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Choosing a Hospital in the Philippines

Health / by

As regular readers know, the second half of 2016 was filled with a lot of medical things for me.  I had a heart attack in June 2016, and a quadruple heart bypass in November.

Davao Doctors Hospital
Davao Doctors Hospital

My experiences taught me a lot about hospitalization in the Philippines.

Firstly, I cannot stress it enough, if you are going to be in the Philippines – either living in the Philippines or just vacationing here for a few months, sign up for PhilHealth!  PhilHealth is the government health care insurance.  For just P2400 per year (less than $50 per year) your entire family will be covered!  This is really a no brainer, the cost is so low, and for many types of sickness the benefits are large!  For some types of sicknesses, the benefits are low – 50% or so, but for high cost illnesses the benefits can be huge.  Remember, PhilHealth is coverage for hospitalization…. if you are an outpatient there is no coverage.

In the past 12 months, PhilHealth paid out nearly P2 Million for my healthcare, all for a premium of just P2400, that is hard to beat!

Hospitals Choices

In the Philippines, there are basically two types of hospitals.

  1. Government Hospitals
  2. Private Hospitals

Government Hospitals are often considered to be low end places.  This is not always correct.  For some types of sicknesses, Government Hospitals are actually better than the best of the Private Hospitals.  In almost every instance a Government Hospital is less expensive than a Private Hospital.

When I first learned that I would be needing Heart Surgery, I decided to do it at a Government Hospital, mostly because the cost difference was huge.  Later, though, I was able to raise a larger amount of money than I thought would be possible, so I decided to consider moving the surgery to a private hospital.  I talked to my cardiologist.  He practices at both the best private hospital in Davao and also at the public hospital in Davao.  I told him that I was able to come up with more money than expected, so what did he feel were the benefits of having surgery at the private hospital compared to the public hospital.  I was shocked at what he told me!  Given that he practices at both hospitals, and that he stood to make more money if I had the surgery at the private hospital, his answer came as a big surprise.

The Hospitals that I was considering

The choices that I was considering for my surgery and hospitalization were SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Center) vs. DDH (Davao Doctor’s Hospital).

SPMC is a government hospital.  It was formerly known as DMC (Davao Medical Center), but the name was changed some time back.

SPMC - Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao
SPMC – Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao

DDH is a private hospital (for profit) and is considered by most to be the best hospital in the Southern Philippines.

These two hospitals are the only two hospitals in Davao City that have dedicated Heart Center facilities, thus they were the two places that I considered.

What the Doctor told me

When I asked the doctor about the difference in the level of care, the equipment available at each hospital, etc, and the cost difference, as I said, his answer was shocking to me. The doctor told me that the level of care was similar at each hospital.  He went on to tell me that the cost was significantly lower at SPMC (half or less!), but the next part was the most shocking.  He said that the equipment at SPMC was the “BMW” of heart equipment.  He said that the equipment at DDH was the “Toyota”.  He said that if he were the one having surgery, he would feel much better with the equipment at SPMC.

Based on this information alone, I chose to do my surgery at SPMC.

What I later learned

After checking into SPMC and while I was preparing for my surgery, I got talking with a different doctor and a nurse there, and they told me some other reassuring news.  Something that, again, surprised me greatly.  They told me that on an average year, SPMC does around 300 cases of heart surgery.  DDH, on the other hand, does as few as 1 such case per year, and up to maybe a half dozen or so max.

So, when I thought about this I realized that the government hospital offered better equipment, a lower price, and also a lot more experience in doing open heart surgery!  It was better all around, based on the things that I was told by people who are in the know.

Weigh your options

Now, I am not saying that for every type of sickness or for every treatment that the government hospitals are better than the private hospitals.  That is not even close to what I am saying.  But, what I am saying is that it is something to look into on a case by case basis! Why pay more when it is very possible that you can get superior treatment for less?

In the case of open heart surgery, it would seem that the government hospital was far superior.  I know that my experience of having a heart bypass operation at SPMC went smoothly.  I was treated well.  I had a nice hospital room, good nurses and doctors, and “enjoyed” my stay there (as much as you can enjoy having surgery!).

A lot of people look down on public hospitals in the Philippines.  I used to do that. But, I have learned that in some cases the public hospital is superior to anything else out there!  It is something to think about if you need health care.

Another thing to consider carefully is that if you are out in the Province, the level of healthcare is much different than if you are in a large city.  Really, for the best medical care available you should consider doing it in Manila, Cebu City or Davao City.  Other cities will not have the same quality of facilities, and if you are out in the Provinces, the level of facilities will not be what you need for a major health crisis.

But, let me repeat… get PhilHealth!  It might just save your life!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mentioning PhilHealth, I went to pay my annual premium today and was told that as a paying “member” for years and now a “senior” (age 65 now) I’m automatically and fully covered under their legislation (which has nothing to do with the ineligable Phils “senior discount”) and I don’t need to pay premiums anymore. They simply and seemingly normal with PhilHealth changed my status accordingly, I didn’t even know until today.

  2. I signed up for PhilHealth yesterday here in Laguna province for 2017. I had also enrolled in 2016. I am a senior, I think (will be 62 in Feb). Prior to the holidays, the PhilHealth office told me that the cost was going up for foreigners to between P15,000 and P17,000 per year. They said the premiums “hadn’t been finalized for 2017 yet”… but they would be updated in January. I went back to the office on Jan 4th to enroll as quickly as possible in the event the price hadn’t been changed yet. I lucked out…they told me the yearly cost was P3,600, so that’s what I paid. Everyone was aware of my age and status as a senior, but free coverage was not offered to me. Still, I am happy to pay P3,600 instead of P15,000!!

    • I have seen nothing from any official source about a price increase. My premiums are paid for the next 3 years. Also, I am covered under my wife’s account.

      • There is a lot of information disparity here. My wife is a Filipina and we asked about putting me on her PhilHealth Account. They told us (at two separate PhilHealth offices) that as a foreigner I wasn’t allowed to be on my wife’s account. They told us that the only way I could be put on her account is if I was a Filipino citizen (not going to happen). So….good for you. The rules must be different in Davao.

        • We went to the philhealth office and said we wanted to pay for 3 years. They took our money made out of receipt and gave it to us it was that simple. Part of getting the special coverage called the Z package for my heart treatment required us to commit to paying for 3 years without missing any payments, so we just decided to pay the whole 3 years at once.

      • Great Article Bob! and great to see that you are on the path to a full recovery. I am wondering how you paid your premiums for 3 years in advance. It is hard enough paying for the whole year in advance by filling out 4 sets of forms for each quarter. Did you accomplish this at the main Philhealth office?

    • SteveB, seems for PhilHealth purposes (and most governments in general) you’re not really considered a “senior” until age 65. I continued to routinely pay PhilHealth premiums ages 60 to 64, it’s only that I turned 65 mid-2016 that they changed my status to “NON-PAYING MEMBER”, one might guess that it’s something their systems just automatically do when the long-enrolled paying member reaches age 65 the prior year.

      PhilHealth rules and procedures should be identical nationally, so your posted experiences seem strange. Did you get official receipts from PhilHealth when you (over)paid, or did your money transit some extra hands shrinking along the way to the actual PhilHealth cashier? Just a question one might ponder.

      Nor have I heard anything about a new much higher premium cost for foreigners – nothing at https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/ suggesting such unless I’m totally missing it in their 2015-2016 advisories. I do however see a few advisements about fixers, etc, plus one entitled “PhilHealth Is Different From Philcare”.

      • What you say is absolutely correct that. The things that Steve put are outside my experience, I’ve never heard of such things. Getting an official receipt for any transaction is always very important, to make sure that no money is being skimmed off by employees. Higher premiums for foreigners are just not in the plans as far as I know, and we have regular contact with the philhealth office.

      • Catching up on the PhilHealth advisories is good reading, for example
        “(2016-0012) PhilHealth Insurance Card Is A Valid Government ID”.
        I’ll need to happily pay 90pesos to trade-in my old laminated PhilHealth pic-ID for the new card which includes the major benefit that you won’t need to bring a paper MDR record if you’re being admitted to avoid dying and can’t crawl home to print one!
        Wish I could get a supplementary card for the wife, she needs gov’t ID whereas I have lots.

      • Thanks Edgar and Bob – No, I didn’t use any “fixers” and I did get official receipts for all monies paid. Maybe I’ll revisit this with them when I go to the PhilHealth office. I’m wondering if our PhilHealth status may be the reason for the disparity – I’m classified as an “Informal” member since I’m not working and have no Philippine income. Since you (Bob) are (self-) Employed your classification may be different. Or, you’re membership on your wife’s account is an artifact prior to when the rules may have changed. Anyway I just pay what they tell me I owe! If I can pay in advance I will, to protect myself from future price increases.

    • Ok Steve, here’s another thought. In case you’re not already connected, register at “https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/”. After completing their registration sequence, log in there then select “Premium Contributions” from the menu to get to “https://memberinquiry.philhealth.gov.ph/profile/inq_mem_contri.asp” where you should see exactly what PhilHealth acknowledges you paid them – they list it per-month there irrespective of how you paid. If it’s different than PHP200/mth then you need to question PhilHealth why because 200/mth is the family contribution we all pay. If it shows the proper 200/mth then wonder where your excess payments went.
      Hope this helps; good luck.

  3. This is an eye opener. Private hospitals are generally reputed to be having the best care – at cost. My experience in India with government hospitals has not been a good one whereas the one in Bahrain where I worked was equipped with the latest equipment – care was a different issue. Having 2 nurses in the family taught me that, while the pay may be low, the level of care is standard in both facilities because of the training. The best hospital here in Cebu, IMO, is Chong Wua because they have a lot of specialists although Cebu Doctors and UC Med are reputed to be as good but I haven’t had the opportunity to be treated in either (thank God! )

    • Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge from Cebu Denzil. I have not had any medical treatment there in Cebu. I have talked with e osts in Manila who have had similar experiences as mine with government hospitals up there.

    • Chong Wua not has good has you say they where years ago but not today my friend had prostate problems was admitted for 5 days the doctor say he has prostate cancer he have to be operated soon has possible cost 250,000.00 p but did confront the doctor for my friend he ask did you do a biopsy oh no need then we open and cut what we have to cut ,i reply you do nothing discharged him now. back to his place i say okay book you ticket back to AUSTRALIA then let them to check what wrong .
      back to AUSTRALIA the diagnostic was only minor antibiotic for a month biopsy fine nothing.
      so hospital here are same has the lotto if you are lucky you be fine if not you dye cause they do not care PINOY protocol has long they get your money

      • A bit lost there Gilbert. You’re saying that the diagnosis in the Phillipines was serious, and the recommendation was that he had surgery at a cost of two hundred and fifty thousand pesos. Back in Australia, he was given a dose of anti-biotics, a biopsy, and a clear diagnosis?

  4. After reading your previous comments and having a couple serious health problems in the family, I have paid an annual premium for 4 of the families.
    If they are hospitalized, it saves money. If they stay out, that’s manageable.

  5. Happy New Year, Bob,

    I have been trying to apply Phil-Health insurance for my parents, but told they aren’t qualified because they are citizens of the United States. I went to BOI in Bajada to apply for dual citizenship, and was told I have to go to Manila BOI main office. Can you give some enlightment on this.

    Thanks,
    Cornell

    • Hi Cornell. Philhealth regulations were changed a couple years back, now everybody in the Philippines is eligible, even foreigners. That was about 2 years ago that they implemented that.

      As for dual citizenship, my wife and all of my kids apply for dual citizenship in Davao City about 5 years ago, and it was no problem at all. I’m not sure why anybody told you that.

  6. Great piece Bob, hope you are doing well. I agree with your article. SPMC has evolved and improved vastly from the infrastructure to equipment to professional expertise. You can’t argue with the numbers. Thanks to the ever dynamic chief of hospital of SPMC, Dr Leopoldo Vega, the improvements keep on coming.

    • Thank you Kix . Over the past year I have had heart treatment and extensive eye treatment at SPMC. I am very I.pressed with the place and consider it as my first choice for hospitals in Davao now.

  7. since i live in the southern part of mindanao(farther south than davao), we do have a bias against government hospitals. not without reason though. but spmc sounds amazing and should be the standard for all government hospitals in the philippines.

    • Hi Allan, how are you doing? I hope you are well. Yes spmc has changed a lot. They’re building a lot of new buildings, and we’ll have different buildings for each specialty before long. For instance they’ve got a complete building for the heart center, and there’s nothing else treated there but heart patients. They’re building a new building adjacent to the Heart Center which is only for sure thing, a birth center. So, there are a lot of improvements there, and I’m quite impressed with the place.

    • doing great bob. my nephew recently got admitted for appendicitis and all private hospitals were full except for a space in the ward. we really need to have more hospitals and hospital beds in our city.

  8. My Mother was a nurse. She would always say ‘if you aren’t sick when you go into a hospital, you will be when you get out.’

    I found the private hospitals to be alarming here in Leyte. After my child was born, Margie was having problems. A week or two after she lost her strength and went to a private hospital. The doctor was telling me she would need to go under the knife. But they wanted a truck load of money before they start that I didn’t have. So we got her to the Government hospital. This place wasn’t very clean. In fact it was in a terrible state of dis-repair. A lot of problems because this was less than a year after Yolanda. Still had windows broken. I felt very uneasy. The doctors here wasn’t saying she needed to go under the knife. And as it turned out, time and a little doctor care was all that was needed. So this is another high mark for the government hospital. Private hospitals are more of a business and may have more of a need for money or seem more greedy as it was in my experience.

    • Hi Jerry, what you say doesn’t surprise me. As I said in the article in the three major cities that Healthcare is a totally different situation than in the province area. I would put many of the Davao hospitals on par with United States hospitals.

  9. I’m glad you had a good experience at the Heart Center. That was my dad’s baby before he passed, ensuring the city of Davao got the top-of-the-line heart medical equipment.

    • Hi Jack, I covered that in a previous article, but perhaps you missed it. The total cost of that kind of operation is about a million-and-a-half pesos. However through philhealth with their Z package, the cost to me was only two hundred fifty thousand pesos.

  11. Just some random information on PhilHealth that many people miss.

    1) The PhilHealth premium to be paid is income dependent. P200 per month for low income and P300 per month for those making over P25,000 per month. This is normally not questioned at PhilHealth and almost everyone pays P200 per month. https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/members/informal/registration.html

    2) There is a relatively new senior citizen program that is for Phl citizens that are residents of the PHL. PhilHealth premiums paid for out of funds generated from Sin Taxes. So you might hear about your PHL senior citizen friends that get PhilHealth for free. https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/members/senior/

    • That is quite interesting about the premium rates being income dependent. I’ve never heard of that before, we’ve never been asked by philhealth what are monthly income is. I’ll have to look into that a little more thanks for the update.

  12. Hi Bob

    Excellent information thanks and we will bear SPMC in the event, God forbid, that we ever need it.

    Our Philhealth was renewed today and they actually did us a favour. For some reason they originally signed myself and my wife up separately but they advised us to just not renew my one as we were paying double. Well that’s 2400PHP saved this year already!

    Glad the recovery is continuing.

    Cheers

    AJ UK

    • That’s great AJ. Glad to hear that you were able to save some money there. Sooner or later we all need medical care, and my experiences spmc was very good.

  13. PhilCare, PhilHealth… I don’t think I caught the difference. Any way, I have always bought travel health insurance in my own country (UK) before visiting any other country. I wouldn’t consider travelling without it! I know and trust my ‘own’ country and to some extent things will governed my own country’s laws. The price is not huge, but more expensive than the prices I see quoted above. The other big benefit for me (that others might like to consider) is that I get to travel back to the UK quickly, with a nurse if that is needed, so that I can be treated in a place that I know and trust. That would be VERY expensive from my own pocket without insurance. I’m please but not surprised you are back in business, Bob. You seem such a capable fellow! Thanks again for all you do.

    • Hi Parsley I’ve never heard of Phil care before, philhealth is the Philippine government health insurance. My articles not about travel insurance, is about health insurance in the place where you live. I have lived here for 17 years, travel insurance would not generally cover somebody for that length of time. Thanks for your input.

      • Thanks for clearing that up, Bob. “PhilCare” was mentioned by Edgar A. Hew above. You’re right, of course, travel health insurance is NOT the same as general health insurance in one country.

        • Be careful, travel insurance is just that – for short-term travel. Most policies are good for a few months only, and will NOT be valid if you “reside” in the destination country. So if you have travel insurance, you better be staying at a hotel, airbnb or other “travel” accomodation when you get sick.

          • Thanks for your comment, Steve. I’ll read the small-print and check the accommodation issue when buying future travel health insurance. I must say, I have bought annual insurance before, which I am aware can have a time limit in any one country, but I wasn’t aware there might be a wriggle-out clause depending on my chosen sleeping arrangement! – Sorry, Bob, if this is a bit off-topic, but it’s useful info for me.

  14. 4 sets of forms? Other than the initial enrollment way back when, premium payment thereafter is easy, I don’t recall filling out even one form at the PhilHealth office to pay for the whole year, just give them the # (show the card) and 2400 and in and out in 3 minutes. Alternatively just go to an LBC office and pay 7 pesos to have them send your 2400 to PhilHealth. I had to do that one year when the PhilHealth office was closed around Christmas/NewYears. The LBC staff will even complete their own LBC remittance form for you if you ask them nicely.

  16. Thanks Bob for your advice. It’s nice to know Davao has great hospitals.

    My wife’s cousin is a surgeon on the island of Bohol. He works at both the public and private hospitals. He’s always said the government hospitals are not well equipped at all.

    So on Bohol one has to go to a private hospital as they have much better equipment. Which is sad as those that can’t afford private hospitals deserve better.

  17. Travel insurance
    Try Squaremouth. Com
    I was covered for 5 months here in the philippines for 1 million $ for $ 50 bucks
    I’m an adjuster so I checked these guys out.

  18. Hi,

    Thanks for the article & for the recommendation to get PhilHealth.

    I’m a Dual Citizen (USA & Phil.) along with my wife and 3 kids. We are self-employed (online business) but our business isn’t registered or anything like that with the local government because everything runs through the states.

    Had a few questions:

    1) Is it ok if I’m self-employed through the states when signing up with Philhealth? Do they ask about employment, etc.?

    2) Is there a way to sign up for Philhealth online or do I have to go to a local branch? We are in Manila.

    Thanks in advance

    • Hi JC.

      Anybody can sign up. If they ask about your employment I would just tell them that your employer is in the USA.

      I know of no way to sign up online.

  19. We signed up for PhilHealth when we came to Bohol. The people are very efficient. There maybe lots of people doing business there but the wait time is very short.

    Besides, unlike the LTO, PhilHealth’s office is comfortable. Newspapers to read. But, as I said, the wait time is very short.

  22. Great article, and thought I’d put a word in for SPMC, I read this article 3 months ago, it helped with my approach to gallbladder problems and weighing out private Hospitals, public, and the costs of returning to the UK for the operation to have it out. UK Flight costs+expenses really did virtually equal the private hospital costs here. I’m lucky enough that my wife’s Phil-health covers me as she has had my name on for over 6 years, it knocked a huge amount off my bill. SPMC is very very busy, huge hospital and still growing today, but if waiting in the queue system / triage and going through this system is ok for you I highly recommend it. The doctors/surgeons and staff are very very professional, I felt cared for, everyone’s treated equally (i.e. no I did not get any special treatment), they are very thorough with their investigations and diagnosis. My feeling in the private sector was more a business process. I’d highly recommend anyone in the Davao region to go to SPMC, regardless of your budgets, and the equipment is great.