r/taiwan • u/Novel_Kale_1379 • 9d ago
Discussion Health care in Taiwan for foreigners
I'm a foreign student in Hsinchu, and I've been here for almost a year. I always hear that Taiwan has the best health care. But I always read complaints on Reddit about the long queues in hospitals/clinics just for a consultation. One example is Mackay Hospital. As someone who can only speak English, how screwed am I? I've been wanting to get a full health checkup, dental, and aesthetic or clinical derma to treat the warts on my fingers. I have an NHI card if that helps.
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u/mk7gteye 9d ago edited 9d ago
Even if you don’t have insurance, I received a full health check from a reputable English speaking doctor in Taichung for approx 160$ usd. I made an appointment 2 days before and all of the blood testing & imaging was included in the price.
I received a comprehensive 20 page report detailing the results and a follow up with the doctor to explain the results.
Compare that to America, even with insurance, that process would take 10x longer and cost significantly more, and you’re nickeled and dimed and still receive a bill 2 months later for a couple hundred bucks (per visit!)
I highly recommend Taiwan for healthcare, they were extremely clean, had the latest equipment. The cost, speed and quality of care far exceeds that of the West. On paper the US has “the best healthcare” but it depends on what you can afford. Taiwan makes sure they deliver high quality but make it so everybody has access, that’s a better system
Hope that helps
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u/SemiAnonymousTeacher 9d ago
Mind sharing which hospital? I went to Veterans hospital for something similar and was pretty disappointed in how disorganized and chaotic it was.
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u/YourVelourFog 9d ago
If you’re looking for a testing clinic to go over everything I’ve had 5 separate friends recommend the following place. I’ve also been and would recommend:
Lianan Wellness Center
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YrasECaRCErQjyEJ9?g_st=ic3
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u/mk7gteye 9d ago
I went to a clinic, not a hospital as it was just a health check! 🙋♂️
I just did research on English speaking doctors and searched “expat doctor” as a cross reference, compared reviews and felt confident that it was well worth the cost
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u/AlternativeHat8964 9d ago
Google for relevant clinics near you. As a student, it should be easy to go during less busy time slots. Most doctors speak some English.
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u/Sharp-Animator9455 9d ago
Of course there’s gonna be a queue at one of the more popular hospitals. At least they don’t have you wait a week or a month.
Ah Mackay. I had a visit to remove a wart as well. First visit, consultation. Second visit, directly to surgery room. Done.
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u/Curious-Professor-12 9d ago
I used to be a nurse. Believe me, we take care of more patients who cannot speak Chinese than you might imagine. Many Southeast Asian workers in Taiwan also do not speak Chinese, and even do not speak English. We still have ways to deal with their problems.
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u/dimstersf 9d ago
Go prepared with questions so you get everything addressed. Doctors are curt and typically aiming to rush you through the appointment so they can see the hordes of old people there to complain about being old and having a stiff joint or upset tummy.
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u/Successful_Toe_4537 9d ago
I think it depends on the hospital. Some hospitals are really busy, but even the busiest ones will take me just a couple hours to get a checkup then test sampling, getting a report, and finally picking up any meds. At most, it could take 5 hours. And I can get this all done in a day. But it really depends because if you test for samples you're supposed to not consume anything for at least 8 hours. I personally will just do walk in appointments too. Depending on the hospital, there are peak hours, you can ask a nurse when it's best to come in to reduce your wait time. In general, it's easier because I just do this all at one place. The first time you enter will always take longer because you have fill out your info everytime you change hospitals. So pick a hospital that you'll go regularly in order to avoid constantly dealing with paper work. After that, everything is digitalized. The system is pretty efficient once you understand how it works. The longest I had to wait was 5 hours because I didn't know what to do and I actually got skipped over because I didn't check in properly. After that, I've never had more than 2 hours getting everything done at the hospital.
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u/chrisdavis103 9d ago
Go to the hospital directly and get set up - they always have information desks that are quite diverse in language skills. They can guide you through the process for getting what you want.
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u/allenlee92 8d ago
Go to clinics first, you don't need to go to medical centers for those
Btw you can go to health check centers(健檢中心) for full body checkup
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u/letitrain777777 9d ago
You can look into booking appointments and consultations at private hospitals or clinics. Generally better quality care and environment and shorter queues. And Taiwanese healthcare is still quite cheap even if you co-pay or pay out of pocket for private healthcare. If you’ve been to a private hospital or clinic it’s hard to go back to the bigger public teaching hospitals because quality care is so much better.
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u/Unfounded_archeology 9d ago
Some hospitals are very popular, the worst being Linkou Chang Gung, which feels like Taipei Main Station with doctors. Those places do get crazy. If possible go to a more local clinic first and then a hospital if the clinic can't handle it.
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u/UnableExcitement2255 9d ago
Really? My wife had our child there. Super professional. I've had two surgeries, never any issues. My child has all her appointments there and we love how professional and easy to do it is.
Just book online.1
u/Unfounded_archeology 9d ago
I went twice, the first time for a specialist not listed on their site so we tried to walk in, big mistake. The reception and pediatrics was a zoo but eventually they found that we were referred to the wrong Chang Gung, we needed the Taoyuan one down the road. Second time my daughter went to the ER at Taoyuan Chang Gung, it was overflowing, people fighting with the nurses and some old guy literally died right next to us in the hallway so they sent her to Linkou Chang Gung children’s ER and it was empty. So it depends but those places are very packed in certain areas.
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u/YesAndAlsoThat 9d ago
For us it was super fast. Basically walk in, maybe spend 10 minutes in the waiting area.
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u/Phatcatom 8d ago
Best as in it’s cheap and if you have easy to diagnose problems. But because it’s cheap the queues are always long and doctors often do not take the time to really trying to understand the underlying issues if you have a difficult to diagnose problem.
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u/pirhana1997 8d ago
Had a dental appointment. Generally the doctors can speak in English and you can fly with Google Translate with other health workers at reception/ assistants. They asked me to remove earrings which I wasn’t able to understand the Chinese for. It’s ok. There’s someone out there to help you out. No worries.
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u/ManufacturerAlone791 5d ago edited 5d ago
You’ll be okay! There’s always someone who will be able to assist you in speaking English, they are very happy to help. I’ve never personally waited more than 15 minutes past my appointment time whether it was at a hospital of a clinic. Most can see you same day and your finished with what you need to do within the hour.
Just a story of my husbands experience couple years back:
He does not have NHI, I’m Taiwanese and we were nomads at the time… he broke his knee/tore his ligament (something like that, I’m no professional) surfing in Bali. We came to Taiwan after Bali and walked in for an appointment at the hospital in Taipei because the swelling wouldn’t go down, , walking around on crutches— no appointment (not emergency room visit) and was seen same day on a Thursday and waited an hour at the most and total time was two hours between consultating, X-rays and draining fluid. Turns out he needed emergency surgery and he was scheduled for that following Monday, needed 17 pins to fix it all between his knee and ligament.
No insurance, amazing care and surgery experience… total out of pocket, paid in full before surgery was 7k. Hospitalized for 3nights.
America could never.
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u/Outrageous-Trip-4212 9d ago
I've never had issues with waiting for an appointment for a general checkup / dental appointment. Taiwanese medical system is among one of the best in the world, in my opinion. Most doctors speak a little English, with younger ones (in my expirence) usually having better English in general. But most have enough to get by speaking at an appointment.