Private hospitals

[quek]

My older relatives always go for public (restructured) hospitals whenever they need to be warded, some as subsidised patients and some as private patients.

Most of them have hospitalisation insurance. But they still choose SGH, TTSH and the like.

They say that once you go for private, the costs may balloon out of control and a lifetime of savings may be wiped out (even with insurance coverage).

Is it true?

I've never been hospitalised, but as I'm getting older, I need to prepare to decide between public and private healthcare one day.

Originally Posted by quek

My older relatives always go for public (restructured) hospitals whenever they need to be warded, some as subsidised patients and some as private patients.

Most of them have hospitalisation insurance. But they still choose SGH, TTSH and the like.

They say that once you go for private, the costs may balloon out of control and a lifetime of savings may be wiped out (even with insurance coverage).

Is it true?

I've never been hospitalised, but as I'm getting older, I need to prepare to decide between public and private healthcare one day.

private hospital is better. better care. can get special service as well sometimes. imagine chio nurse helping you to bath and wash your bird bird

For simple elective surgeries, I would go for private surgeons and private hospitals.

For complicated ailments, especially age-related ones, I think it's safer to go to restructured hospitals where medical equipment and machines are arguably newer and more advanced than private hospitals. The more important reason is that you don't know how long you're going to stay and how many tests and scans are to be done, so if you go for private, the costs can easily get out of hand.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

private hospital is better. better care. can get special service as well sometimes. imagine chio nurse helping you to bath and wash your bird bird

just pump my grandfather homecare nurse, a Malaysian, when she came over my place. shot all over her face. hope my grandfather never ever recover from stroke so that I can pump her for long term!

Just my own personal OPINION

In Singapore:
-private tends to give better customer service
-public tends to give more sound healthcare, esp for complex conditions

(Note that I said "tends", nothing is absolute, and there are some public hospitals that I would avoid)

Since I go to a hospital for healthcare rather than customer service, I choose public. Bought insurance that covers public only as well.

the only thing good about private is the speed and customer service.

nothing beats the clinical science and equipment of RH. However, the waiting time is something to consider as RH is lean and always on verge of breaking down.

TCB - himself a private GP doctor - can easily afford private medical care, but he chose to go to NUH for a lung surgery. Speaks volumes.

s://.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tan-cheng-bock-psp-lung-surgery-recovering-hospital-2846766

Originally Posted by quek

My older relatives always go for public (restructured) hospitals whenever they need to be warded, some as subsidised patients and some as private patients.

Most of them have hospitalisation insurance. But they still choose SGH, TTSH and the like.

They say that once you go for private, the costs may balloon out of control and a lifetime of savings may be wiped out (even with insurance coverage).

Is it true?

I've never been hospitalised, but as I'm getting older, I need to prepare to decide between public and private healthcare one day.

Yes, it’s true. My father had a medical misadventure at a private hospital and for 44 days of hospitalisation, it cost $188k.

It was such a bad mistake and so costly that my siblings refused to send my father to private hospitals again. In the end, he passed away due to medical negligence of a public hospital. I am sure some of you would ask if it’s due to negligence, why wouldn’t I pursue? I tried pursuing the first medical misadventure and I realised that the medical field is so well-protected that there’s no way we can sue a doctor unless we are super rich. No doctor would help us testify that another doctor made a mistake.