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A root canal where I am is $1,100 and the crown is another thousand...$2,100+ for one tooth. Health New England covers $00.00 of it.
An English speaking dentist in Mexico or Costa Rica, for example, was probably trained in a US university and might have been at the top of her class. Conversely, my local dentist was trained here also and might have been at the bottom of her class (how would I really know?).
I would gladly go to a Cuban doctor in Cuba, no problem.
Well, I don't know about Mexico or Costa Rica. But I have lived and worked in Europe and I am confident that their dentists are just as well trained and professional as ours. So, $200 for a root canal in Germany .... that would work for me.
OK, you try to go get non-emergent health care in Canada without being a Canadian citizen or immigrant (they pay into the system via their taxes). Good luck. We were talking about resort hospitals in Thailand, India and Latin America that cater exclusively to foreigners where the relatively strong dollar is absolutely the reason why those places are cheaper and treat you like royalty.
Having dealt first hand with the Canadian and US Medical systems first hand . . . I would take and keep the Canadian system 8 days a week. And dump the US system in bio-waste on the way out the door.
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The amount of ignorant entitlement on display in this thread is disgusting.
Sure is. But maybe not from the side you are seeing.
Hint: Check the mirror.
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Health care is not a constitutional right. Health care depends on the services of others who are not your slaves nor government workers. The "right to life" in the Declaration of Independence, means the state does not have the power to end your life willy nilly, not the right to free and first class health care ad infinitum. All the rights articulated in the Constitution are natural rights that prevent others (particularly the government) from encroaching upon individuals, not rights that call upon the indentured services of others.
That's a great mindless rant. Really selling your position with that strawman.
Here is the real deal -- If your industry had not cooked up the three-way racket of the AMA, Pharmco, and "Insurance" trying to lie, cheat and steal to and from all of US, you would not be heading down the path you are on.
And now seeing what is coming your way -- still totally unrepentant. I figure you are due what is coming your way. More of that karma stuff.
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BTW, if you have a beef with high health care costs in America, targeting doctors is pretty pointless and just exposes ones petty envy. For every doctor, there is at least 3 "administrative" paper-pushers (health insurance office workers, government bureaucrats, medical coders, Medicare billers, collectors, Medicaid qualification officers, community outreach, lawyers) in our health care system. Get rid of these leeches and you will see cost come down dramatically.
Outsourcing routes around the whole mess right from the start.
In the real world, we pay our docs real world cash. They seem to like it, and it leads to major discounts right upfront.
And now from what I follow, your industry has paid Congress to pretty much outlaw -- or at least out-mode that.
This is the stupidest argument in the world. The reason it's cheap overseas is because of the strength of the US dollar, it has NOTHING to do with you not getting what you pay for in the US nor does it have anything to do with the strength of foreign health care systems on their own merit. Labor costs in China and India for skilled workers are $1 an hour. You sir are grossly overpaid yourself by comparison and would immediately cry foul yourself if forced to compete under the same wage.
The overseas "resort hospitals" cater exclusively to the foreigners who have cash in USD or EUR. The actual local hospitals in Thailand and India meanwhile are third world hellholes because that's all the locals can afford. By going to these resort hospitals, you are depriving the local population of much needed expertise health care, and you are essentially exploiting the workers who build and maintain the hospital system at $1 an hour. There's a reason why we have customs and duty tariffs for products purchased overseas.
I hardly think what I said was "stupid". As others have pointed out, US medical prices are at a premium even compared with other developed countries!!!
By the way, the US dollar hasn't been all that strong in recent years, so I don't get why you say that's why medical care is cheap.
As far as these places being hell holes, well I can't say. As far as exploiting other people, I don't see it. It's good for the economy in the third world, and it's good for Americans who can get their procedures done at reasonable cost.
It's time to face facts. American medicine is great for emergency/crisis care. But otherwise, it does a horrible job at preventing disease and it does almost no lifestyle intervention because if it did, there'd be no money to be made. And even the stuff it does reasonably well, it overcharges for, even compared with other developed countries.
There's no question the government has become bloated and expensive. I would argue that government intervention in the health care market beginning in World War 2 was the origin of the health care mess we have now. Government intervention created lots of barriers to a true free market in health care, which is why we now have high prices and mediocre quality.
If you're actually a teacher, I fear for our country's future. Chances are you couldn't even get into a US dental school. That dentist who finished last in his class is likely still smarter and harder working than you ever will be. Envy is a nasty little thing.
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Its more likely to come about because of the shortage especailly of primary care docotrs than nayhting else as more get inurance. Right now many docotrs are not taking new patients at all. But as long as people want to actaully see a doctor and with its huge time and cost investment the deamnd is like to outstripe the avilable numbers especailly as people decide to pursue othet carreers because of thsese cost in the future.There will always be a demand for doctors as there has in the past with the US even importing more and more very years intot his country.
Ha. You guys are funny. We have nothing to be scared about. Anyone who did well enough to get into an American medical school is obviously intelligent enough to do something else that makes equal pay.
Just be careful what you wish for. If you drive down the pay for local physicians, you will end up with "C" students taking care of you. In other words, if everyone goes to Mexico to get their hip replacements, and results in a great drop in pay for Orthopedists, you will see a dumbing down of the profession. Then when your ambulance shows up in the ER with your Femur sticking out of your leg, Dr "C" student orthopedic surgeon will be there waiting for you.
Good luck with that. I would be there to make sure you stay alive during your surgery, but I'll be out managing a hedge fund or something like that.
Good luck with that. I would be there to make sure you stay alive during your surgery, but I'll be out managing a hedge fund or something like that.
Anesthesiologist are the worst of the bunch, IMHO. Last year I almost died when I opened a bill for my two hour surgery and saw that the anesthesia was $14K. The next day I got another bill from a second anesthesiologist for another $14K. Seriously, how in the **** can you justify $28K for two hours of anesthesia with no complications?!?
Insurance paid them $600 each and they took it, but you can bet that they would have been happy to sick debt collectors on uninsured patients for the full $28K.
Somehow I don't think we'll even need to settle for "C" students if we chop the salaries of nurse anesthetists down from the six figures to that of other RNs, and they're the ones doing all the work anyway. In the US, the doctor is just there to sign off on the work and double the bill.
I'm a European Union/US dual citizen so I'm already outsourcing my medial care in a sense. I have a single payer national health plan in Europe, which I very much prefer, and I have New England Health, a private plan in Massachusetts. I also have Medicare as I'm retired and living in the US.
Medicare, to me, is a joke. The high co-pays combined with the low reasonable fee aspect, the lack of any dental and eye care, and the durable medical equipment limitations and exclusions make it useless to me.
The biggest differences are:
1) when I see a doctor in the US it's very impersonal, like an assembly line, I get about 6 minutes.
2) US doctors push pills over whole person health care.
3) US doctors push high cost procedures and unnecessary tests to maximize their profits and cover themselves against lawsuits.
4) US doctors are usually only available 9-5 Mon-Fri when the average person is working (to have health insurance), forget about any alternating evening and weekend schedules if you're a working patient.
5) US doctors through the AMA have opposed a national health plan because they fear upper limits on their income, and that takes priority over patient needs. My European doctor is just as well trained, is paid well enough, but doesn't want ruthless bean counters in insurance companies standing between me and my doctor.
Somehow I don't think we'll even need to settle for "C" students if we chop the salaries of nurse anesthetists down from the six figures to that of other RNs, and they're the ones doing all the work anyway. In the US, the doctor is just there to sign off on the work and double the bill.
Shows how much you really know. I work with many nurse anesthetists, and personally, I wouldn't let a single one of them give me anesthesia without an anesthesiologist supervising them. They get into trouble often, and need me to fix the problem. They are good people, but they dont think like doctors, and that can be very dangerous at the most critical of times. Under these circumstances, and without me there, you (the patient) are dead. But you know what, you are right, they will probably be the only ones willing to provide anesthesia for the price you want to pay. Like I said, good luck with that. With my hedge fund manager's salary, I will make sure I shell out the extra dough for a Doctor to give me my anesthesia.
It always amazes me when people go bargain hunting right here in the states. Do you know how many women are out there looking for the lowest bidders for their breast implants? To me, this is CRAZY. When I had my Lasik eye surgery, the candidates were them most expensive out there. The guy I let do surgery on my eyes ended up costing 3X the amount of the average opthalmologist out there. I gladly payed it. And if I was in a position where I couldn't afford it, I would just wait until I could. I have seen enough surgeons at work in my career to know that you usually DO get what you pay for.
So go ahead and go to foreign countries for your surgeries. It may even work out for the best. Maybe when people realize they cant sue their foreign hospitals and doctors for their mistakes, it will make them realize that tort reform is seriously needed in this country to level the playing field. Btw, last year I did a debridement on a woman who got breast implants in Brazil. She had severe cellulitis. Not only did she lose the breasts, but her right arm as well. She wasn't in Brazil long enough for proper post op care by her surgeon, and who knows what the surgical conditions were. She almost died, lost an arm, and has a deformed chest with no investigation and no recourse.
Again, good luck with that.
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