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The patient's husband's employer's insurance paid for this, so...
One thing I would caution people about is assuming you will get good care in Mexico. Here in Arizona, people like to talk about going to Los Algodones, just over the border from Yuma, where there are more than 300 "U.S. trained" dentists practicing. There are also pharmacies and opticians. You can even get botox shots there, which was a hot topic at a Meetup not long ago among the 70+ set. The cost is, as you might imagine, lower than here.
Not all Los Algodones dentists are equal, though, and if one screws up your implants, you don't have a State Board to complain to. Shoddy work does happen. I've read a lot about it.
I'd pay cash for a TKR before I'd let an insurance company send me to Mexico.
Yes her american insurance paid for this. But isn't it interesting that they would send her down there and also send a surgeon from the US to do the surgery? And he said he made three times what he would have made in the US.
The article did say that she could sue if something were to happen.
Yes her american insurance paid for this. But isn't it interesting that they would send her down there and also send a surgeon from the US to do the surgery? And he said he made three times what he would have made in the US.
The travel time more than wiped out any profit. He actually lost money. I'm sure he could have done five to ten knees just in the time it took to fly there and back. Even at $900 a pop, that's a lot more money.
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The article did say that she could sue if something were to happen.
Whoopie.
Keep in mind this article is promoted by one of the most notorious health care providers in the U.S., Kaiser. I'm sure they would love to send their pts to Mexico, they just have to get people used to the idea first.
The thing that struck me in that article was the cost of the metal knee joint. It is about $3000 in Mexico and $8000 in the US. I had heard that there is a huge markup in artificial joints because of monopolistic practices in which hospitals sign agreements with the US company that makes them to not allow any other joint to be used by the surgeons. Otherwise the patient could mail order a knee joint from Mexico and have the surgeon put that one in, and save $5k.
This is another example of how our system is really broken. Too many backroom deals being struck with no transparency to the consumer or ability to comparison shop.
The travel time more than wiped out any profit. He actually lost money. I'm sure he could have done five to ten knees just in the time it took to fly there and back. Even at $900 a pop, that's a lot more money.
Whoopie.
Keep in mind this article is promoted by one of the most notorious health care providers in the U.S., Kaiser. I'm sure they would love to send their pts to Mexico, they just have to get people used to the idea first.
I had kaiser in Hawaii. They would fly me from the Big Island to Oahu for CT scans, colonoscopies, all kinds of stuff that was available on the Big Island, but not from them. I guess it was cheaper to fly patients in than to pay someone else to do the test. Doesn't matter that the patient wastes an entire day sitting around airports to get a 30 minute test. And imagine flying somewhere for a colonoscopy...
I had kaiser in Hawaii. They would fly me from the Big Island to Oahu for CT scans, colonoscopies, all kinds of stuff that was available on the Big Island, but not from them. I guess it was cheaper to fly patients in than to pay someone else to do the test. Doesn't matter that the patient wastes an entire day sitting around airports to get a 30 minute test. And imagine flying somewhere for a colonoscopy...
Isn't flying these days a lot like a colonoscopy anyway?
I can only think of two reasons why they'd do this: To save money or to get maximum utilization from expensive test equipment. But I'm not in the medical biz.
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