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Exactly. I think it's great for things like dental or non-life threatening issues but most people don't have the means to just hop onto a plane to a third-world country for treatment. A flight to Indonesia or another country is easily 1200 dollars plus lodging, food, general expenses, and then the cost of treatment itself. No one wants to be away from home when they're sick. It's scary for anyone.
You would almost have to take your spouse or a friend with you. Now if you both want to travel and have the time and means, some distance surgeries might make some sense.
I know that she is insured now. I don't know what she pays for it, but she does have coverage now thanks to the ACA. I'm guessing it won't take long before one of these right-wing hate mongerers long to roll in here and make some horrible comment about her, but I know that she is doing well now. She is in the process of rebuilding her life and her savings, but it hasn't been an easy road.
This is a big part of what HC insurance reforms are all about. I hope to get cheaper premiums myself. Currently we have an individual/family policy, but have huge premiums due to our medical conditions.
This patients simply does not have the means. Travel, food and lodging expenses. Post op recovery, office visits and then post op chemo. How does she get the necessary foreign currency? Or do you suppose the foreign docs and hospital will extend her credit? <LOL>
Our young and beautiful little Chinese waitress down the street is now near the end of a similar story. She knew I was a doc, and my wife had lost her hair from chemo the year before. She had little means, but a sensible HC policy. We set her up with my wife's oncologist. My wife even gave her her wig. And our ending here is a happy one because she had HC coverage.
Foreign travel for surgery is a growing business. But it is not for most people and for most conditions.
Always good to hear about people helping the less fortunate.
However, traveling for major medical procedures abroad is MUCH cheaper (even with travel costs) than the same out of pocket expenses in the U.S.
That is why it is such a growing business.
And the health insurers love it as it lowers their costs as well.
Exactly. I think it's great for things like dental or non-life threatening issues but most people don't have the means to just hop onto a plane to a third-world country for treatment. A flight to Indonesia or another country is easily 1200 dollars plus lodging, food, general expenses, and then the cost of treatment itself. No one wants to be away from home when they're sick. It's scary for anyone.
It may be scary and no one may want to be away from home when they are ill but you have to admit it is better than dying at home.
A $1,200 flight to Hong Kong or Vietnam and a $9,000 procedure still beats paying $75,000 for the same operation out of pocket in your home state.
Always good to hear about people helping the less fortunate.
However, traveling for major medical procedures abroad is MUCH cheaper (even with travel costs) than the same out of pocket expenses in the U.S.
That is why it is such a growing business.
And the health insurers love it as it lowers their costs as well.
It is growing, but not going to solve our HC cost crisis, which is senior care related. Seniors have Medicare, so why travel? But even if Medicare covered it....
My seniors needing surgery:
80 y/o needing knee replacement. How is he going to travel to South Korea on his own? He can't, so his wife would have to travel with him. Of course her expenses are not covered. Post op there are always risks of complications. Higher risks in seniors. Even higher if they have other pre-existing disease. Like diabetes, heart or lung problems. And of course many do. So in essence only the low risk Medicare patient should begin to even think about travel to surgery. i.e. The easier, less complicated and cheaper get farmed out. While our own facilities bear the brunt of the remaining higher risk and more expensive patients.
75 y/o needs bypass within the week. All the above relates. In addition the urgency doesn't allow for sensible travel.
65 y/o needs brain fluid shunt. With his deteriorating mental capacity travel would be impossible alone. With his high fall risk, travel would be very difficult.
A have a few seniors needing neck and low back spine/disc surgery. They might be able to travel, but with much discomfort. Most of my senior patients don't even want to go out of town for medical/surgical care, let alone overseas. And most want to be referred to some surgeon I personally know and trust.
Now for the relatively young, healthy and ambulatory patients with the means, foreign travel might work and save mucho dinero. But this isn't where our nations critical HC cost acceleration is happening.
Of course it works. Free market force price down because competitions.
All preventive cares should be pay out of pockets, after all, they are preventive cares. If you feel like you are healthy, you don't need a physical every year. It is recommended, but not necessary.
For all expensive operations, that's where insurance comes in. I am talking about real insurance like life insurance, home insurance, not the garbage we currently call health "insurance". Insurance should be insurance. Insure is to insure something that will not guarantee happens.
If you have to use "health insurance" for a doctor visit because you have a cold, then it is not insurance. It is merely a 3rd party payer system. Joe and Jane gives money to Paul to manage and when Joe and/or Jane get sick and see a doctor, the doctor ask Paul for the money instead of Joe and Jane.
Paul is running on a cost plus business. What this mean is, Paul is charging a fee for his services, usually a percentage of whatever he is receiving. So Paul has the incentive to spend all he collected and charge more in the futures. Paul does not call how much doctors (medical billing) charge, because Paul has the incentive to hand out money. The more money Paul hand out, the more he collect in fees.
I agree with this, we should have more low cost clinics where we pay out of pocket for routine stuff and save the insurance for the truly major unexpected problems like stroke, cancer, car accident, etc.
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