Getting medical care in foreign countries

In a Facebook post, a trusted friend of mine shared the following story (not hers) from an American traveling in Taiwan:

“A few days ago my stomach began to hurt. Thinking it would pass, I went home to try and rest for the night. A bit later I vomited. I thought that was the end of it. But for the rest of the night, I kept vomiting almost every 30-40 minutes. Even after my stomach was completely empty, I kept vomiting. Soon it was nothing but stomach fluid and bile. I tried to drink water to stay hydrated, but I kept throwing it up, no matter how hard I tried to keep it down. By 3:00 am I had severe stomach cramps, my body kept trying to vomit even though there was nothing left. I was dizzy and light-headed. My symptoms showed no signs of abating.

At this point I had to seek medical treatment, I knew I had to go to the hospital. I wanted to avoid it. I had no idea how different Taiwanese hospitals would be, whether I would be able to find an English-speaking doctor, or what it would cost me (my US health insurance has lapsed and I don't qualify for Taiwanese National Health Insurance). My Taiwanese roommate called a taxi and took me to the ER at NTU Hospital.

I was immediately checked-in by an English-speaking nurse. Within 20 minutes I was given IV fluids and anti-emetics. They took blood tests and did an ultrasound to ensure it wasn't gall stones or appendicitis. From there I was given a diagnosis: a particularly severe case of ‘acute viral gastroenteritis’ (aka the stomach flu). After about three hours on an IV, I began to feel slightly better, my nausea disappeared and my stomach began to calm down. I was discharged with a prescription for anti-emetics and pain medication. Each day since I’ve gotten progressively better and am now pretty much back to normal.

The bill for the ER visit? US $80.00. Eighty. American. Dollars. Out of pocket. Full cost. No discounts. No insurance. At one of the best hospitals in Taiwan. And if I had NHI, it would have been a fraction of that."

Following this story, someone commented with her own story of out-of-US medical care: “I had surgery to put my elbow back together in a small town in France and was in the hospital five days. The cost to me was $4000 for everything. Of course, this would have been 'free' to locals. The cost to remove the wires from the repair 6 months later in Chicago was $18,000—an outpatient surgical procedure.”

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