171–180 of 202 posts
Socialized medicine or a pure capitalistic system would both be preferable to the current system in the US. Right now it's the worst of both worlds.
I am originally from India and came to the US 10 years ago. I still can't believe that you can not call up a doctor/clinic/hospital in US and get a price quote for something routine. Chris's experience is representative of what one can expect from the Indian health care system. If you are a working, middle class person, the free market health care works extremely well.
This guy is either an idiot or tries to sell something. More like both. He goes around self treating a serious spine condition, trying to find a doc to inject steroids for cash (which is treating the symptoms, not the root cause). Then he goes for a surgery in some third world place "because it's cheap"; a surgery on his spine no less, where he may or may not ever walk again if something goes wrong. Then, he touts a…
You missed the point of the article, which is to not attribute price to quality. Also being so dismissive of poorer countries as having reasonable doctor/facilities smacks of ignorance and exactly what this article is challenging.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you have good insurance, I can't imagine the US not being top of the heap. I had an injury that resulted in a spinal fusion and other surgery at 25. Total out of pocket cost for about $250k of care and full recovery was about $500. That included second opinion visits to top doctors in Boston & NYC. If you're on limited network Obamacare with high deductibles and HMO bullshit, good luck.
> If you have good insurance, I can't imagine the US not being top of the heap. None of my comments assume private insurance unless otherwise stated.
This guy is either an idiot or tries to sell something. More like both. He goes around self treating a serious spine condition, trying to find a doc to inject steroids for cash (which is treating the symptoms, not the root cause). Then he goes for a surgery in some third world place "because it's cheap"; a surgery on his spine no less, where he may or may not ever walk again if something goes wrong. Then, he touts a…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see how this helps people who are the most fucked: the working poor.
Even the working poor in the US could probably scrape together the kind of sums mentioned in the story - about $4000 inc a flight. Though I guess time off could be an issue. Still there are probably a lot of people with like $10k in the bank that could afford Indian care but not US.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I went to get dental work done in Medellin, Colombia. Two whitening treatments, perhaps a dozen fillings. My Atlanta dentist wanted to do an inlay on one of my teeth. I'd already had two done that year and just couldn't afford to have them keep working on my teeth. When I got to Medellin, my dentist did not want to do the inlay, said it was too invasive and that he would rather fill it. It cost less to fly to Medelli…
How did you choose this place (and country)?
To find the particular dentist, I reckoned that so long as the dentist spoke English and the office was well-equipped, I'd be fine, so I did a quick search on Google for Medellin dentists, picking the one that I found had the best copy on his website. Given that few in Colombia know a lot of English, it's a good bet that the dentist would be writing the copy himself.
If I got to the office and got spooked for whatever reason, I could always just line up another dentist or just forgo getting the work done. But Dr. Mejia was great.
My brother broke his leg horribly in Australia when he was 17. It was the worst break they'd ever seen at the hospital. Ambulance ride, first surgery. Helicopter ride, second surgery, a month in hospital and third surgery and then another month or so in hospital to ween him off the morphine he had become addicted to, and to get walking again. Of course, there was never a bill.
I'd recommend doing some more reading on the health care system in India. I believe that it worked really well for the poster; my initial research seems to indicate that there's a huge difference between the health care you can get in urban areas of India and the health care you can get if you're poor and rural. It's easy to build a health care system that works for people with money. The infant mortality rate in Ind…
I'd recommend doing some more reading on the health care system in India. I believe that it worked really well for the poster; my initial research seems to indicate that there's a huge difference between the health care you can get in urban areas of India and the health care you can get if you're poor and rural. It's easy to build a health care system that works for people with money. The infant mortality rate in Ind…
Thanks for saying this is more friendly terms that I did. What's also interesting, is that the US is likely a large net 'exporter' of medical tourism. I currently work with hospitals that are rapidly developing large businesses in medical tourism, because for all our needless systemic problems, people trust that, if you have the cash, you can find a good doctor.