Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stan Rogers]

You don't need a doctor. Just Google the problem and fix it yourself.

[AsiaESLbound]

The title made me think it was a thread to post reviews so I'm giving my honest positive reviews I experienced getting care in Korea. I know in any country you have to go during bankers hours to see specialists unless it's a life threatening emergency for the ER so I just tell my co-teacher I need to go see a doctor at 2 O'clock after I finish my classes. You aren't forced to sit there all your working time to the point you have to try to see a doctor at night.

As for quality of care, I received excellent care in Korea removing a painful golf ball size cyst in my back two weeks ago that hurt me for over a year that an American doctor told me to just not worry about since it's not cancer. Cysts don't heal on their own so surgical removal and two weeks of wound care was needed to cure it. Same day walk in service scores even higher bonus points for this review that would just not be possible in America where you have to wait to see a doctor for a referal to see another doctor who then schedules an appointment 2 months later to tell you to just not worry about what is eroding your long term health. Pill scripts and death bed treatment on Medicaid are what they do over there. Other countries give people working a job (or everyone legal) preventative care to prevent avoidable tragedies like an untreated cyst leading to cancer in 5 years or a root canal causing internal infection leading to heart disease. These are well know medical facts; not exaggerations and that's why Americans who travel are getting into medical tourism. I can't put a dollar value on having actual health insurance and access to caring doctors while teaching in Korea since the world's richest country refuses to take care of it's own until they are so old and terminal with little or no quality of life after a few decades of lacking access to proper health and dental.

I had a root canal done in Gangnam last Summer that went perfect in a modern professional office for like 200,000 won total out of 3 visits over 1 weeks time. This included root canal on a molar with 3 prongs and a tempory filling. I had a permanent filling done a week later for 10,000 in my local small town dentist though no crown since I don't need one from missing the upper tooth it would grind and chew against. Even though I found out in the end I didn't need to save this tooth, it's nice to have it and feel it in my mouth.

In the US, you buy temporary filling at Wal-mart for $2.37 plus tax and do your own fillings. Unfortunately since dental care is so outragiously expensive in the US, many Americans don't have acccess to care so they suffer babying sensitive painful teeth for hours on end doing selfy fillings for unknown lengths of time while enduring unnecessary misery. My opinion of health and dental care in the US is a poor one at best (horrible system) that is a system only designed to pamper the rich in luxuries and then keep poor old people alive longer on Medicaid social security with little or no access to care the young and middle age trying to work also need such as my cyst removal and root canal. As you can see, I have strong feelings about this after watching the government pay many millions of dollars to corporate medical companies who lobby politicians to keep terminally sick old people alive a few years longer with no quality life who are begging or praying to die while offering little to younger people needing a little help though Obama care is supposed to be the answer. LOL Shame on the American system of ruthless profiteering.