Still at the Hospital: How Hospitalization is in Manila

 

July 02, 2024. Tuesday

Mt first blog entry.

We have been trying to figure out how to help our son settle his hospital bills incurred by his girlfriend (GF) or live-in partner (LIP) who gave birth to a baby girl at a very expensive private medical center in San Juan. They've been held there for 2 weeks now due to inability to settle their bills and payables. My son suddenly lost his account at his call center job although his company was able to give him and his team a new client account. So he's under training again. That means no salary yet.

Photo by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia on Unsplash.

And it's largely my son's fault, really. I had warned him of sending his GF to a private hospital for delivery, much worse to this medical center famous for catering the rich and famous, but for some wild reasons he insisted. I suspect it's his GF's wishes. I had told my son never to opt for a private hospital because he was not prepared, especially if the delivery resulted to a caesarian birth, which it did. Now the running bill is about Php 285K plus. O my.

My wife and son are trying to negotiate a bargain or an agreement to allow my son and his GF to be discharged with some collateral or promissory note. I hope and pray that God would do a miracle in this regard, because neither I and my wife nor my son have that much money to pay the bills. My son is really stubborn about so many things, foremost of which is his premarital relationship with his GF. All of his problems now stem from his stubbornness and disobedience of our counsel. 

But we love him, especially my wife, and she's trying to do everything possible to get him out of the mess. I, on the other hand, would like our son to be responsible and figure a way out himself. Let him suffer what he did and then just support him with prayers--that GOD would provide a clean way out miraculously. I believe in miracles. My wife believes in her efforts and God's miracles. 

The tip here is to choose a good private hospital that charges reasonably. Do this when the pregnancy test is positive and start scouting around your area for the best hospital option with the following considerations:

1. Hospital service and facility quality.
2. Room quality (check the restrooms).
3. Hospital rates.
4. Quality doctors.

To get info on the above, you may ask family, friends and other people. Visit the hospitals and see for yourself. It's so important to get the best one that matches your budget realistically. It's not true that expensive hospitals offer the best and safest services. A lot of government hospitals are good, like PGH and Fabella for childbirth. PGH is good for any illness. 

Never, never opt for a hospital that is too expensive if your budget is not match to the hospital rates. A lot of rich or well-to-do folks choose reasonably priced hospitals even if they can afford expensive ones. If you fail to pay for the cost you will not get out until you pay the whole amount. And the days you stay there will add up to the exorbitant cost. 

Promissory Notes

A lot of promissory notes prepared by the hospital admins are traps. Be careful before you sign them. You'd see there how some hospitals are just after your money, not really to render service and care, especially the expensive ones. I'm not saying they're all the same but some are really there purely for business, not service and patient care. 

So read and understand carefully what's on the promissory note prepared by the hospital because it's designed to make you pay by hook or by crook. They want you to pay asap, and they don't care how you do it. A really caring hospital would explain to you the demands in the promissory before you sign and help you with paying terms that will work with your available budget. In short, good hospitals will help you pay them according to your capacity, like a monthly installment. 

Anyway, not all patients need promissory. My son needed promissory only because he suddenly lost his job and the tests, meds and care needed during pre-childbirth were numerous. Turned out it was a sensitive pregnancy, with lots of costly tests and medicines for the UTI, heart problem and sensitive pregnancy of the mother and the unstable condition of the baby in the womb that needed a lot of tests and meds. 

These things were all unwelcome surprises that gobbled up my sons money, and then he lost his job in the middle of it all. The hospital should consider well these things and  help the patient and the family by providing a reasonable way to settle their bills in an affordable manner.