We are rather skeptical about saving money. Instead of saving money for rainy days, we prefer to accumulate new things. We are equally light when it comes to health. Even though most of us consider them very important, it does end with statements. In case of what, after all, monthly contributions are paid, which guarantee comprehensive care. Unfortunately, when we get seriously ill, this system stops working as it should and serves as a hard clash with reality.
It is in vain to look for a disease in which patients would not be forced to wait for a procedure or a meeting with a specialist. The wasted time may mean that patients will never regain full fitness. We live by the myth of universal and free health care.
Who among us does not know this picture? Clinic and long lines from the morning hours? To whom? Virtually every specialist. Family doctor, ophthalmologist, cardiologist or orthopedist. Almost every XNUMX-year-old encountered a situation in which he had to wait exceptionally long for an appointment. We do not have good news – the need for such meetings with the doctor will increase with age, and shorter queues are unlikely to happen. Consider what this could mean for our family and work life. Can we afford to waste time chasing free benefits? What if visits to other specialists and treatment begin to interfere with our work or business?
Endless queue
Examples? There is a whole lot of them on the website of the Watch Health Care Foundation, which deals with tracking absurdities in healthcare. The case of a 4-year-old woman after ischemic stroke with right-sided paresis is shocking. She had to wait nearly four months for rehabilitation, the speed of which is crucial for regaining fitness. For a private benefit, which can be provided in 5-3 days, it would pay from PLN 6,8-XNUMX thousand. zlotys, which is often an amount unattainable for retirees.
A man aged sixty had to wait almost 10 months for a corneal transplant. The same procedure can be performed privately almost immediately. The only problem is its cost of approx. 9 thousand. zloty.
It’s easy to think that only older people experience these kinds of problems. Nothing could be more wrong. A thirty-two-year-old with a torn cruciate ligament of the knee was supposed to wait 45 months for the procedure! The cost of the paid service, which in this case can be realized within three weeks, is an expense of several thousand zlotys.
Is it worth paying extra?
The above examples show that the prices of treatments performed privately are really high. And these are only the amounts of individual operations. Treatment costs in the case of chronic diseases can reach even several tens of thousands of zlotys per month. The truth is, however, that when it comes to health, we are able to pay virtually any money to get to a specialist faster, perform surgery a month earlier or buy a non-reimbursed drug. Unless, of course, we have sufficient funds for it, which is not so rosy in the case of frequently ill seniors.
An alternative may be packages that we can use in private clinics. Of course, the more extensive the package of medical services, the higher its price. If the package is co-financed by our employer, several dozen zlotys are paid from the employee’s salary every month. However, if we wanted to use individual packages, their costs will increase significantly.