If I’m at home and simply unwell, I can walk to the neighborhood clinic (one specific clinic based on my address) and get checked - that usually takes half an hour to a couple hours, but it may not always have a doctor available.
So most people skip the local clinic completely and go to a municipal hospital instead (something doctors often plead people not to do). These should always have a couple doctors available and they’ll see anybody - even if you have no documents. When you get there a nurse will check your pulse and stuff and ask some questions to determine your priority level, then the waiting time can go up to 4 hours if it’s low priority.
If you need specific exams, that will depend on how well equipped the hospital is. Many will do it right there, some will request it from other cities and that may take time, so there’s the option of doing it in private clinics too.
No matter what you may end up needing, if you do it through the public health system you won’t need to pay anything at all. Even experimental treatments and surgeries can get arranged. But there’s always the option of going to private clinics as well. Those can have much shorter waiting times.
Based on my limited experience, this is what people seem to do for each kind of visit:
Emergencies: pretty much everybody go to public hospitals. Most places don’t even have private options for this.
Basic check up: most people will use the public system first, unless it’s something very specific and they are well financially.
Dental care: most people who won’t be financially crippled by it will go private. People tend to stick with the same dentist once they find a good one. On the public system you never know who you might be seeing.
Eye doctor: 50/50. There are nearly as many private options for this as there are for dental care, but a lot of them suck.
Expensive exams and operations: people will try to get them for free at first, or through some Health insurance plan they may have from work. Everybody knows someone who’s been waiting months for something on the public system.
Brazil.
If I’m at home and simply unwell, I can walk to the neighborhood clinic (one specific clinic based on my address) and get checked - that usually takes half an hour to a couple hours, but it may not always have a doctor available.
So most people skip the local clinic completely and go to a municipal hospital instead (something doctors often plead people not to do). These should always have a couple doctors available and they’ll see anybody - even if you have no documents. When you get there a nurse will check your pulse and stuff and ask some questions to determine your priority level, then the waiting time can go up to 4 hours if it’s low priority.
If you need specific exams, that will depend on how well equipped the hospital is. Many will do it right there, some will request it from other cities and that may take time, so there’s the option of doing it in private clinics too.
No matter what you may end up needing, if you do it through the public health system you won’t need to pay anything at all. Even experimental treatments and surgeries can get arranged. But there’s always the option of going to private clinics as well. Those can have much shorter waiting times.
Based on my limited experience, this is what people seem to do for each kind of visit:
Emergencies: pretty much everybody go to public hospitals. Most places don’t even have private options for this.
Basic check up: most people will use the public system first, unless it’s something very specific and they are well financially.
Dental care: most people who won’t be financially crippled by it will go private. People tend to stick with the same dentist once they find a good one. On the public system you never know who you might be seeing.
Eye doctor: 50/50. There are nearly as many private options for this as there are for dental care, but a lot of them suck.
Expensive exams and operations: people will try to get them for free at first, or through some Health insurance plan they may have from work. Everybody knows someone who’s been waiting months for something on the public system.