Healthcare system in Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania
Posted by riccart21@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 21 comments
Hello, I would like to ask about the healthcare system in Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania. Which one is the best to use?
For example, if I want to retire in one of these countries (so, without employment, only with passive income) and a health issue arises—whether minor, like back pain requiring only an X-ray and pain medication, or more serious, like cancer treatment, long-term care, or surgeries—which country would provide the best healthcare?
I would try to pay for private healthcare if possible. I also want to know about the costs, both public and private. Have you had good or bad experiences with the healthcare systems in these countries?
I am an EU resident, in case that makes any difference.
Dovaskarr@reddit
Run from Croatia healthcare
SKOTA071177@reddit
I have a friend who has cancer and he is always saying he is at hospital ambulance is Always getting him he stays inpatient for multiple days at no cost and they release him to go home at all hours of the day is this true? Does this sound true ?
PrettyChillHotPepper@reddit
Romanian private healthcare is very good. I have gone to private hospitals for many things throughout the years - never had a complaint. Young, competent doctors. And often you can go to private hospitals with the national public insurance, even.
Would not go to public hospitals, tho.
Responsible-Egg4156@reddit
My experience with heathcare in balkans is that public has very long waiting lists , so if that is priority would look where private doctors are cheapest in case you need something fast
OIOeHpup@reddit
NGL came here to see how bad we are, turns out better than expected, but it only applies to Sofia and a handfull of other cities.
peev22@reddit
Not Bulgaria.
nomad-38@reddit
That depends. Bulgaria is great if you want something more routine or otherwise common to be done. Anything from getting some sutures for a trauma to a planned surgery, heart conditions, the flu, heart attacks can be handled quite well. Even for strokes, response times are pretty good (*in the big cities). You will see and interact with your doctor a lot more than in most Western countries.
Where Bulgarian Healthcare really lacks is handling severe cases. Cancer treatment has advanced a lot over the last decade but leaves much more to be desired. Especially rarer forms of cancer. Terminal patient care is average at best with some exceptions, retirement homes sadly often are as decrepit as the people inside and so on.
The system is fucked and in dire need of reform, but I can tell you from personal experience that every country's Healthcare is fucked to some extent in some way or another. The UK's NHS for example has the opposite problems from Bulgaria.
Mesenterium@reddit
You're wrong about something. We don't lack in innovation and adoption of treatment options for cancer. Integration is what's lacking here. A Cancer patient needs to receive all related medical care (diagnostics, surgery, chemo, radiotherapy, follow-up, treatment planning and similar) in one facility. And the people providing it must be a team with good collaboration. Here the average cancer patient has to visit like 20 different institutions and deal with an absurd amount of bureaucracy. And has to discover how to do it all by himself. And many people simply can't.
nomad-38@reddit
You are exactly right, couldn't have worded it better myself, my apologies i did not express my thoughts properly.
Big-Traffic3723@reddit
Strongly disagree! I don’t want to go in details, but had to deal with cancer issues recently and was very positively surprised . Everything when very smooth, very fast, with the most modern lasers, pet scanners and nearly everything was covered by the health insurance . On the other side we have very good mineral water everywhere, which treats many diseases . There are big and modern hospitals nearly every big region, and you can book an appointment within the next few days, max two weeks . As far as i know you can have the national medical insurance after six months living here… also you can have the additional health insurance paid separately, which is covered by bigger employers
peev22@reddit
Encouraging to hear that.
Electrical_Pool_2629@reddit
And depends where in Romania, avoid certain Moldavian cities
Mesenterium@reddit
I have work experience in healthcare from both Croatia and Bulgaria. Croatian doctors are two steps ahead of us in expertise.
Healthcare outside major university hospitals in Sofia, Plovdiv Varna and to some extent Pleven is hit and miss at best here. It's still decent if we compare it to third world countries, but it's not up to European standards.
Availability and cost is another matter however. In Bulgaria one can be admitted directly to a tertiary care facility in the course of a day. Waiting lists in Croatia are long for elective procedures.
Insurance in Croatia is cheaper and covers more costs than Bulgaria, but ours is pretty decent as well from the patient's point of view.
stefnaste@reddit
Bulgarian healthcare is surprisingly good and I personally know some f foreigners (mostly from the UK) who chose to live in Bulgaria specifically for that reason.
We are one of the EU countries where you can easily find a hospital bed if needed. The prices aren't that expensive and the medications are considered cheap compared to other EU countries. There are pharmacies almost everywhere. Booking an appointment is easy (you can now do it online too), you don't have to wait a lot and the quality of specialists is surprisingly good. Bulgaria is also big in medical education and I wont be surprised if you find a doctor in Western Europe who has studied in Bulgaria. Most of the foreign students in Bulgaria study medicine. Also, Bulgarian nurses are heavily appreciated and we kinda export them :)
Getting a GP is quite easy here - you just go to a random medical center or hospital and ask the doctor if they have the capacity for you to be their patient (usually they do) and they add you in the system. At the moment, you need to go to an institution called NZOK and they give you a booklet that you need to give to the GP to fill in with their information. I'm not sure how it will be in the future but that's how I did it.
When it comes to technology -- Bulgaria's location is good because we are close to Turkey and Israel (which are very big when it comes to medical tech development) and this makes it easier for us to import technology from these countries.
In general, Bulgarian population is aging so the focus on the medical care is currently quite big and it is expected to become bigger. I didn't need to use our medical system a lot (and I am grateful for that) but my brother had and I can't think of him having any problems.
Of course, every system has it's minuses and I am not saying that the system is perfect but for the things you mentioned in your post, you should be fine here.
Important note : Bulgaria has mandatory immunizations so if you plan to come here, you should check this with your doctor.
bobo6u89@reddit
Muricans think its free. Fast answer: Nope. Ready that prosciutto, pralines you for the medical nurse smile.😅😁
ratuste-pe-tapet@reddit
I think all of them can provide you with good healthcare for the right amount of money.
Gullible-Orange-6337@reddit
Not sure. In Croatia - for some more complicated procedures the governmental places are the only one that can provide that service. So even if one has money - there is simply no private alternative.
Maybe, if you are referring to the bribes or corruption - that can't fully isolate you from the system that just falls apart slowly ...
Gullible-Orange-6337@reddit
I can hardly imagine how can somebody answers that - as it is very unlikely that somebody used all three and can compare.
Croatian one is bad - poor, hospitals are falling apart. Some doctors/nurses are great, but some are terrible and system tolerates them.
I can't recommend the Croatian health-system -but I have no idea are Bulgarian or Romanian better or worse.
SwimmingHelicopter15@reddit
I can only present Romania.
Without paying to the national healthcare system you will only have access to emergency services. You either pay in contributions or you are part of some protected groups (children, pregnant women). So let's say you break your knee the public hospital will help and also ambulance will not cost (unlike USA).
Drugs/medicine. You will not find some pills in Romania due to some cost/profit laws. People have groups on fb to find the medicine abroad and buy it
Private healthcare. We have hospitals and several clinics. Let's say you move near Bucharest you will have the best choices. You can either have private insurance to an insurance company or kindoff a subscription to the medical network, you pay an installment and covers some services and have discounts. I used private healthcare for over 10 years and got only 2 bad experiences, some have more. But I honestly didn't. Now the prices are lower from the EU median but for our low income households it's pricey. Also the prices vary from network to network and company.
adyrip1@reddit
In the private system Romania is ok, especially if you settle in Bucharest/around. The state run system is not great.
Effective_Purpose365@reddit
Best one is in Moldavia