We spend a day doing medical things to get a feel of the conditions and how everything would go as a recent expat in Nicaragua.
First stop was Jireh Dental Clinic where we were met by Dr. Gabrielle Llok, who spoke excellent English. I was the first one on deck, walked into a very up to date dental office.
The office building is somewhat dated, strip mall and there seems to be 4 other dental offices in this strip mall.
After the initial dental review the Dr Llok suggested that we get panoramic x-rays which we could take at Ortho Dental which was 5 blocks from their office, we decided to walk to the clinic.
At Ortho Dental we where greeted by a receptionist and she took the Doctors orders. We waited for maybe 10 minutes and where taken into a very modern state of the art x-ray area. In minutes we received our x-rays and paid $20 each for a panoramic views and we headed back to the dental office with our X-rays.
Pictures of Ortho Dental:
We saw Dr Llok and received the news that all is well and only needed one new crown at a cost of US$385.00 which was a significant cost savings from our US Dental care provider who had said US$1200 per crown. So saved some monies and also only one crown had to be reworked. Cost of Doctor visit was US $30.00. A visit is scheduled to have this work done in June 2017.
Pictures of the Jireh Dental Clinic:
Than we went to Metropolitan Hospital Vivian Pella visit for medical checkup and discuss insurance options with staff.We were greeted by on of the two front receptionist who was aware of our visit. Previous to our visit we had everything arranged by Ms Maite Soto, who is responsible for tourism and expat who desire to receive services from Metropolitan.
Take in process took us approx. 30 minutes to fill out various forms for medical history and application for the medical insurance. Then we had to pay for the Laboratory tests and Dr visit a total of US$30.01. And yes the .01 has to be paid, LOL, which was equal to one Cordoba.
The receptionist took us down to see the Dr, who was not available, so to save time she took us to the laboratory next door. There was approx. a 30 min wait so we talked with the pharmacist on some drugs we needed. One of the medicines I needed costs in the US$ 380 per 30 pills per month and here at the Pharmacia it costs US$58.00; another pill was more expensive here in Nicaragua, therefore it pays to shop around. However after we receive my new insurance from Metropolitan we will see a 30% discount on all pharmaceutical items. Finally got my name called by a male lab guy. He took me to a private room to take my blood test. He started 8 months ago after a 5 year university training as a Lab Analyst – I was impressed both by his mannerism and education.
Next take an urine test and off to see the Dr. Here we visited with Dr Jaime who just went over all the forms and did some general Q&A’s and provided us with some details on how to access emergency staff and provided his private email and phone if there were ever any issues. One of the test we wanted to know about was a mammogram, costs here at the hospital was approx. US$55.00 before any discounts and in the US this would have cost well over US$450.00
Overall, we were very impressed. When you go its best to have your passport with you. To get the insurance policy you also need a reference letter/email from your bank. Cost of the insurance plan are below, this is based on 2 people and their respective ages.
Plan Dorado is US$124 per month and for those with preexisting condition would need to purchase plan Dorado Plus US$128 per month, the difference is the plan discounts. More discounts with Plan Dorado.
Pictures of the Hospital