Massive increase in medical fees by Saint Luke's

[top_secret 2,416]

Effective August 19 there will be HUGE increases in the cost of the medical exams at Saint Luke's.  The fees for ages 15+ increases from P18,540 to P28,250.  A whopping 52% increase to nearly $500.  Below age 15 the price is raised from P11,400 to P13,910. A 22% increase.

They are attributing the increase to a policy change extending IGRA TB testing to all adults.  Although the increase is substantially more than the cost of IGRA testing even in the US and they had been doing IGRA testing profitably for all child applicants for years at the previous child's price.  Not to mention how far out of line it is with the costs of any type of normal medical care in the Philippines.

If there is any bright side, presumably this would replace their infamous x-ray machine and reduce the number of applicants being unnecessarily sent for sputum testing.

[RO_AH 1,659]

Wow that's a lot.

6 hours ago, top_secret said:

If there is any bright side, presumably this would replace their infamous x-ray machine and reduce the number of applicants being unnecessarily sent for sputum testing.

I am sure that a lot of people will  be on board with that.

[An D 27]

It's more fun in the Philippines. 

[Jason and May 79]

The announcement is on their webpage; though, there is lots of speculation as to why the increase. Everyone, it seems, is hoping for a new X-ray machine, but no one seems to be holding their breath, except for all the people who are now talking about rushing for advanced medical to try to avoid the increase. 😕 

Edited June 12 by Jason and May

[NeonParticles 126]

Wow, glad we missed the cutoff on this. I hope it means a more streamlined process and less people having to suffer the sputum process.  

[RufusDawes 12]

Can anyone confirm that SLEC is not doing X-Ray anymore for TB testing and is now going to use IGRA TB testing instead?

 

My Pinay won't be taking the medical until later this year, just would like to know what's up with this news... if I have to pay more it would be nice if the x-ray was not required anymore.  

[top_secret 2,416]

26 minutes ago, RufusDawes said:

Can anyone confirm that SLEC is not doing X-Ray anymore for TB testing and is now going to use IGRA TB testing instead?

 

My Pinay won't be taking the medical until later this year, just would like to know what's up with this news... if I have to pay more it would be nice if the x-ray was not required anymore.  

 

They say they are going to IGRA testing for everyone.  IGRA testing 'should' replace x-rays as a frontline TB test but Saint Luke's has not officially announced as much. For some time now children 14 and under have received only IGRA testing and have not received x-rays unless they tested positive.  One could infer that Saint Lukes would apply the same protocol to adults now, but they have not officially announced as much.  Additionally, the "GeneXpert" testing they refer to should replace the dreaded secondary sputum testing and give much faster results. Again, "should replace sputum testing" but they have not officially announced that yet.  So for now it seems like the x-ray/sputum testing issue goes away but until we see how Saint Luke’s actually really implements any new policy it remains uncertain.

[Swafford25 20]

If they follow the CDC guidance this may not speed up the process but actually extend the timeline for a lot of applicants. 
 

My wife got flagged for sputum testing and it was negative. We are currently having to get her tested by the state PH office due to the visa annotation. 
 

From my discussions with the nurses here and research, the process goes blood test if positive X-ray and the sputum. But even if the blood test is positive and everything else negative the cdc requires treatment for latent TB. 
 

If they follow this I believe you will see a lot more applicants having to stay for treatment of TB in the Philippines, rather than going through the process here.

 

Now of course this is all my opinion, I personally planned for any worse case scenario when I was applying for our visa. It made all the hoops and hurdles that come with working with anything in the Philippines, much easier to deal with.

 

 

[maryaaaaaaaaaaa 26]