Posted on 08/08/2013 7:05:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
There's only so much medical care to go around and competition for these finite services drives prices up. The more the government spends, the more private insurance must spend to keep up and the more the private sector spends, the more the government must spend to to keep up.
The government takes your own money from you so that another person can use it to compete with you in the market for medical services. Of course prices will go up!
"Have you ever looked closely at how much is "negotiated away" by insurance in a medical billing statement? I think the final cost of my mother's pacemaker was about 20% of what the original list price."
Read through the comments below the article. Most commenters who actually read through their bills discovered that the hospital and doctor were paid nowhere near what they are asking.
Although I am sure that they would love to get paid the full $100,000!
Also in the news today: "59% (of doctors) say they are unlikely to encourage a young person to go into medicine. Only 16% report having a generally favorable outlook about the future of their careers." The constant battles with the HMOs and insurance companies to get paid probably has more than a little to do with that.
A $100,000 surgery here gets reimbursed at a fraction of that. Ask any doctor.
“And what top notch Mayo Clinic doctor will volunteer to move to the Caribbean instead of staying here?”
Forget the sarcasm tag, FRiend?
Maybe they’ll be able to recruit those doctors who prefer living on a tropical beach to Minnesota? Or those would prefer paying no income tax to what they’re paying now?
RE: Or those would prefer paying no income tax to what they’re paying now?
America is one of two countries THAT TAXES YOU ON INCOME EARNED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
A German citizen earning money in the US does not have his income taxed in Germany. An American earning money in Germany will have that income taxed in the US.
Remember Congressman Charles Rangel of NY?
He had property (a villa) that he rented out in the Dominican Republic whose income he did not declare... The IRS went after that and he was censured for this in congress ( among his other corruptions ).
"Hmmmm.......Turks and Caicos, or Rochester, Minnesota?
"British Virgin Islands, or Rochester, Minnesota?"
"The Bahamas, or Rochester, Minnesota?"
The Mayo Clinic already has facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona and Jacksonville, Florida.
I don't think it would take much to convince doctors from Johns Hopkins or the Mass General that they might like to spend one week every month doing elective surgeries on a sunny, sandy resort island. With no emergency calls. They might even snag a few who had planned to retire to escape Obamacare.
You pose an excellent question:
“According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), it is legal to travel with any amount of cash or other monetary instruments in and out of the United States. However, you must declare your cash to customs if the amount exceeds $10,000 or its foreign equivalent. If this applies to you, then fill out Customs Form 4790 (Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments).”
The limit now and for close to two decades has been $10 k in cash per person.
One of the things so hazardous to your health about not having insurance is you WILL be billed the full amount and you DO owe it. The amount can be negotiated down by the patient or a patient advocate but they will come after you for it. Young people who think they're cool without insurance should consider that.
FYI, I was on Tortola 13 years ago. US Senator Ted Kennedy was there at the same time. We sat next to him at one of the local marina watering holes. He had just had plastic surgery on his gin blossomed nose. I am sure he had it done there on the island.
Many of these “clinics” are fancy resorts that also do surgery. The taxi drivers see all the celebs that fly in, and take them up the hill to the clinic. All the women where big floppy hats and sunglasses, so they will not be recognized.
Wouldn’t pretty much anyone use credit cards to pay for the overseas treatment?
Believe it or not, the only thing I found superior at Mayo over the local joints was the quality of their lobby decor. (Don't underestimate that quality as it does tend to instill confidence in patients) In some ways they are actually inferior.
Now of course this is relative, as I did have the insurance of my employer, and my wife is a sharp negotiator, but I had both hips replaced for an out of pocket cost of fifteen hundred bucks.
Can't get that in Belgium.....
“Wouldn’t pretty much anyone use credit cards to pay for the overseas treatment?”
Excellent question. Often the limit on many good cards for people with good credit is in the $25 k to $35 K area.
Many of these up coming and present today clinics would probably want to be prepaid in cash deposits. Which you can do as long as your payment isn’t over 10K on each payment/withdrawal to prevent the IRS from getting involved.
Getting the IRS involved is a major way of limiting our health care options.
“I think the final cost of my mother’s pacemaker was about 20% of what the original list price. “
And if one doesn’t have insurance the providers sues and takes the patient to court for the $100,000.
It appears he threw the case out because the plaintiff didn’t have a leg to stand on.
_________________________________________________________
I heard he got free wooden legs, got caught in a fire and burned to the ground.
I don't disagree. The current system is a duct-taped house of cards based on economically flawed concepts dating to WW2 and to the original Medicare law. But nothing in Obamacare does anything to fix it, and in fact it generally goes a long way to make it even worse.
The young people who were unwilling to buy health insurance before Obamacare when their policies were rated for age (and relatively cheap) are going to enjoy it when they see the mandatory rates they'll be paying when Obamacare is fully implemented! They generally voted for this mess, so they're getting what they wanted, aren't they?
RE: Are you aware Puerto Rico is already luring American rich to become residents by promising them tax free treatment on their capital gains.
Well, that would be like an income tax free state similar to Texas or South Dakota or Florida.
What about FEDERAL INCOME TAX? Is your income from Puerto Rico IMMUNE from the IRS?
A coworker went to Mexico for hair trans plants. He has family in New Mexico that set it all up, he speaks fluent Spanish and USED to enjoy vacationing in Mexico.
Looked great for a while, then most of it fell out!
I had a proceedure done that was double what we had first been told. One of the lower billing clerks told us we were getting charged for the previous patient who skipped the country without paying. There was nothing we could do but pay it because I needed to continue the treatment.
“I had a proceedure done that was double what we had first been told. One of the lower billing clerks told us we were getting charged for the previous patient who skipped the country without paying. There was nothing we could do but pay it because I needed to continue the treatment.”
Probably a very common action. Illegally in America, and have an expensive hospital treatment done. Then leave when the bill comes in.
Hospitals, Clinics, labs and doctor’s office now want to see and copy your driver’s license before you get any medical treatment. That only works for honest patients, not illegals with false ids, using someone in the family’s photo id.
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