There's been a discussion about cost of operations, and I stated that I thought there weren't many $100k operations. Someone chimed in that cancer and chemo could run very high, but that's apples and oranges. I stated that my hospital bill for eight days, including two in ICU was $93k. Someone said yours was a lot higher. Mine was seven plus years ago. My surgeon was $27k. Preop and postop brought it to about $150, I'd guess. 5 way bypass and aortic valve replacement.
How does that compare with your total costs, not out of pocket expenses? I guess I had to pay about $5k out of pocket of all that.
Any others care to comment who have had costly operations?
I can also buy "name brand" medicines at approximately half the price I see quoted from time to time for the same medicine sold in the U.S. In fact I believe it is cheaper in Canada, just a few miles away.
Generic medicines manufactured in Thailand are pennies on the dollar.
Darn few foreigners fly to the U.S. to have their surgeries done. Lots of us fly to other countries to get ours done. Check out Medical Tourism.
No other "rich world" economy has such a beast as medical bankruptcy. Only in the U.S. can your medical bills destroy your retirement funds and take your home.
What so many people don't realize is that we (U.S.A) already practice medical rationing. Instead of rationing by medical necessity though, we ration by economic standing. Our country spends hundreds of billions of dollars doing proceedures on those whose benefit will be measured in weeks and months, while those who could live decades are sent home to die because they cannot pay.
Drugs are less expensive outside the U.S. Doctors, nurses, hospitals, and the services they provide are less expensive outside the U.S. Can someone explain why our country has to charge us so much money to provide healthcare, when every other "rich" country provides healthcare at a fraction of our costs and the outcomes are univerally better? I am being quite literal here- study the life expectancies of different countries, rates of diabetes, obesity, heart attack, stroke, childbirth problems, and you will find that the U.S. ranks far down the ladder compared to every other nation in the G-20. I think we outrank China, but that's about it.
Our healthcare system has been broken for decades. It makes insane amounts of money for the drug and insurance companies, and how many doctors do you see driving a clunker? One nation under God, and our God is Money. I'm not going to turn my back on the U.S.A. yet, but those fools screaming about "socialized medicine" need to get their heads on straight and do their own research instead of relying upon the extremely well paid spin doctors on the far right to do it for them. Look at the health systems in place in Canada, England, Switzerland, Finland,.... Do it for yourself, don't trust some spin doctor to do it for you.
Sorry, the soapbox snuck up and jumped under my feet. I'll shut up now.
Almost 1/3 of the patients at Houston's M.D.Anderson, Methodist, Texas Children's, and Memorial Hospitals come from Central/South America.
Minnesota's Mayo Clinic sees thousands of out-country patients each year.
Maryland's Johns Hopkins sees thousands of out-country patients each year.
Perhaps in that pesthole that YOU occupy the medical services may be lacking but there are plenty of other areas that attract patients (and doctors) from all over the world.
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