A Health Care System I Won't Miss

The New York Times is definitely fallible. But that is what the story says the man got for his $13,660.

That price included not only a hip joint . . . but also all doctors’ fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America.

From an American perspective, that IS pretty unbelievable.

Are you an American who believes it?

Definitely.

Until I see a reason to disbelieve, yes, I do believe yesterday's New York Times story about how, in 2007, insured American Michael Shopenn, under so much arthritis pain that he could not stand long enough to brew coffee, saved $80-$90 thousand on a hip replacement by getting it done at a private hospital in Belgium.

This story.

Find fault with the story and you could be quite a hero to those who think the outgoing system should be retained. Somehow I doubt you'll succeed.

I think that's one of the problems facing us today, people will believe anything they want to beleive so long as it fits with their own personal agenda. My two cents anyway.

J

Fixed!

Putting aside the immature changing someone's post, but WTH!??

J

Break down the individual costs for each item. What were the doctors' charges? What were the operating room charges? What were the charges for crutches? What were the charges for medicines? What were the charges for 5 days in a hospital room? What were the charges for a week of rehab? Where was he staying during rehab and what were the lodging costs for that week? What was the cost of the roundtrip plane ticket? What transportation did he use while in Belgium and what did that cost? I'm sure that if all of these expenses were paid out-of-pocket by the "medical tourist", he must have claimed all of those expenses as deductible on his tax returns for that year. A true journalist would want specific information to back up the numbers used in a "story" if the "story" is a factual account of what happened. When "unknown" is listed as the charges for the surgeon as part of the costs to have the hip replacement done in America, credibility is walking out the door and running down the street before the rest of the "story" is even told!

I don't believe it. To believe it without any documented proof is still blind allegiance to a single politician. That is you.

It wasn't a chart or graph, but I at least got a list. I suppose I shall just have to be happy with that. It was though, pretty much just minor ( " look, i'm doing something" ) stuff, or tweaks to existing programs. I was talking about promises. You know, those things that he stood up there in front of the cameras so forcefully and proud and declared he was going to do so surely and quickly when elected. I didn't see any of them listed. Oh, forgive me, there are a few bits and pieces of Obamacare in there isn't there? Yippee!

In all fairness, I will admit he was not much better or worse than any other of our illustrious presidential hopefuls with their boastful proclamations. Point is, he is NOT the rock star some would have him to be. The first black president has turned out to be just one more plain ole normal human being with all the warts and blemishes all the rest of us have and just isn't that great at his job. He's ho-hum at best. His best job opportunity would be as a motivational speaker I think. For teenagers.

Its plainly obvious you wanted so much more from him but it just isn't working out Chilly. History isn't going to put him up there anywhere near Washington, Lincoln, etc. Sorry.

I believe it. Not because of this article alone, but because the media is filled with similar articles:

A NYTimes on medial tourism (2009): a 62 year old retired BOA executive with a $10,000 deductible has hernia surgery in Costa Rica for $3,900 instead of the $14,000 it would have cost in the states. The article also says "At least 85,000 Americans choose to travel abroad for medical procedures each year".

This Kipinger article from 2007 on medial tourism states:

This USNews article highlights 2 different people who each had similar medical needs taken care of in both the U.S. and overseas, and not only was the cost substantially less but both people thought the level of service was superior overseas.

The real answer is bypassing the bloated, non competitive, monopolistic healthcare system we have and opening it up to competition from outside the US. If there is any cost saving in Obamacare it is miniscule compared to 10 fold reductions we are seeing in countless examples.

22,000 pages of new laws would not have helped American Manufacturing compete in the 90's. Outsourcing large swaths of US Manufacturing provided consumers better products at lower prices.

The healthcare industry needs a healthy dose of outsourcing and real competition to provide the best possible healthcare at the lowest possible price.

Don't even get me started on the AMA.