Health care here is expensive, on par with the US. Equally, the quality is good. There are some 50 public hospitals and another dozen private institutions as well as many clinics serving this city of 7M people. Doctors are educated to international standards.
Service is remarkably efficient. Waits are short to non-existent. I had an appointment in days, and some follow-up tests on the weekend - most clinics are open Saturday morning and I have some further tests at a hospital on Sunday. Every single visit has been a clockwork of on-time efficiency. Even the waiting room magazines are new - not that I had time to read them!
It's also easy to pay. My insurance is based on reimbursement for initial visits. I know exactly what it costs, and can pay by credit card immediately after the visit. Equally, if you have an insurance card, you know exactly what is accepted at any clinic or hospital and they'll take that. This is a contrast from every clinic I've been in the US, even small ones, where they don't even know what the bill is after your visit.
Pharmacies are abundant, well stocked, and efficient.
The public health system also seems to be pretty good. Flu shots are widely available and there are public add campaigns for H1N1 prevention, in addition to all manner of general hygiene and the like. This is after all, a city that dealt with SARs not too long ago.
For fans of traditional medicine: Chinese medicine abounds. Of course that's not proven by double-blind clinical studies, but 5000 years of accumulated trial-and-error is worth at least a little bit.
There are criticisms of course. Is drug safety sufficient? Are hospital operational controls where they need to be? But from what I can see, it isn't much different than the same criticisms elsewhere, and it seems better than average - although it would be interesting to look at some hard data in this regard.
On balance there are reasons life expectancy here is in the 80 year range and among the best in the world. Quality health care must certainly be one of them.
One more thing: The system is nothing like nationalized health care Europe nor is it anything like Obamacare. It is arguably far superior.
