I am Portuguese and I also have private health insurance because it is cheaper, faster and more comfortable, but in cases of very serious illness I recommend that you use the public health system not because of the cost, but because of the efficiency and greater capacity to deal with serious problems.
Yes, this is also the advice from health professionals because the private sector don't have the capacity / ability to deal with serious problems. Private doctors often reffer patients to public hospitals when they think it's the best / safest option. Private hospitals can't deal with emergencies because they don't have emergency departments. For routine non-serious problems, the private sector may be better & faster than public service.
@trave764 In the UK yes, it can take up to 2 years (and more...) to see a specialist doctor. But not in Portugal. Patients will be put on a waiting list when their problem is NOT URGENT, but even non-urgent cases will be seen within a few months. I know this because all my family, friends and acquaintances use the portuguese SNS (Serviço Nacional de Saude). Emergencies are seen as soon as they arrive at the emergency departments of public hospitals.
@trave764 By incredible coincidence, a friend of mine tore a tendon in his arm on Saturday, he was treated for emergency in the public and I just went to pick him up at the hospital (today Thursday). He is a bank employee and has one of the best private insurances yet he has to be operated in the public and has not paid a cent.
@trave764 .I'm from the Algarve. It is true that there are long lines at certain specialty appointments and non-urgent surgeries. But the two great advantages of the public system are serving those who can't pay and forcing private ones to charge low prices.
@trave764 in some cases you can waith months to be seen by a specialist doctor. Thats wen I go to the private healt care system, thats why I recomend having a healt insurance for this situation. For everything else I use the public healtcare system. I live near Caldas by the way.
In Portugal it is common for a specialist doctor to give their direct mobile phone number to a patient they are treating or to relatives, in case the patient may have adverse reaction to treatment or after surgery. This happens also in public hospitals: my mum was operated in Lisbon Hospital Santa Maria, she was sent home after 3 days with the doctors' direct number in case she felt unwell and needed advice. Same with my elderly uncle, he had surgery in Lisbon Hospital Sao Jose and the surgeon even rang us at home right after surgery to let us know how it had gone and gave us his direct contact number for follow up. Of course people will not be given a direct number if their problem is trivial and unlikely to have adverse problems. Good news I suppose... Good doctors take personal interest in their patients wellbeing, they even check their messages when they are off-duty and in case of complication they are the first & best advisers on what to do next. Standard. (To anyone reading this that have not been given a direct number: you are not in any risk. Be happy!)
Happy to Know the fast recovering oferece your daughter, and also glad that Ricardo and Cátia from Brasil met you this morning at the fruit market in caldas.rgds
Your daughter is adorable and so happy her surgery went well. We also went to Torres Verdes Cuf (by recommendation of our local doctor) only for my emergency blood transfusion and surgery I was transferred to the Lisbon Cuf. Which was absolutely stunning for a hospital and felt more like going to a spa vs being at a hospital. All our post op and pre-op tests were done at Torres Verdes Cuf and we were very happy with service as well. They probably tested her heart before surgery...a super simple and quick test I had to before mine. Highly recommend CUF.
Hi Josie, I'm glad everything went well for your little princess. We, as fans of your family, are very happy with the good news. Thank you for sharing this with us. health a lot of health to the whole family, hugs to all.💕🙏👩👩👦👦💞
aww glad your daughter is doing well. interesting video seeing the medical office etc. I had that same procedure in 1971 and similar age. Never had another ear infection after that
Thank you, Josie. This was very helpful. Health care is so important and is one of my primary considerations in considering Portugal. So glad your daughter is feeling better. What an amazing doctor. Alex
I had a very similar experience at CUF Torres Vedras also in April with my 3 years old 😁 Main difference was that my daughter was very upset when she woke up from the cirgury 🤣 She was looking like a wild animal to be more accurate 🤣 Anyeays, happy you had a good experience and even happier to know CUF os going to Caldas 😁 All the best!
Awww, little sweetie! My younger brother had this as well, when he was a similar age. Luckily, the monitor your child’s growth and need for new tubes, or to remove them better, now. My brother outgrew his quickly, and it caused damage. He says it wouldn’t happen now. He had his surgery in the 70’s.
im so grateful that i found your channel. thank you so much for sharing this. your channel has been addresing many issues that i am concerned with! keep posting!!
Hi Patsy! It was lovely meeting you and your husband too and it wasn’t an intrusion at all! Enjoy your scouting trip :). Also, shoot me an email about what your rental needs are and I’ll try to ask around
@@josieinportugal6454 Hi Josie, that was a very helpful video about your daughter’s surgery at CUF. I hope she has made a great recovery. Have you heard any more about CUF coming to Caldas da Rainha? We will be arriving in Portugal in late November and moving into our new home in Caldas. It’s the one thing that bothers us, is the distance to the nearest private hospital, which I understand is CUF. Good to hear of your experience with them. Thank you for sharing. 😊
And i bet the cost is a tiny fraction the ones that they had in the USA. I have a insurance that cost me 12,99€/month (from my bank), yes my bank in Portugal provide me a health insurance.
Josie, I am a fan of yours. Your videos are informative. I am in Caldas today and wanted to meet real estate agent for long term rental or for buying a property. Could you recommend someone? Thank you so much in advance for your help
Hi Josie! Thanks for the video. I'm glad that things worked out for your you and that your daughter is doing well now. It was great to see the photos of CUF. I know they are building another location in Leiria, but I haven't seen info on the one planned for Caldas. I have been reading about the issues with emergency rooms at public hospitals being closed/overwhelmed because of lack of doctors especially in obstetrics. I saw that that ended tragically last week at Caldas's hospital. It's one of the reasons I am reconsidering that area, because we need a good maternity hospital close by. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Portugal currently has half a million more people than it had before the pandemic. There is the estimated numbers of almost 400.000 Brazilians, 50.000 Ukrainians and now the new fashion is people coming from the United States, mainly from California. And with a tendency to get worse, because there are retired couples who are looking for a house coming from northern Europe (they can move without VISA because they have EU citizenship), due to the cost of gas that will make things very complicated in cold countries, not to mention the Russian threat. One problem about obstetrics is that Portugal last year changed the law, if a baby is born in Portugal it is automatically the right to Portuguese citizenship and so many Brazilian couples made the change when they where pregnant to have the baby be born in Portugal and this is leaving all the maternity service overwhelmed, more than 250 children were born last weekend. I remember that our government in 2018 want to close the largest maternity hospital in the country (Maternidade Alfredo da Costa) in Lisbon and was supposed to sell the building for a big charming hotel for many millions of euros, because of the massive protests from Lisbon people, because almost all the people from Lisbon were born there, he ended up giving up on the idea. But at the moment they are completely overwhelmed with births. Now until the government manages to hire more professionals this will be a BIG problem, there is a lack of obstetricians, pediatricians and anesthesiologists in public hospitals in Portugal, so it is good to have health insurance to avoid having to wait a long time in a hospital, in private hospitals in less than 30 minutes we see the doctor, in a public we may have to wait hours, in the winter is even worse. PS: Sorry my English.
@@arturjcrebelo3275 Hi Artur. Your English is great! Thanks for the information. It really helps to get the local perspective! It sounds like a bit of a complicated issue. On the one hand, I imagine that more births in the country could be a good thing because the birth rate was not as high as Portugal would like it to be. But, when it happens so quickly, the services have not had time to prepare or respond to the increase in demand. It's a tough thing. We experience it in the US as well, as difficult as it sounds to hear that well paid Americans are struggling....But, a lot of young people can't afford to have children and so they move to smaller towns, which ends up increasing the population more quickly than the town planners/government could expect. It's a part of the reality we are all dealing with it seems these days. People are moving to have a better life, but it takes time for the government to mobilize the resources. I really hope that things get better, because I can imagine it is pretty stressful for families and for the medical professionals as well.
Hi Maria, I believe you are new to my channel so welcome. Since you are new, I wanted to share with you that my family recently moved to Portugal a year ago. During that time, I have been learning the language as our goal is to integrate as much as possible. However, as many know who are or have learned a new language, it is nearly impossible to become fluent in less than a year. Especially when it comes to medical terminology for a surgery that neither I or people that I know underwent. I am almost sure that I probably do not even know some of the medical terminology in my native language 😂. Anyway, thanks for watching!
People that move over need to remember this is Portugal you need to be the one speaking Portuguese just like back home in the States people need to be speaking English
Understandable and agree that it is important to learn to speak the language. However, most people won’t be fluent in the language in less than a year especially when it comes to medical terminology. It is very helpful that hospital like CUF have staff who are fluent in English. It helps foreigners like me be able to feel more comfortable when it comes to something serious like surgery.
@@josieinportugal6454 I agree and now you know the difference between Pt and the USA lol in 37 year's in the states all I had was snobby doctor's and big bills to pay 😅
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
I am Portuguese and I also have private health insurance because it is cheaper, faster and more comfortable, but in cases of very serious illness I recommend that you use the public health system not because of the cost, but because of the efficiency and greater capacity to deal with serious problems.
Yes, this is also the advice from health professionals because the private sector don't have the capacity / ability to deal with serious problems. Private doctors often reffer patients to public hospitals when they think it's the best / safest option.
Private hospitals can't deal with emergencies because they don't have emergency departments.
For routine non-serious problems, the private sector may be better & faster than public service.
@trave764 In the UK yes, it can take up to 2 years (and more...) to see a specialist doctor. But not in Portugal. Patients will be put on a waiting list when their problem is NOT URGENT, but even non-urgent cases will be seen within a few months. I know this because all my family, friends and acquaintances use the portuguese SNS (Serviço Nacional de Saude).
Emergencies are seen as soon as they arrive at the emergency departments of public hospitals.
@trave764 By incredible coincidence, a friend of mine tore a tendon in his arm on Saturday, he was treated for emergency in the public and I just went to pick him up at the hospital (today Thursday). He is a bank employee and has one of the best private insurances yet he has to be operated in the public and has not paid a cent.
@trave764 .I'm from the Algarve. It is true that there are long lines at certain specialty appointments and non-urgent surgeries. But the two great advantages of the public system are serving those who can't pay and forcing private ones to charge low prices.
@trave764 in some cases you can waith months to be seen by a specialist doctor. Thats wen I go to the private healt care system, thats why I recomend having a healt insurance for this situation.
For everything else I use the public healtcare system.
I live near Caldas by the way.
In Portugal it is common for a specialist doctor to give their direct mobile phone number to a patient they are treating or to relatives, in case the patient may have adverse reaction to treatment or after surgery.
This happens also in public hospitals: my mum was operated in Lisbon Hospital Santa Maria, she was sent home after 3 days with the doctors' direct number in case she felt unwell and needed advice. Same with my elderly uncle, he had surgery in Lisbon Hospital Sao Jose and the surgeon even rang us at home right after surgery to let us know how it had gone and gave us his direct contact number for follow up.
Of course people will not be given a direct number if their problem is trivial and unlikely to have adverse problems. Good news I suppose...
Good doctors take personal interest in their patients wellbeing, they even check their messages when they are off-duty and in case of complication they are the first & best advisers on what to do next. Standard.
(To anyone reading this that have not been given a direct number: you are not in any risk. Be happy!)
thank you for sharing
Sounds like it was a great experience! Thanks for sharing!
Happy to Know the fast recovering oferece your daughter, and also glad that Ricardo and Cátia from Brasil met you this morning at the fruit market in caldas.rgds
It was so lovely meeting you both today ❤️
Your daughter is adorable and so happy her surgery went well. We also went to Torres Verdes Cuf (by recommendation of our local doctor) only for my emergency blood transfusion and surgery I was transferred to the Lisbon Cuf. Which was absolutely stunning for a hospital and felt more like going to a spa vs being at a hospital. All our post op and pre-op tests were done at Torres Verdes Cuf and we were very happy with service as well. They probably tested her heart before surgery...a super simple and quick test I had to before mine. Highly recommend CUF.
I'm glad everything went well! And thanks for sharing information about the private health care system. Really great to know!
Hi Josie, I'm glad everything went well for your little princess. We, as fans of your family, are very happy with the good news. Thank you for sharing this with us. health a lot of health to the whole family, hugs to all.💕🙏👩👩👦👦💞
aww glad your daughter is doing well. interesting video seeing the medical office etc. I had that same procedure in 1971 and similar age. Never had another ear infection after that
Thank you, Josie. This was very helpful. Health care is so important and is one of my primary considerations in considering Portugal. So glad your daughter is feeling better. What an amazing doctor.
Alex
I had a very similar experience at CUF Torres Vedras also in April with my 3 years old 😁 Main difference was that my daughter was very upset when she woke up from the cirgury 🤣 She was looking like a wild animal to be more accurate 🤣 Anyeays, happy you had a good experience and even happier to know CUF os going to Caldas 😁 All the best!
Awww, little sweetie! My younger brother had this as well, when he was a similar age. Luckily, the monitor your child’s growth and need for new tubes, or to remove them better, now. My brother outgrew his quickly, and it caused damage. He says it wouldn’t happen now. He had his surgery in the 70’s.
im so grateful that i found your channel. thank you so much for sharing this. your channel has been addresing many issues that i am concerned with! keep posting!!
So glad it went well. It was lovely to meet you and your lovely family at lunch (sorry for the intrusion) in Caldas. Patsy from Scotland. 😊
Hi Patsy! It was lovely meeting you and your husband too and it wasn’t an intrusion at all! Enjoy your scouting trip :). Also, shoot me an email about what your rental needs are and I’ll try to ask around
@@josieinportugal6454 Hi Josie, that was a very helpful video about your daughter’s surgery at CUF. I hope she has made a great recovery. Have you heard any more about CUF coming to Caldas da Rainha? We will be arriving in Portugal in late November and moving into our new home in Caldas. It’s the one thing that bothers us, is the distance to the nearest private hospital, which I understand is CUF. Good to hear of your experience with them. Thank you for sharing. 😊
Glad everything went well. Wow! The insurance paid for 100%? Amazing!!!
And i bet the cost is a tiny fraction the ones that they had in the USA. I have a insurance that cost me 12,99€/month (from my bank), yes my bank in Portugal provide me a health insurance.
BCBS wouldn't reimburse is for hospitalizations in any Portuguese hospital. We paid out of pocket which really is a lot less that we''d pay in Texas.
Thankfully, we have their international plan that covers all countries. However, yes, typically their US based plans would not cover outside the US.
Josie, I am a fan of yours. Your videos are informative. I am in Caldas today and wanted to meet real estate agent for long term rental or for buying a property. Could you recommend someone? Thank you so much in advance for your help
Hi Josie! Thanks for the video. I'm glad that things worked out for your you and that your daughter is doing well now. It was great to see the photos of CUF. I know they are building another location in Leiria, but I haven't seen info on the one planned for Caldas. I have been reading about the issues with emergency rooms at public hospitals being closed/overwhelmed because of lack of doctors especially in obstetrics. I saw that that ended tragically last week at Caldas's hospital. It's one of the reasons I am reconsidering that area, because we need a good maternity hospital close by. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Portugal currently has half a million more people than it had before the pandemic. There is the estimated numbers of almost 400.000 Brazilians, 50.000 Ukrainians and now the new fashion is people coming from the United States, mainly from California. And with a tendency to get worse, because there are retired couples who are looking for a house coming from northern Europe (they can move without VISA because they have EU citizenship), due to the cost of gas that will make things very complicated in cold countries, not to mention the Russian threat.
One problem about obstetrics is that Portugal last year changed the law, if a baby is born in Portugal it is automatically the right to Portuguese citizenship and so many Brazilian couples made the change when they where pregnant to have the baby be born in Portugal and this is leaving all the maternity service overwhelmed, more than 250 children were born last weekend. I remember that our government in 2018 want to close the largest maternity hospital in the country (Maternidade Alfredo da Costa) in Lisbon and was supposed to sell the building for a big charming hotel for many millions of euros, because of the massive protests from Lisbon people, because almost all the people from Lisbon were born there, he ended up giving up on the idea. But at the moment they are completely overwhelmed with births.
Now until the government manages to hire more professionals this will be a BIG problem, there is a lack of obstetricians, pediatricians and anesthesiologists in public hospitals in Portugal, so it is good to have health insurance to avoid having to wait a long time in a hospital, in private hospitals in less than 30 minutes we see the doctor, in a public we may have to wait hours, in the winter is even worse.
PS: Sorry my English.
@@arturjcrebelo3275 Hi Artur. Your English is great! Thanks for the information. It really helps to get the local perspective! It sounds like a bit of a complicated issue. On the one hand, I imagine that more births in the country could be a good thing because the birth rate was not as high as Portugal would like it to be. But, when it happens so quickly, the services have not had time to prepare or respond to the increase in demand. It's a tough thing. We experience it in the US as well, as difficult as it sounds to hear that well paid Americans are struggling....But, a lot of young people can't afford to have children and so they move to smaller towns, which ends up increasing the population more quickly than the town planners/government could expect. It's a part of the reality we are all dealing with it seems these days. People are moving to have a better life, but it takes time for the government to mobilize the resources. I really hope that things get better, because I can imagine it is pretty stressful for families and for the medical professionals as well.
Good stuff
Josie, did you get reimbursed anything from the 3500? Just trying to budget. Thank YOU.
Yes, I was reimbursed 100%.
@@josieinportugal6454 Thank you for ALL of your valuable information Josie. We will be in YOUR town in early October scouting out different regions.
It's very nice the doctors and nurses can speak your language.
What about to move to a forgneir country and learning the new language ??
Hi Maria, I believe you are new to my channel so welcome.
Since you are new, I wanted to share with you that my family recently moved to Portugal a year ago. During that time, I have been learning the language as our goal is to integrate as much as possible. However, as many know who are or have learned a new language, it is nearly impossible to become fluent in less than a year. Especially when it comes to medical terminology for a surgery that neither I or people that I know underwent. I am almost sure that I probably do not even know some of the medical terminology in my native language 😂.
Anyway, thanks for watching!
People that move over need to remember this is Portugal you need to be the one speaking Portuguese just like back home in the States people need to be speaking English
Understandable and agree that it is important to learn to speak the language. However, most people won’t be fluent in the language in less than a year especially when it comes to medical terminology. It is very helpful that hospital like CUF have staff who are fluent in English. It helps foreigners like me be able to feel more comfortable when it comes to something serious like surgery.
@@josieinportugal6454 I agree and now you know the difference between Pt and the USA lol in 37 year's in the states all I had was snobby doctor's and big bills to pay 😅
@@antoniodasilva1230 now you know why I left the US 😉
I’m so glad you got such great care and she is on the mend ❤️🩹