Healthcare in Vietnam

Blue Cross in VN  I do have Blue Cross insurance and have found it to be good not great.  At FV they usually want you to pay up front for your services and then they call and ask BC if they will cover it.  If you do not pay you do not get service - unless it is an emergency.  At Family they will give you the service and bill BC, if they do not pay or only pay a portion they expect you to cover the difference.  From my experience outside doctors do not accept it.  You pay them and you deal with BC.

I am going to have minor surgery this Friday 05/15/2015. Minor but still going to put me under. My wife has taken me to the pubic hospital Benh Vien Binh Dan. Have not been taken ahead of others not once. Take a number and wait. Last week had blood test, sperm count test, ultrasound  test and spoke with doctor. I was impressed with the doctor. Paid $45usd wait time 14hrs but got all test results same day. 05/12/2015 back to hospital for blood test, ekg, heart ultrasound, chest xray. Paid $55usd and 4hrs with no going in front of others. Tomorrow go back to hospital to talk with heart doctor to see if my heart is ok for the surgery I need. Friday surgery and over night stay (a/c room) told $500 plus but not more then $600'.Happy with staff and hope I wakeup Friday afternoon.

We live in Lap Vo, 4 hours south of HCM by bus. Wifes grandmother fell and broke her hip. Hospital staff told family she is too old to fix the hip. After a month of living in pain she was taken to hospital and given a shot and sent home. 4 hours later she died. What was in that shot?

In order to answer this question then you should understand a bit of the health care system in Vietnam and Health care + social interests budget.

For the health care system, if someone (vietnamese) sick they would go from district hospital to province hospital to national (central) hospital due to the level of sickness.
Cho Ray hospital is a central hospital in the south of Vietnam so all kind of serious sickness will be transferred to i this hospital.

For Vietnamese people who have social insurance book (social medical insurance book) and if they want to reimburse from social insurance then they have to register and wait on the queue. Thus, it is slow. The main problem is every one thinks that go to see doctor at central hospital for any kind of disease is the best. That is the reason why hospital at big cities are always crowded and exceeded.

Wealthy people normally choose private sectors to have faster care and better care as they are thinking. I do not disagree that there are many good private  clinic or hospitals. But not all private hospital are good.
We buy a private insurance to be more secure about our health. In many cases, social insurance cannot cover the treatment fee cause it is very expensive. I have studied about health care system in Europe so I know that the wicked issues related to health care are everywhere too.

However, we cannot expect to have a very good standard as some European countries at the moment cause here people pay very little tax while in Europe people pay 30%-40% of their income for tax. Also you guys know it better than me social interests and health care' budget from government are mainly coming from Tax, so there it is a cycle. I hope someday we will have that better health care system and health care standard as some other countries.

I agree that medicine in here are quite cheap for primary care cause it is socialist as someone said.

Hope you will find another aspects regarding healthcare in Vietnam.

Best wishes,
Trang

starwatcher67 wrote:

I am going to have minor surgery this Friday 05/15/2015. Minor but still going to put me under. My wife has taken me to the pubic hospital Benh Vien Binh Dan. Have not been taken ahead of others not once. Take a number and wait. Last week had blood test, sperm count test, ultrasound  test and spoke with doctor. I was impressed with the doctor. Paid $45usd wait time 14hrs but got all test results same day. 05/12/2015 back to hospital for blood test, ekg, heart ultrasound, chest xray. Paid $55usd and 4hrs with no going in front of others. Tomorrow go back to hospital to talk with heart doctor to see if my heart is ok for the surgery I need. Friday surgery and over night stay (a/c room) told $500 plus but not more then $600'.Happy with staff and hope I wakeup Friday afternoon.

Hope all goes well !!!!! 

Ok 05/16/2015 and I was discharged this morning. After seeing all the doctors involved, my surgery went well yesterday. The only thing I did not like was not being in the same room with 3 other people but their family members who have no idea or maybe no understanding of us men in pain. After surgery we just want to rest in bed without the cellphones, the loud talking and the getting in and out of our beds. Come on ladies we hurt and just want to be left alone.. I as a westerner who worked in and around the medical field am very impressed with Saigons Benh Vien Binh Dan Hospital and its staff. Thank You

Yes all went well and thanks for the good wishes

My friend near Nha Trang broke his leg and had to have $480US immediately to set it. I sent the money but it would take several days. I emailed Anh, his wife a copy of the check I had sent to the money transfer company and told her to take it to the gold shop where I get my đồng when I am there. They immediately advanced her the money which she took to the hospital and his leg was set within an hour and burns I had not been told about also treated. Anh didn't tell me that afterward they were left with a bill of $2000+ to pay off and that that is how she says the government medical system works, kind of a down payment up front then a bill for the rest.

Can you share with us the link of US Gov website that mentioned about 6 mos. limited for Medicare?
Thanks.

There is no U.S. Medicate for those living in VN, Part A, or B

I am sure there is a lot of difference between public and private health. I have always thought of going to the private one because they offer a lot of good packages and deals which also saves a lot of money. After coming across this post, I guess I will also look for a proper answer for it for myself.

I got a Medicare Cigna Supplement before Obamacare eliminated those. It includes out-of-country coverage. I asked about Việt Nam. It is good in Việt Nam.

You tell the truth in your words. No money No treatment. Treatment outside the big city is a joke. Treatment in the big city can be too. Any serious illness that can cost your life should be treated back in your home country. 1th world country I should add.

I believe what I paid for is not what I received. I did get a bad very bad infection from surgery

I have seen the same with family sleeping on the floor. Eyes are blinded to the truth.

A few years ago I got a phone call in Florida from my friend's wife. My friend had been in a scooter accident and had broken his leg. She said he had to have a bit under 800USD or the doctor would not set his leg.  I had the money so I sent it but the service I use takes two weeks so I emailed a scan of the check I had sent to the money transfer company and told her to go to the gold shop and bring up the email on their computer. I expected the shop would then front her the money because I had changed money there many times over ten years. Instead she showed the email to the doctor who sent my bud to the OR right then. I didn't know about VN "socialized medicine" before that. The 800 was the up front money necessary for the government to LEND them the rest of the money for the treatment, about 2200 USD. That was all paid back in monthly payments. They managed eventually to pay me back, too which I did not expect and had told them not to worry about that.