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Health Services in Panama


Bonnie

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In my role as one of two U.S. Wardens in Boquete, I have observed first hand the consequences of gringos having no health insurance. Only today I dealt with a case of a man being taken to Hospital Mae Lewis with a heart attack only to be transferred to Hospital Regional when it was discovered he had no insurance. He also had not registered to make his veteran's benefits potentially responsible for some of the costs. I encourage each and every one of you who has opted not to have health insurance to pay a visit to Hospital Regional to observe what your care would be like were you to suffer an accident or illness requiring hospitalization.

Edited by Bonnie
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12 hours ago, Bonnie said:

In my role as one of two U.S. Wardens in Boquete, I have observed first hand the consequences of gringos having no health insurance. Only today I dealt with a case of a man being taken to Hospital Mae Lewis with a heart attack only to be transferred to Hospital Regional when it was discovered he had no insurance. He also had not registered to make his veteran's benefits potentially responsible for some of the costs. I encourage each and every one of you who has opted not to have health insurance to pay a visit to Hospital Regional to observe what your care would be like were you to suffer an accident or illness requiring hospitalization.

You can pay Mae Lewis or Hospital Chiriqui with cash or credit card.  They never rejected that.  We never got sent to Regional.

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9 hours ago, JudyS said:

You can pay Mae Lewis or Hospital Chiriqui with cash or credit card.  They never rejected that.  We never got sent to Regional.

Of course not, Judy. That's a given. For something as serious as a heart attack, though, you better have plenty of cash or a high limit on your credit card. This man had neither.

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I do not know how Mae Lewis calculates initial charges, but as an example, when I went in with my neighbour they demanded $4000.  The transfer ambulance was waiting outside to take her to Regional if we didn't pay.  So as Bonnie says, have a healthy daily draw limit on your card or have good recognised insurance.

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