UK so I guess they keep up with how things are going on there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.