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| Vito is one month old here! I'm still trying to lose the preggy belly! |
Friday, September 24, 2010
What's your health plan?
Seriously, I grew up a sickly girl but these past 10 months, I've seen too many doctors and too much hospital (and handed over too much money!) for my taste. So we've finally given birth but that only means even more face time with another kind of doctor: the pediatrician. This is my family at the pediatrician two weeks ago:
Well, time to shop for a good health plan. I actually have health insurance courtesy of my employ but it's not the same as the one I grew up with. It's a huge shock to me since I had amazing health care growing up as the beneficiary of my Mama (she used to work in Meralco)--All medical conditions covered. All dental work covered. If the procedure is cosmetic, 25% covered. I used to go in and out of hospitals with not a peso on me and the insurance paid for absolutely everything. So when Mama died and I had to avail of the health plan at work... well, let's just say it's not the same.
So now that we have this fascinating young man in our lives, Vince and I need to get a good, solid, reliable Medicare plan. Soon. Do you have a health plan? What is it? Are you happy with it? Help!
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Vito is such a cutie pie!
ReplyDeleteour health plan at PAL (when my mom was still employed there) was good too. free hospitalization, medication, vaccines for my sisters, dental... the works tlaga! as a dentist, i honestly hate the health cards we have now... i will tell you why you shouldn't hate dentists and doctors for treating cardholders much less than walk-ins... because these card companies are too cruel.
ReplyDeletein other countries, medical professionals are rich because of insurance, here... check this out ha... in my clinic my minimum charge is P600 (so i charge a minimum of P600 for cleaning, fillings and extractions).
most companies have basic coverage: unlimited temporary fillings and extractions + one cleaning per year. this is what i get for that: P150 for cleaning, P100 for extraction, P200 for fillings. (ouch diba?)
so it's really painful to me when cardholders come barging in the clinic like they're priority... cus in the booklet everyone is reminded to make appointments first. i won't reject you naman, but my paying patients, the ones who make appointments, are my priority.
i dunno how it is for medical doctors... but this is how it is for dentists.
ps. i have tons of card holders in my care... you can ask them, i treat them like they're paying customers (all i ask lang is to make an appointment). i know some don't treat cardholders well... that's quite sad, but you can't blame them... card companies make it hard for us to love our job.
I super agree with you. Meralco employees do enjoy good health benefits. I've seen that with the case of my bosses (as I work freelance with their sister company).
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I don't have any health plan except for that of Philhealth. These days I really took it seriously after going through a lab procedure for my eyes last year; the facility asked me if I got one and when I found out what I could get from it, I really devoted a part of my savings for that.
Oh, and I really love that smiling photo of Vito. So cute!
Oh Frances,
ReplyDeleteVito is absolutley gorgeous. Well done you :) x
Our company's with Medicard and I've had no problems so far, specially since it's accepted in the hospital of my choice and most other hospitals. My mom's over the age limit for dependents though so we're also on the lookout for a health plan for her. I hope you get to share with us what you find!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
I have two health cards, one from work (Medicard) and one we have for our family (Caritas). Both are just okay. Medicard is pretty basic and they approve requests pretty fast, too :) Caritas naman has a return of premium thing by the tenth year so not bad at all :) One HMO I know which has lots of benefits is Intellicare and Maxicare and Blue Cross if I'm not mistaken :)
ReplyDeleteVito is soo gwapo!
Crickette, yikes! Ganun ba? Well, talaga palang health care insurance is deteriorating everywhere! Oh, and you just reminded me to go have a check up. My last one was last September pa. As in 2009! Nyak.
ReplyDeleteTo everyone who said such nice things about Vito, THANKS!
ReplyDeleteI have maxicare for my beneficiaries (e.g. my daughter and husband). But i have to agree with Crickette. Health Cards do NOT treat the health providers well which is why a lot of good providers are not included in the "Accredited doctors" of your health card. Imagine - doctors get paid P150-P200 per consult!! After xxx number of years of medical school and xxx years of specialization, honestly, what good doctor will agree to that?! So, what do I do? I still go to my preferred doctors (e.g. homeopathic, natural and breastfeeding-friendly and yes, I have to pay out of pocket) BUT I still maintain a "health card accredited" pediatrician so in case my daughter needs to go through a procedure, I can get a referral from the accredited doctor and the procedure is covered :D
ReplyDeleteI worked as a Retainer Physician for both Medicard and Intellicare. Medicard is the worst when it comes to salary! They pay us (after taxes) 99 pesos per hour! Even if you're working full-time, you'll only get basic benefits like a health card after 3 years!
ReplyDeleteThey also outsource their nurses so that their pay is much lower with no health and sss benefits as well.
I'm not a masochist so I resigned.