Traveling Team Fischer

Those who know me will not hesitate to say I am not the most graceful individual.  In fact, friends and family use other descriptors: clumsy, accident prone, klutz… you get the picture.  They’ve even threatened to wrap me in bubble wrap on more than one occasion!  Between my ability to get hurt and our advancing ages, one of the key elements we are considering when selecting our retirement locale is the availability and cost of healthcare.  Let me share a somewhat recent experience on this topic:

When we were in Puerto Rico, a broken writs gave us the chance to test out a local hospital.  The care I received was excellent – both doctors and nurses were patient with me, explained everything that was going on, and the facility had some very nice medical equipment.  They immobilized my wrist so I could enjoy the rest of my trip before going home.  They delicately explained that I am no longer at the age where broken bones start to mend quickly, so a few extra days would be fine.   Overall, they get an A+ in my book!  I didn’t have a private room, my blanket was one of those plastic heat retention numbers, and if I was going to be there overnight, my family would have to bring me food.  Still A+ in my book.  I walked out of there with a whopping $150 out of pocket due.  That was it.  The doctor even gave us his home number & address if we needed anything, as he lived close to the house we had rented for the week.  Who gets that kind of care stateside?

Fast forward to the hospital at home.  I had an HMO at the time, so I started at an urgent care clinic, per HMO rules.  They didn’t have anyone on call to handle a broken bone, so they referred me to the emergency room.  They had someone on call, but he didn’t want to come in after hours to see me.  So after taking new X-Rays, I was instructed to make an appointment with his office during normal office hours.  I had a nice private room in a wing of the hospital undergoing a pretty big remodel, saw an RN for 5 minutes, and that was it.  I walked out with an out of pocket that was well over $700!  Never even saw a doctor.  At best, I gave them a C, only because the staff I did see was so nice.

Why did I share that?  Well, I guess to try to point out that just because a clinic or hospital isn’t shiny and new doesn’t mean they don’t provide excellent healthcare.  One of the locations at the top of our list is Belize, which has a reputation for good healthcare, though some folks seem to be quick to point out it is not “on par” with what we have at home.  If that means I still get great care but have to share a room, I’m OK with that.  I care more about the quality of the care provided than a private room with extra blankets and meals created by the in house nutritionist.

It seems we often hear about things like healthcare not being “on par” with what is expected.  We can’t help but wonder what that really means.  Was the care really that bad, or was the room old?  Were the care providers unskilled, or did they not speak enough English?

We definitely have more research to do in this area, and would love to hear about experiences others have had while traveling.  Good or bad, what have you encountered?