Comprehensive Health Exam in Taipei

I recently underwent a comprehensive health exam in Taiwan. This is something that many people go to countries like Thailand or Malaysia to do, but I opted to do it in Taipei. If you are looking to get it done, here are the links for popular international hospitals in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. The one I went to was called Cathay and is located in the Da'an area of Taipei. 

HOW WAS THE BOOKING PROCESS? 

It was easy to book. I put my information in an online form and less than 24 hours later, someone emailed me in English to talk about the procedure. There were a few things which were a bit different, like usually they send you the stool sample kit and you have to print out the paperwork and fill it out ahead of time. However, my contact was fine with me doing this during my appointment instead. I did provide her with some basic information like my name and passport number, and she got me an appointment right away. Two things to note: first of all, I did this about a month before I was going to be in the area, and second I did need to change my appointment date later, and she did it quickly and easily. 

Also to note: I asked about a colonoscopy, which was an option as an add on, but they do require someone to be with you to take you home, and they do not provide this service. My understanding is that some places in Asia will provide a service for this, or you can often get a medical transport. I decided to skip it in the end, since a fecal test was part of the overall exam. 

HOW WAS THE CHECK IN PROCESS? 

My appointment was at 8 am, and I arrived around 7:45, and the waiting room was already quite busy. However, there is a line of attendants, similar to a valet area at a hotel, that come up to you as you walk in, get you seated and check you in. For me, since I had not filled out the paperwork in advance, I had to do this. One form was only in Mandarin, but an attendant sat with me and helped me fill it out. The rest were in English. 

I did have a slight complication that will likely not pertain to most, and that is that I had just finished menstruating the day before, and they required that you have three days afterward for both the pap smear as well as the urine test and one of the blood tests. After talking about this, we decided to schedule those exams the next week, and also she gave me my stool sample kit and said I can bring that back next week as well. 

I also discussed with them where I wanted my final results. Normally they send them by mail, but since I would not be around, they said they could email them. However, they could not do this with the imaging, and so normally this would come in a mailed CD. I told them I would rather pick up the CD myself, and we decided that I would do this at my next exam, even though it would likely mean about an hour wait after I was finished with everything. To be honest, I don't have a CD drive on my laptop, so I will have to wait until I go home to be able to view them anyway, but I felt it would be good to have the information if needed. 

After that, I got an electric wrist bracelet with a number on it, and was sent to the locker room to change. Your wristband activates your locker and it is needed for each exam to check into that particular test. The outfit you wear is a two piece sweat suit and normal indoor sandals like you would see anywhere in Asia. You have to take off everything but your underwear and change into the outfit. You have to leave everything in the locker except for your phone. As I was leaving the locker room, the attendant gave me a vest in case it was cold, and I am glad she did, because often the waiting rooms were pretty cool. 

Wristband

The only photo I have of the outfit
(I do love those Asian toilets though!)

HOW WAS THE EXAM PROCESS? 

Basically for each exam, your attendant tells you where to go, you go there, the next attendant tells you where to go, and you go there. There were three different floors where the exams were done. Often this involved a few minutes of sitting in the waiting room before they called me into the next exam room, but they had massage chairs in the waiting rooms so this was fine by me. 

Each time, they verified my name and birthday, then I would scan my wristband in for that particular exam. I would say that for the most part, either the person spoke a little English, or they were clearly pointing me toward the attendant that did. In each particular exam room, the examiner spoke enough English to communicate with me, if not more. The order that it went in was thus: 

9:00 am. Blood draw. The first thing I did was a blood draw, where they took a few vials of blood from me. 

Eye pressure test. They did a rudimentary eye exam (with my contact in) and then did the air pressure poof test that you normally get at the optometrist. Later they also took photos of the eye to measure eye health etc. 

Weight height body fat. This was the one where you hold the two "guns" to determine body fat. I had actually read that a DEXA scan was one of the tests and thought maybe the body fat would be with this, but it was only for bone density in the end. 

Abdominal ultrasound. This was nice as the gel was kind of warm. I wanted to ask the guy for a full body massage but I thought that would be rude. 

9:30 breakfast. Finally I was able to have breakfast, and coffee! They had a nice coffee machine with espresso, as well as soy milk and black tea. This is all included in the price of the exam.

Breakfast

Hearing test. This was one where you sit in a soundproof room and have to click the button when you hear a sound. 

Eye imaging/photos. As discussed above. 

BP and HR. This was kind of like the machine they have at CVS. 

X-Rays: Abdominal x-ray (lying down), Chest x-ray standing up, Lumbar x-ray, Cervical x-ray. 

Mammogram. This was pretty much the same as always except you don't get a gown, you just whip off your top and go stand next to the machine. 

 

DEXA scan. As discussed, for bone density, only scanned the pelvic area. 

Grip strength test. On this you get a little squeezy thing, and you have to squeeze as hard as you can, then you do the same for the other hand. It was all in kg, but my understanding is that my numbers were good. 

Stand sit test. I will admit that this one was a bit confusing as I did not understand that they point is to do it as fast as you can. You have to go 5 x up and down and you are timed. I did okay, but I think I could have done it faster. What? I am not competitive! Okay maybe I am. 

ABI Test. For this you lay down and they put BP cuffs on both arms and both legs. A few minutes later you are done. 

Doctor manual check. A real person examines your your chest, back, and palpates your abdomen, neck, and back.

 

EKG. Lay down, put on multiple stickers, two minutes later, remove stickers and leave.

11:10 am. Now I was done, but since I did not have to do the full exam panel today, I was finished a little early. They told me that the doctor would go over my results but that it could take about an hour for him to be available. I decided to have lunch then, even though at this point, it had not been that long since breakfast. I figured I may as well take advantage of the food before I left though. I lingered over my lunch and finished up around 11:50, and I went into the waiting room to wait for the doctor. 

Lunch

This was actually great, as I sat in the massage chair and read my book while waiting and it was quite relaxing. Around 12:25 pm, the doctor was ready and I sat down with him to go over the results. The doctor spoke perfect English, went over my results with me and answered any questions I had. Just a note though, none of the imaging was ready yet, so he did not go over any of that. Also, as noted before, I did not do the stool or urine samples, so I don't know if that is something that would have been ready in this consultation or not. 

Waiting for the doctor

By 12:35 pm I was out the door and headed home. But wait, there is more! What happened the next week? Well, you may have already read my DITL post, but if not, here is the rundown. 

DAY TWO:

8:30 am: I arrive at the health center, and head one floor up to the second floor to check in. The first thing I do is give my stool sample to the attendant. She takes my stool sample, and gives me a urine sample tube and my paperwork and sends me to the 3rd floor. 

Urine sample - very efficient system

8:45 am: I head to the toilet to take care of my urine sample right away, as the coffee has kicked in! The set up is quite easy; you get a little cup to pee in, which you then have to transfer to the tube, and then you leave the tube in an overall container in the restroom. That takes all of five minutes and I am headed to get blood drawn again. This time it is only one vial and the process is quick and painless. 

Leave the sample here

9:00 am: Blood draw done! I head to the 4th floor for the gynecologist. I can happily say that this was the best gynecological appointment that I have ever had. No joke. First I waited in the waiting room for about five minutes. They called me into the little room, sent me behind a curtain to take off my pants and underpants (while they were still in the room), then I sat in the fanciest chair I have ever seen. Unfortunately I did not get a photo, and I cannot find it on the internet. Picture a massage chair, but where you sit has cups for your two thighs. Now the doctor pushes a button, which raises you way up, leans you way back, and the chair opens your thighs for you. I won't go into more detail about that, but it was pretty impressive. They did a regular exam and an ultrasound, but all in all, I was in and out (pun intended!) in less than six minutes. 

Waiting room

9:10 am: I am finished, and I go back to the waiting room to wait for my imaging CD to be ready. 

10:03 am: I get the CD and I walk out the front door. 

SOME NOTES ON COST COMPARISONS:

The prices for these exams vary depending on your age, gender and how many tests you want to have done. For example, at Cathay, you can get a basic package and then add on a la carte items and it could be a bit cheaper depending on which extra items you choose. At the Bangkok facility, I have quoted the basic woman package, but there are more involved ones as well that cost more, and they also have over 50 etc. options, which usually get more expensive as the age increases. 

Bangkok Bumrungrad Female over 40 - 37,350 THB / $1,200 USD

KL Prince Court Female over 40 - 1,650 MYR / $421 USD

Taipei Cathay Standard All Day Exam - 19,800 TWD / $638 USD

You can definitely get all of these done cheaper in each of these places. However, the facilities listed above cater more to an international crowd, have English speaking doctors and attendants, and make the process a lot easier for a foreigner. So, if you want to DIY, you definitely can, and that could bring down the prices significantly for the same exams. However if you want an easy one stop shop with someone holding your hand most of the way, these facilities can't be beat. From what I understand also, the facilites in Bangkok and KL also give you ALL of your results the same day. 

I know you are wondering how much this would cost if it was done at home. Well, this depends. Normally insurance covers most preventative checks, so things like the pap, mammogram, and some blood panels may be free. However, from what I can find, depending on your insurance and what was covered, this could cost anywhere from $500 - $2500 in the US. However, it would likely not take one day, and could easily be 3-6 days of tests and going to different facilities depending on your carrier. 

There are also "executive health checks" in the US, UK and Canada, where they take you around all in one day, and these could run anywhere from: 

US: $1,500 - $15,000

UK: £1,295 – £1,795+ (~$1,600–$2,200 USD)

Canada: CAD $1,695 – $3,595 (~$1,200–$2,700 USD)

Oh and you are wondering what my results were? I have yet to receive my full report, but the preliminary results are good. I have high cholesterol and always have, and the funny part is that the doctor said I should "exercise more and eat less fried foods" which made me laugh, as I had just done an 800 mile bike ride around Taiwan and don't really eat fried foods. No, unfortunately my Dad has it and my Grandma has it and exercising a lot and eating healthy have not really helped matters much. I am not at the point where I need medication, but I am above the normal range. 

I also have a very low HR and blood pressure (my normal HR is around 44, BP is often in the 100/60 range), which have also always been the case, and have actually kept me from donating blood before (along with low iron). 

Other than that, I am interested to see what the imaging shows, but due to the Lunar New Year, the offices are all closed this week, so the results, which usually take 7-14 days, will take about a week longer than normal. 

A COUPLE OF LAST NOTES: 

I do have insurance. I have both US insurance that would cover preventative care, as well as international insurance that covers any emergencies or regular (non-preventative) doctor's visits. So I could have gotten the preventative items done in the US, but like I said, this could have taken me several days to do and I would have had to coordinate several different appointments to do it. I also thought it would be a fun experiment to see how things are done in other places. I am your guinea pig. 

I think many people think that in other countries, the medical care is worse than in North America or the UK, but I have not found this to be the case at all. Like I said, the equipment in Taiwan is top of the line, there are people who speak your language, and the process could not have been smoother. I have also been to the dentist abroad and it was great, I had surgery in Türkiye and it was smooth and efficient, and I have had to go for minor check-ups in several countries and have been happy in all cases. Actually for the most part, it is often cheaper abroad with no downgrade to quality. 

Have you ever had a comprehensive health exam? Would you consider going to a different country to get a health check? Have you ever had any medical procedures done in a different country and if so, how was it?