Price varies with location. Costs more in Santo Domingo than in Puerto Plata.
The doctor I use for respiratory problems is in Puerto Plata and is as good as you will find anywhere. I pay her RD$500 for an office call.
The doctors, and that includes most of our doctors, in Santo Domingo charge more and depends on the reason for the office call. There I pay RD$1,000-$2,000 depending on why I am there.
My wife had a hip replacement in Santo Domingo a year ago and paid approximately US$5,000 for the operation, doctors fees and hospital room for the 5 nights she was there in a semi private room. This was at Clinica Abreu, one of the best hospitals in the country.
Recently I had cataract surgery on both eyes and paid US$1,300 per eye including 5 follow up checks. Latest materials used and the medical team in a very modern operating room was the surgeon, anesthesiologist and 2 surgical nurses who work only on eye operations.
My insurance is in the US so I pay in cash or credit card and put in a claim for reimbursement.
If I had cancer, I would start here and then be guided by the doctor's advice. If the treatment best for me is available here, I would stay. If not , I would go.
If I was afflicted with something that prevented me from going to the US, one way or another I would get at least as far as Santo Domingo where the doctors I know and trust would give me the best possible care.
All the doctors I go to in Santo Domingo know each other and trust each other. All have been recommended by other doctors. For example, the doctor who did Barbara's hip replacement was recommened by one of our doctors who took his mother to the same doctor for a hip replacement.
The best care in this country is in Santo Domingo and Santiago. We go to Santo Dominigo because we lived in Samana for many years and that is where the bus went. If we had started off in Sosua, where we are now, we might have gone to Santiago.
To somebody moving to the DR and planning to make this your home, my advice is to establish relationships now with doctors in Santo Domingo or Santiago. Get recommendations for first class doctors from people on this board to get started. We started with a gastoenterologist/internist recommended to us by a doctor we trusted in Puerto Rico. Whenwe needed another specialty, we asked him for a recommendation. That is how we built our "team" of doctors over time. Because we did that, all our doctors know us and know each other; I feel we are in the hands of a team of specialests that will do their best for us.
I'd advise anybody to try to do the same before you find yourself desperate for good medical care. If you do, you will worry less about medical emergencies.