Many of us do not encounter troubles dealing with medical payments because of health insurance. Most health insurance covers a decent amount of your medical expenses that might arise due to an illness.
However, the cost of health insurance remains high for some people.
In the Philippines, a consultation with a physician or specialist costs around P500 – P1,000. While visits to an emergency room, hospital confinement, and ambulance service cost much more.
So what to do if you’ll need medical care but don’t have insurance? Here are some options and strategies for you.
Emergency Situations
Doctors and medical professionals are required to treat you if you end up in a hospital’s emergency room. However, without health insurance, you’ll be billed for all medical services you’ve received.
Emergencies include the following: severe chest pain, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, high fever, bleeding, persistent vomiting, poisoning, head, and eye injury, and unconsciousness.
In cases like this, you have no choice but to pay your entire medical bill.
You may negotiate your bill with the hospital – as some of them may extend discounts for their uninsured clients or allow you to pay your bills over time. Negotiate a payment plan.
If it’s possible, negotiate your bills before being hospitalized. This is applicable in certain situations like scheduled surgery or delivering a child.
Go to Walk-in Clinics and Urgent Care Centers
If you need medical care but for a non-emergency or life-threatening situation, you may want to consider visiting the nearest and most accessible urgent care clinics and centers to you.
Urgent care centers and clinics are often equipped with facilities and run by physicians and nurses who can attend to your medical needs. They are a cheaper alternative to a hospital visit, plus they take direct payment from patients.
Also, you can get in touch with the nearest clinics and centers beforehand. This way you can ask and compare their average medical fees.
No need to worry though, they will advise you if you and your medical situation need to be brought to a hospital.
Seek online consultation
Now if you have medical service needs that do not require immediate attention, seeking online consultation may be the best option for you.
Talking to your doctors is more convenient and easier these days due to online consultations. With this, an exchange between you and your doctor on the information critical to diagnosis, management, and monitoring of your medical situation and illness is done online.
This means that you don’t need to physically go to the hospital and clinic, stay in long lines, and wait a long time.
Most virtual portals and mobile applications for online consultation of health clinics allow you to make online payments.
So if you don’t have insurance, you’ll need to pay your medical or doctor’s fee. But this is much more convenient with online consultations as you can just easily send your payment electronically.
Aside from this, online consultations will give you some useful advantages when seeking medical services. Some of these are:
- Plenty of options for which healthcare provider is best suited for your needs and your financial capacity. You can also consult with doctors who are far from your location.
- 30 minute consultations dedicated to you, making sure all your concerns are heard and addressed.
- Confidentiality and privacy, feel free to talk to your doctor in settings and locations you feel more comfortable in.
- Faster transmission and sharing of laboratory results and prescriptions using electronic communication platforms.
With online consultations, you can still get the medical service you need even without health insurance. And it is the best option, especially for non-emergency and life-threatening medical situations. You can try one of the premier telemedicine services at Eva Teleconsult.
Many clinics provide online consultations here in the Philippines. But utmost and dedicated medical attention and service are assured with Eva Teleconsult – with or without health insurance.
You have a guaranteed 30 minutes consultation so you know that all bases are covered. Unlike the usual doctor’s appointments that seem to constantly rush you, EVA makes sure that you feel secure and comfortable.
EVA Healthcare services are comprehensive and include specializations in Primary Care, Pediatrics, Nutrition & Diet, Dental Medicine and Orthodontics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Psychiatric.
At your convenience and comfort, you can now book an online consultation with our doctors who will listen to and understand your concerns.
You can achieve the care that you deserve at your fingertips. To learn more about our Eva Teleconsult, click this link.
