I have had Hospital Aleman for 10 years now. I have definitely seen a problem in getting appointments quickly, in the last 3-4 years. Used to be you could just show up to get an eye exam, for example, but now it takes a couple of weeks just to get an appointment. There are a ton of people showing up in pediatrics with sick kids, but even then, I don't think I've waited much past 30-45 minutes to see a doctor with the young 'un and an impromptu visit. If I'm sick, during the day I can go to the Policlinica and wait maybe an hour, or go to the emergency room after hours and wait about 1/2 hour.
The only foreigners I've ever known I've seen there are some Chinese families, although I know two fellow expats who have insurance there as well. I'm sure there are more - a good number of doctors speak English there, which can be a big help to worried patients who may even speak Spanish but have a hard time understanding medical jargon.
However, what I really, really like is their competence. I was involved in a fight once that cracked my eye socket and was allowing air to escape from my sinuses into my eye socket when I breathed. They attended me right away, had all the good machines for x-raying and such and took really good care of me. My wife just got out of the hospital today, after having had surgery on Thursday for a benign tumor in her uterus and things went very professionally, she had a decent room to stay in for two nights and was well-attended. Our youngest was hospitalized once, for 4 days, and she had a private room in pediatrics with the nurses fawning all over her. We all 5 of us had to go to the hospital after the fire in our kitchen at the beginning of the year, and they took real good care of us to make sure we were not CO poisoned (even if it took a while for them to clean and bandage my blistered feet! No one bats 1000).
It's the big things that matter, in my opinion. The little things here, I suspect (and as has been my experience with anything here), are just trials of patience to be endured.
For the 5 of us I pay around $6-7K pesos a month. Mine is at least close to half of that cost as I'm over 50.
I have a friend with OSDE. He pays out the rear for his insurance. Yes, he can go to any hospital, but he prefers to go to the smaller clinics (at least he did). He went to have a colonoscopy earlier in the year and ended up very sick the following day, with a very dangerously high fever. He returned to the same clinic where they gave him the procedure and gave him a prescription for antibiotics and let him go (wouldn't even call him a taxi). His fever continued and he ended up going to HA this time, where they took proper care of him.
The hospitals are indeed centralized for the most part. HA has some clinics scattered around the city and even outside, near Pilar where I used to live, there was a small hospital that had rights for HA patients. You just have to see what their coverage is and if it works for where you live and what you are looking for. So far I've live in Recoleta for 8 of the 10 years I've been here and HA has been very close. Even when in Pilar, the small hospital out there was good for us. Now, it looks like I'm moving to Parque Patricios in a month or so and I'll be seeing how it is to have a bit of distance from the hospital, although I'm betting there are clinics and doctors available there for everyday type stuff.
The only foreigners I've ever known I've seen there are some Chinese families, although I know two fellow expats who have insurance there as well. I'm sure there are more - a good number of doctors speak English there, which can be a big help to worried patients who may even speak Spanish but have a hard time understanding medical jargon.
However, what I really, really like is their competence. I was involved in a fight once that cracked my eye socket and was allowing air to escape from my sinuses into my eye socket when I breathed. They attended me right away, had all the good machines for x-raying and such and took really good care of me. My wife just got out of the hospital today, after having had surgery on Thursday for a benign tumor in her uterus and things went very professionally, she had a decent room to stay in for two nights and was well-attended. Our youngest was hospitalized once, for 4 days, and she had a private room in pediatrics with the nurses fawning all over her. We all 5 of us had to go to the hospital after the fire in our kitchen at the beginning of the year, and they took real good care of us to make sure we were not CO poisoned (even if it took a while for them to clean and bandage my blistered feet! No one bats 1000).
It's the big things that matter, in my opinion. The little things here, I suspect (and as has been my experience with anything here), are just trials of patience to be endured.
For the 5 of us I pay around $6-7K pesos a month. Mine is at least close to half of that cost as I'm over 50.
I have a friend with OSDE. He pays out the rear for his insurance. Yes, he can go to any hospital, but he prefers to go to the smaller clinics (at least he did). He went to have a colonoscopy earlier in the year and ended up very sick the following day, with a very dangerously high fever. He returned to the same clinic where they gave him the procedure and gave him a prescription for antibiotics and let him go (wouldn't even call him a taxi). His fever continued and he ended up going to HA this time, where they took proper care of him.
The hospitals are indeed centralized for the most part. HA has some clinics scattered around the city and even outside, near Pilar where I used to live, there was a small hospital that had rights for HA patients. You just have to see what their coverage is and if it works for where you live and what you are looking for. So far I've live in Recoleta for 8 of the 10 years I've been here and HA has been very close. Even when in Pilar, the small hospital out there was good for us. Now, it looks like I'm moving to Parque Patricios in a month or so and I'll be seeing how it is to have a bit of distance from the hospital, although I'm betting there are clinics and doctors available there for everyday type stuff.
