Posts Tagged "asthma"
Hospitalization and HMOs
My children and I had nasty asthma attacks last week triggered by the smoke after my neighbor decided to burn dried leaves with trash infront of my rented house. I took the children to the clinic last saturday and monday morning, my eldest daughter’s asthma took a nasty turn and my aunt decided to take her to a different doctor and that doctor decided she is not letting us out of the clinic and she wants to treat my daughters in the hospital.
When my children were admitted, the personnel in the emergency room refused to accept our HMO and refused to admit my children without downpayment of P10,000. My cousin whose father is a good friend of the owner of the hospital convinced the cashier not to charge with the guarantee that my HMO will cover the hospital bills. She looked at our card and shrugged that my HMO is not accreddited with their hospital.
Luckily, my children and I are insured and our HMO is international and is accepted anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the small private hospital in the city refuses to make the effort to check our HMO and insurance coverage just because they are unfamiliar with the insurance firm and they needed to call an international number to verify coverage.
It took me half a day just to convince them to call and only 2 calls to my husband’s company to seek their assistance to contact the insurance company since the hospital refuses to call them since they’d have to use the international toll free number. You could only imagine my despair and anxiety since TWO of the children were admitted and though the hospital bills will not be as expensive as the hospitals in Manila, the fact that I do not have money pouring out of my ears makes this recent hospitalization a heart throbbing, mind boggling and headachy experience.
Our coverage is comprehensive. When I delivered my youngest in a small international hospital, out in the southern province in Thailand, my delivery and all check ups were all covered by the insurance. It did not take them long to get a Letter of Guarantee and everything was covered, no money out for me.
My husband’s company told me that the hospital should email the HMO and they will respond immediately in a matter of minutes, but when I asked the hospital if they have internet facilities, they said they have no internet. What?! No internet? Not even dial-up? Anyway, so it was non-existent, so I had to convince the hospital administrators to call my husband’s company so they can more or less convince my hospital that we are indeed covered.
All these haggling and convincing took me out of my daughter’s room for almost half a day in total. I kept on going in and out of the room just to make sure the hospital is making their effort to contact my HMO. Good thing my HMO in Antwerp called the hospital after my husband’s company called them to call the hospital and send them the precious Letter of Guarantee. I could not believe I had to go to all of these nonsense when in Manila we have charged more than what was charged here, and our HMO covered everything. It made me think of other people whose family members are hospitalized and they have no HMO or even with HMO that are not recognized by hospitals. How about those patients who doesn’t have the means to pay their mounting hospital bills? It reminded me of the documentary Sicko, by Michael Moore, wherein he showed how the socialized health care of countries like Canada, France and Cuba differs from the health system in the US.
Watching how the uninsured American struggle with system seem so pathetic compared to the health system that the Filipinos currently have. Makes me laugh remembering my father’s relief when some of my mother’s hospital bills were shouldered by PhilHealth. What if the regular Filipino knows that in Canada, people can go to the hospital and be treated fairly for free at all times? I can only imagine the happiness of Filipinos in Canada are experiencing. No need to put downpayment in private hospitals. No need to plead for doctors to give you discounted professional fees… I wonder, would our health system improve like that of France and Canada? In my dreams, perhaps…
Read MoreAsthma and Allergies
What triggers my allergies?
Same-o, same-o. Dust, hairballs, dustballs, smoke, pollution… Food? Eggplant triggers my allergies. Chocolate triggers my children’s allergies as well, especially those dark, gooey chocolates…
I love to cook. However since I am very much aware of the food allergies of my children and myself, I tend to veer away from the “bad ingredients.” Usually eggplants and some seafoods, trigger the sniffles and most often turns into asthma and wheezing later in the evening. Spiffy, huh?
Read MoreWhen Mom Gets Sick
When one is economically strapped, one tends to shake and roll on the signs of any sickness. Sadly, my children and I are often plagued with allergies that triggers our asthma attacks. After awhile I have not have any asthma attacks, only those pesky allergic rhinitis which just means endless sniffles in the morning and goes away as the day progresses. But now, the asthma is back. I whizz at night and early mornings now… I went to the clinic a week ago and the doctor presribed those usuals: Ventolin, Seritide and Virlix (eyes-rolled)
What else is new? My children have the same medications only on smaller doses… What I find amusing was the fact that my cupboard is starting to look like a mini-pharmacy already.
Does anybody want some?
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