How does the health care system work in puerto rico?

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shinningstarofthecarribean

If You don't have a Good Private Plan...You're at the Mercy of the Public Health Department...

Jen N

Up to a certain income level everyone in PR is eligible for what they call Reforma. It is a government funded insurance that most people have. It is not quite universal, but it is pretty close.

Jnaza

If you have private insurance and use it on a private hospital it will be kind of nice, government hospital not so good but ok in both cases you will pay a deductible...If you have the reforma (you will need to qualify based on very very low income levels...a friend of mine has a household income of $16,000 of two adults and a baby and she does not qualify), you will have access to certain private doctors and hospitals, but boy do their offices get full of people and the way these people are often treated is not nice!!! And if you don't have insurance, you will end up with a really nasty bill,,,just like in the USA.

La Flaca

First off, some of these answer (actually all but the two above mine) are wrong. The healthcare system is pretty good here. I have lived here for 2 years and havent' had a problem. Although I have med insurance from the Military, I have had to go to some emergency treatment for random accidents. For example, I went surfing and broke a finger. There wasn't a VA around so I had to go to the community hospital. I was there for probably around 2 hours. I had to pay cash and for everything done to my poor finger I paid only $50 out of pocket. Granted the private hospitals would have probably been more, but w/o insurance $50 isn't bad.

There has been a controversy here recently, the Medical Examiners Board (MEB) has been in ALOT of trouble and are under close observation from the US Attorneys office.

It seems that some lady head of the MEB here in PR was falsifying documents of Doctor's who hadn't passed the exam.

Other than that, the wait times to get seen here aren't bad (unless you live in SJ and that's comparable to places such as Dallas or Austin in the US)

Most doctor's offices don't do set appointments, its done by days and it's usually first come first serve. There is medicaid and medicare here just like in the US

wdwmkt

There's no universal health, except for the extremely poor who couldn't afford it otherwise. For the rest of us, private insurance is the best bet (SSS, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, MCS, Cigna, etc).

The quality of the care itself isn't bad. It's comparable to the quality of the medical care available in most of the developed world. An aside to this, many people who can afford to, have more sensitive medical procedures done in the US- not because of lack of confidence in the PR system, but rather due to more experienced doctors in the mainland US for these specialized procedures.

beatdown787

Well it works just like in the US mainland. You got your private insurance, goverment issued insurance for "poor folks" thats called "medicaid" and if your a senior youve got your medicare depending on your past decisions you may have part A and B of medicare. In the island just like in the mainland (USA) you got your medicare part C medicare advantage plans and the newest one the part D of medicare that covers prescriptions.

So it depends on what you need and how much money you got or want to spend!

flybd5

The same as everywhere else in the US... poorly.

Munbe

It's the same as in the US.

Conteplative

be more detailed

madddness

if you get sick, you die

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