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Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

nytimes.com

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Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#11

Post by jeswin »

I was visiting the US (from India) a couple of months back. In the hurry to get to the airport, I forgot to get Medical Insurance. Unfortunately, I got pink eyes while I was there.

I haven't found America all that much more expensive than urban India. In fact, compared to cities in India, a few things might even be cheaper. But not medicine. An eye doctor's visit costs $180, for Pink eyes! A comparable facility here would have charged me about $8.

I totally get the different standards of living and associated expenses. But medical treatment stands out so much that I can't imagine how an uninsured person could afford hospitalization or even moderately complex treatment in the US.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#13

Post by xxpor »

jeswin wrote: post #11

I was visiting the US (from India) a couple of months back. In the hurry to get to the airport, I forgot to get Medical Insurance. Unfortunately, I got pink eyes while I was there. I haven't found America all that much more expensive than urban India. In fact, compared to cities in India, a few things might even be cheaper. But not medicine. An eye doctor's visit costs $180, for Pink eyes! A comparable facility here…

I think most people just don't go to the doctor for pink eye (including me and 3 other people I know that got it in the past year).

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#14

Post by xxpor »

p37307 wrote: post #7

I have seen all of my doctors office swallowed up by hospitals in the last year. In Southwestern Ohio Mercy Health Systems and TriHealth are buying them up. They are following the lead of Christ Hospital who started this years ago at an alarming rate. As far as my rates go, I did notice almost everything, even items done at the local office, was an outpatient procedure billed by the mother hospital, at least in part.…

NE Ohio is the same way. University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic own everything. One of the last independant hospitals, Parma Regonal, was purchased by UH this past week.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#16

Post by haldujai »

jakobe wrote: post #8

I don't get how a cardiac stress test can cost 2000USD. You put someone on a home trainer, let them pedal for 20 minutes, and look at their EKG. It's usually performed by a nurse, and the doctor spends 30 seconds looking at the EKG (the analysis of the EKG is even partially automated). If there was actual competition on the market, I'm sure a health service provider would find a way to perform the test for 75USD.

People who have stress tests administered often have underlying cardiac or pulmonary disorders that can be aggravated.

A not insignificant subset of people doing stress tests can enter into hypotensive shock or even cardiac arrest, the facility has to be prepared to deal with adverse effects as those reactions can be fatal.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#17

Post by jeswin »

xxpor wrote: post #13
jeswin wrote: post #11

I was visiting the US (from India) a couple of months back. In the hurry to get to the airport, I forgot to get Medical Insurance. Unfortunately, I got pink eyes while I was there. I haven't found America all that much more expensive than urban India. In fact, compared to cities in India, a few things might even be cheaper. But not medicine. An eye doctor's visit costs $180, for Pink eyes! A comparable facility here…

I think most people just don't go to the doctor for pink eye (including me and 3 other people I know that got it in the past year).

I wasn't planning to either. But buying any medicine requires a prescription in the US, which may be fine depending on how you look at it.

What I was trying to say was that I found treatment 10x more expensive in the US; while other expenses are merely higher and generally affordable.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#18

Post by haldujai »

gregsq wrote: post #10
rustynails77 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the West has free healthcare - and it works pretty darn well, considering. I would imagine many people are still shocked that healthcare is not free in the US. This is yet another reminder of how lucky we are ... those of us who are covered by free health (eg. in Commonwealth countries).

Actually Indonesia, a country clawing its way out of third world status, is in the process of introducing universal health care, [1] so it's not only commonwealth countries. Hopefully, this 'socialised' system can be implemented in such a way as to flourish within the rapidly growing economy to come. In the UK, after we've charged you nothing in the NHS, we'll give you the bus fare home. 1. http://www.marketplace.org…

Yes but try getting an appointment with a doctor in a reasonable time under NHS. It's been a while since I've left the UK but I remember getting appointments with a primary care physician using private insurance I would get one the next day, with NHS the next month.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#19

Post by xxpor »

jeswin wrote: post #17
xxpor wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people just don't go to the doctor for pink eye (including me and 3 other people I know that got it in the past year).

I wasn't planning to either. But buying any medicine requires a prescription in the US, which may be fine depending on how you look at it. What I was trying to say was that I found treatment 10x more expensive in the US; while other expenses are merely higher and generally affordable.

I'm agreeing with you.

We don't get medicine for things like pink eye, we just let it run it's course.

Re: Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

#20

Post by haldujai »

A large portion of this cost is because some people don't pay, and they can run huge tabs. Meidicine is a business, and that cost has to be shifted to other patients to compensate.

In socialised systems, like Canada, physicians actually make more money because the government always pays so it's not a greed issue. The downside is that the government has limited funds, so the amount of beds, ORs, and advanced equipment is severely limited and wait lists are rediculous, ER times between 6-8 hours, chemotherapy wait lists of 8 months, surgeries 1 year + for the worst of surgeons. Alberta is the exception as they have rediculously deep pockets from oil revenue.

It's a trade off, this is a case of you get what you pay for. Free healthcare only works when the state has money to blow on quality care, I.e Texas with the Scottish Rite hospital.

You can't directly compare life expectancies with the US and places like France (which have free or near free healthcare) and conclude that it is just as good, if not better than America's. There are many confounding variables here (I.e their very short work weeks).

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