These last few weeks I’ve been in New Zealand visiting my elderly grandmother. She is nearly 90 and can no longer do many of the things she could last time I visited her.
However, the first thing that shocked me was her house was much much cleaner than before. She told me it was down to a cleaner sent by the local hospital.
Later in the day a nurse came and introduced herself. She was to shower my grandmother and put her in her Pajamas! The nurse also asked if she could cook a meal for her but I explained it wasn’t necessary for these few weeks.
Was she at a special elderly home? No. Did she have any kind of special insurance? No. This is all provided for under New Zealand healthcare.
I then visited my disabled uncle who is half paralyzed with a tumor on his spine. Last time I visited him he was walking fine but now sadly it has started catching up with him.
I asked him to come out at he said his “shower girl” was coming at 9:30am. I asked him what other assistance he gets. He get assistance grocery shopping and they even outfitted his car. All paid for by the New Zealand medical system.
These are things that Taiwan does not seem to pay for at all. When I talked to my Taiwanese ex and asked about her elderly parents she explained it is all up to family or shelling out money for a foreign worker… and even the hospital nurses in Taiwan are hopeless.
Such care is also pretty standard in Germany. Albeit there is a lot of bureaucracy and if possible the state will try to push the financial burden onto the children of the elderly.
Germany has also a bit of filial piety laws, but way less than Taiwan.
I’ve been impressed with my ability to get tests and services done in a timely manner in Taiwan — is it also the same in other countries? The horror stories we’re fed in the US is that it can take months to get a necessary MRI or something in Canada or the UK
(As a side note, I just found an overdue $500US bill in the mail as we came back to visit my parents from a clinic visit in 2023 where we had $1k/month insurance at the time for… they mailed it months later after we had returned to Taiwan… the US system is just broken)
Compared to England i’d say its outstanding.
If you want to see a doctor you can, that day. The hassle it takes to see a doctor back home means lots of people just dont see them.
Paying a little and being able to see a doctor vs free and not being able to see one is preferable too.
Perhaps the new uk govt could take notes but i doubt they have even heard of Taiwan. Which is a shame. All the public services here seem to be way better than back home.
As for the carers, well that aspect certainty sounds better in NZ. That area is basically a form of modern slavery in Taiwan.
I think it might come down to how Taiwan and New Zealand are willing to pay for physical labor. In Taiwan, if you are not looking to have fancy meals every day, it is much cheaper to eat out than to cook yourself, especially if you order the same dishes that you could cook at home. This is different than living in the US and Europe because how little manual labor gets paid here in Taiwan.
I’m sure more would be willing to clean and take care of elderly and disabled people if they get paid for 50,000 or more a month for it.
You can get the kind of house services in Taiwan if the government deems that you meet one of the following criteria.
Disability
Dementia
ADLs: Unable to eat, move, walk indoors, put on clothes, take showers, use the restroom
IADLs: Unable to prepare food, do house cores, wash clothes, grocery shopping, manage personal finance, walk outdoors.
There is a good chance your grandmother would not qualify in Taiwan, as they are very strict about who gets at home long term care in Taiwan.
Usually if you do get approved, it would be a migrant worker taking care of the elderly, and often they live right in the house.
This page includes how the cost is covered. It depends on your family income. Also the government is only willing to pay up to around 30,000 for a care-taker, rendering less people willing to do that kind of work.
In my experience as far as testing and diagnosis goes it’s fast and sloppy in Taiwan. Definitely want to be getting a second opinion if anything comes up for you in Taiwan.
This thread is going to fill up with millions of US comparisons soon.
Probably not much of a surprise but Australia’s system provides similar services to New Zealand for the sick/elderly.
I can only speak for Australia but the keyword here is necessary
For anything threatening or potentially life threatening, there is not really a wait time.
Anything that isn’t life threatening but may relate to quality of life can be a long wait time.
My grandma needed a knee replacement and waited about a year to have it done.
My other grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer and was on chemo in a week.
There are pros and cons on the healthcare in western countries and in Taiwan. I have to admit the healthcare is more accessible in Taiwan, but the doctors in the U.S. are more thorough, straightforward and honest, without much consideration of institutional politics. Everybody in Taiwan have universal affordable healthcare insurace. In the U.S, you either get the insurance through work or pay high premium (~USD500/month) to be insured with Obama care, and you still end up with high annual deductible(~USD10K). Most of the time, the insurance company assign a physician assistant or praticing nurse to be your primary care provider, not a real MD, and you need referrals to see specialists. The specialists may refuse or delay to see you based on the expected reimbursement amount from the insurance. It really is a complicated mess in the U.S. healthcare insurace system.
I always try to cook at home with good ingredients. A lot of cheap foods in Taiwan are extremely unhealthy.
In Taiwan, most people hire foreign workers for elderly home care. The quality of nursing home in Taiwan is just bad. In the U.S. most elders who are not able to care for themselves move to assisting living or nursing home.
I volunteered at one for a whole year with my friend in Texas. I can hardly call the environment ideal. I’m sure with money there are luxurious nursing home options for the elderly, however, I guess that won’t be the experience for most in the US.
Taiwanese healthcare is great at providing basic coverage for all and ensuring a small operation doesn’t bankrupt you and 3 generations of your offspring.
But that’s about it.
The quality of doctors in the recent years has been declining, with many chasing after profits (more patients / hour). Resulting in sometimes diagnosis being given in record times of a seconds (yes, SECONDS).
It’s a sad thing really, but also quite a predictable outcome for heavily socialized healthcare, where the state pays a flat rate for each patient.
So any enterprising doctor would of course, chase after more profit - it’s a no-brainer.
Taiwan has a further complication of the state paying for your drugs, resulting in the infamous 15 packages of pills for a small cough (enough to embarrass a regular pill junkie).
Same thing is happening in Germany, where healthcare (and everything else, really) is also heavily socialized and state regulated - but at least the doctors there take their time to give you a proper consultation vs. throwing 3 antibiotics at you and calling it the day.
There’s pros and cons. But I would put Taiwan in one of the better countries, at least in terms of executing a national health care system. It’s far from perfect with lots of flaws. But I would put it in the functional category.
UK is a disaster and rather shameful. It’s a small part of why I did not renew my residency in the UK.
And watches them, and walks them for 24 hours. Nurses go home after the shift
We tried to hire the one who took care of my FIL. She was like I dont want to stay with one family. Switching patients and staying at the hospital is better money and i am off to kenting for the week anyway.
Taiwan Healthcare has been phenomenal in my experience
Recently walked in to a busy hospital with no appointment, was in to see a doctor within 15 minutes, over for an X-ray and back with a doctor and all out within 45 minutes. NT$570
America commonly would take days or another week and a lot more cash
