Package descriptions revolve around three words, and most misunderstandings start there. Let us settle them once and for all, with examples.
Outpatient care: walk in, get treated, walk out
Everything that needs no hospital bed: specialist consultations (cardiologist, dermatologist, orthopaedist), check-ups, minor procedures. This is the core of packages and 80-90% of usage. Example: knee pain → orthopaedic exam → ultrasound → physiotherapy plan. Outpatient throughout.
Diagnostics: the machines of answers
Labs, ultrasound, X-ray – and at higher tiers MRI and CT. Technically part of outpatient care, but often a separate element in packages, because high-value imaging (MRI, CT) typically comes only from certain tiers. In practice this is the most common tier difference: base packages carry labs and ultrasound; extended ones add MRI-CT. Example: the knee ultrasound is fine at base level; if an MRI is needed, that is a tier question.
Inpatient care: where there are beds and theatres
Hospital stays, surgery, day surgery. Packages carry it in three forms: care organisation (they organise it, on public or self-paid tracks), hospital per-diem (a fixed amount per day in hospital), or service financing (the insurer pays for private surgery, up to limits). The three are very much not the same – fine print matters most here (dictionary), and the longest waiting periods live here.
Why this matters for the decision
Because two offers „including inpatient care" can be worlds apart: one organises, the other pays. That is why our comparison table shows not ticks but what each element actually does – method: comparison article.
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