Posted on 07/30/2007 11:53:50 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
A fast-growing phenomenon--"medical tourism," which will be a $40 billion industry by 2010--is showing how we can "solve" the health care financing crisis.
More and more Americans are choosing to go abroad for elective and/or major surgeries. What entrepreneurs began more than a decade ago by constructing world-class facilities to lure patients from the U.S. and around the world into traveling for cosmetic surgery has now blossomed into freshly built foreign hospitals offering a wide array of other types of medical procedures. India, Thailand and Singapore are among the countries heavily involved. Panama and others are just entering this arena.
The hospitals and physicians are usually first-rate and, amazingly, can provide operations at 10% to 30% of the cost in the U.S. For instance, knee replacement surgery that might cost $16,000 here can be done for $4,500 in a top-tier (by U.S. standards) Indian hospital. Dr. John Helfrick, president of the International Society for Quality in Health Care, and Dr. Robert Crone, CEO and president of Harvard Medical International, tell of one dramatic example: A patient was in need of complicated heart surgery. His hospital said the cost would be $200,000 and wanted $100,000 up front. The patient's son, a medical student, knew of the medical tourism industry and arranged for his father to have the operation overseas. The complicated surgery was a success. The cost: $6,700.
How is this possible? Excellent hospitals can be built overseas without the bureaucratic red tape found in the U.S., thereby saving construction time. Construction costs are lower, as are nursing, physician and administrative expenses. Expat doctors who have trained here and in Europe are returning home, where money goes considerably further than in, say, New York or California. More and more these foreign hospitals--currently numbering about 120, and growing--are not just mirroring the best U.S. practices but are emerging as innovators. They are certified by Joint Commission International, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Joint Commission, which accredits U.S. hospitals. The international accreditation process is as rigorous as it is in the U.S.--but without the unnecessary bureaucratic paperwork.
The delivery of health care in the U.S. could become an innovative, infinitely less costly business than it is today. How? By fundamentally changing our third-party-based payment system, which fosters bureaucracy and crushes innovation and productivity. Health Savings Accounts are the answer--but they won't be able to truly revolutionize health care unless obstacles are removed. Among the barriers are the lack of a federal income tax deduction for people buying health insurance in the individual market; the prohibition against people paying health insurance premiums from their HSAs unless they are unemployed or on Cobra insurance; many employers making no contributions to their employees' accounts; and the too-high maintenance fees for HSAs. Another formidable roadblock is that you cannot buy health insurance policies not approved by the state in which you live. Thus, a resident of California is barred from purchasing a policy that is available in New York. Politics being what it is, it's no surprise that many states mandate costly provisions that make policies prohibitively expensive for individuals. (Corporate health plans fall under federal law.)
Medical tourism is an exciting glimpse at the huge savings, productivity gains and medical advances that could be had if we got genuine consumer-controlled health care here--as well as overseas.
B U M P
Also, check on post surgery medications which you may be prescribed. You don't want to be detained by Customs for transporting illicit or restricted medications into the US.
I think the auto companies with their insane health expenses should send people needing costly hospital visits to India or Thailand or someplace like that. Accredited of course. I can only imagine what the bill is if someone needs multiple surgeries and is in the hospital for 5 months at the end of their life! 1500 dollars a vehicle for health insurance costs!
Also imo insurance plans should offer this. You can pay a lot less if you are willing to be flown to India and get the operation there. Or you can opt for a more expensive plan where you will be operated on in the US. Consumer choice.
I would not trust a medical establishment in one of
the dirtiest countries in the world.
My mother's dentist fixed all her teeth beautifully for $10,000 then went back home to India to set up his practice.
yitbos
Considering that the US imports thousands of Indian physicians, the medical system must be pretty decent.
Bump
To read....
Hopefully you are allowed to inquire as to the surgical team members’ religions before hearing the anesthesiologist telling you to repeat slowly “allahu akbar” ten times.
Thats interesting and makes sense, nice to hear the personnel quality is so high in Thaliand. One factor in some nations must be the rising wages and rising exchange..In some nations I’ve looked at it is over 10% a year. Well in only 15 years that will mean 4 times the wage costs as now. Which is very great for the world, and our competitive position.. but closes down that nation for arbitrage.
As the gap closes there must be a point where its not worth it to go abroad. Especially for those cheaper surgeries.. those 400,000$ procedures it still would be worth it even if it cost 150,000$ abroad.
For the drugs that is a good point you raise. The pharma companies tend to price things based on what each can afford to get the maximum amount from each nation. I read for the US as a whole, we spent 250 billion on drugs and 1.8 trillion overall for healthcare.
The U.S. still has, by far, the best healthcare system in the world. But if it wasn't for ambulance chasing, greedy, over-litigous trial lawyuhs, it would be far beyond our greatest expectations of health care we could imagine.
Actually, I’ve read that the third leading cause of death in the U.S. is due to mistakes made by doctors. The death rate in the UK plummeted when the doctors went on strike there. So what you are saying is that if a doctor cuts the wrong leg off of you in some screwup that you won’t hire an “over-litigious trial lawyuh” and sue?
No, doctors aren't perfect. But compared to lawyers, doctors are way higher in my book of trust. Not even close. I rank trust in U.S. trial lawyers somewhere between a used car salesman, and a meth dealer (oops, I'm sorry if I offended any meth dealers).
—yep—I’d trust any doctor I’ve ever known over John Edwards-—
I used to work with a woman who went to the Dominican Republic to get gastric bypass. She nearly died during the operation and recovery took 6 months due to cronic septic infections(had to get reopened once due to something leaking). She saved a bundle though.
As an RN for the last 21 years, my general rule of thumb is - I don’t even want to consider having surgery in a country where I would get sick from drinking the water.
Mrs.AV
Don’t forget the Philippines - where everyone speaks English and 90% or more of the people you would meet in Manila are Christian and thus feel a strong moral obligation to keep you alive.
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