Finding a Doctor You Trust Abroad
Picture a man named Samir, sixty-six, who takes a pill each morning for his blood pressure and has a father who had a heart attack at seventy. Before he moves abroad, he decides that the first doctor he meets there should not be the one he meets in an emergency.
He does three things in his first month. He asks the people who live nearby which doctor they use, in the bakery and at the pharmacy, because a hotel concierge or a website will tell him what it has been paid to tell him. He books a first visit while he is healthy, just to meet the doctor. And he brings a one-page summary of his health: his medicines by their generic names, his past test results and his history, with a translation beside it.
The visit takes forty minutes. The doctor reads his page, asks about his father, and orders two tests. The whole thing costs about $45. Samir leaves with a name, a phone number and the sense that he has met a person.
He asks the doctor three more questions, because they matter more later than now. How long does a new appointment usually take to get? Who covers when you are away? And if I needed an ambulance, which hospital would it take me to, and does that hospital have what I need?
He writes the answers on a card and puts it in his wallet.
You might say price tells you who is good. It does not tell you much. A low-priced visit can be excellent and an expensive one can be hurried. Samir looks at training, at how the doctor listens, and at what other residents say. He also keeps the door open to a second opinion, which a good doctor does not mind.
Nobody in this is a villain. A health system is a set of rules about who gets paid for what, and doctors work inside whichever one they were trained in. Samir learns the rules of his new one by asking.
You could do Samir’s first month yourself. You could ask three residents which doctor they use. You could book one healthy visit to meet the doctor, and you could carry a one-page summary in two languages. You could write the nearest hospital and the answers to the three questions on a card.
Health costs are worth pricing by hand, and a first visit is a good way to start. How did you find your doctor in a new place? Tell us in the comments. Someone reading may be about to ask the baker.
Tell us in the comments