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They can have it done in the UK for a lot less than it costs to fly to the US and have it done here.
You know what a cat scan and chest x-ray costs at the local hospital? $27K
Also--someone should make your friend aware that in the UK, they do sell private insurance--if you don't want to depend solely on the NHS. It is a miracle! And I'm sure the private insurance is less costly than having it done here.
Oddly, I have a number of British and Irish friends who go back home annually for medical, dental and vision issues because it is so much cheaper there.
One British man who had moved here did not get health insurance. They really don't like the expense of it here. Anyhow, he was bitten by a brown recluse spider and told if he waited til he flew to the UK, he could lose his leg. So they treated him here for it. The bill was $80k.
An outpatient CT + CxR is not going to cost $27K. $2.7K might be some crazy billing. But billings aren't costs or what is paid or what the hospital will accept as payment in full. Insurance might pay on the order of $1000.
And the $80K for the bug bite is again the bill, not what the facility will take as payment in full.
In the end hospitals only actually typically collect 20-30% on billings. And I don't think that this is common knowledge.
An outpatient CT + CxR is not going to cost $27K. $2.7K might be some crazy billing. But billings aren't costs or what is paid or what the hospital will accept as payment in full. Insurance might pay on the order of $1000.
And the $80K for the bug bite is again the bill, not what the facility will take as payment in full.
In the end hospitals only actually typically collect 20-30% on billings. And I don't think that this is common knowledge.
Oh, I'm aware that they don't make you pay that amount. It actually is common knowledge if you have had insurance or paid cash for services. But why start out at that over-inflated ridiculous cost? For what purpose?
If hospitals can charge $10 for an aspirin, they will charge whatever they want. The invoice the hospital turned in to the insurance company was $27k. I saw it. Yeah--the insurance company won't pay that-they have negotiated rates, and it starts coming down, and, in addition, they negotiate if you are paying cash. But, hospitals are now going after people who do not pay their bills using collection agencies, and will garnish wages--they are doing it. Another guy we know had pneumonia last year--in the hospital for a week. Grand total was well over $100k.
Suffice it to say that our for-profit system that is ridiculously expensive and that everyone hates is NOT working. The US mortality rate is going down, and I think infant mortality is also. We are heading downward health-care wise. This is not not good.
Oh, I'm aware that they don't make you pay that amount. It actually is common knowledge if you have had insurance or paid cash for services. But why start out at that over-inflated ridiculous cost? For what purpose?
If hospitals can charge $10 for an aspirin, they will charge whatever they want. The invoice the hospital turned in to the insurance company was $27k. I saw it. Yeah--the insurance company won't pay that-they have negotiated rates, and it starts coming down, and, in addition, they negotiate if you are paying cash. But, hospitals are now going after people who do not pay their bills using collection agencies, and will garnish wages--they are doing it. Another guy we know had pneumonia last year--in the hospital for a week. Grand total was well over $100k.
Suffice it to say that our for-profit system that is ridiculously expensive and that everyone hates is NOT working. The US mortality rate is going down, and I think infant mortality is also. We are heading downward health-care wise. This is not not good.
The hospitals keep the prices up so that they can show you all their 'losses'. This is nothing new. I sat on our hospital board in the '80's-'90's. Same ole same ole.
I was only recently and finally surprised to hear our admin admit it. We billed $1B and collected about $250M 2018. And still make decent profits.
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"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
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Location: Great Britain
27,188 posts, read 13,477,157 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sliverbox
Mick Jagger is a Millionaire and bears no semblance to the average American consumer. So Its not clear what point the OP was trying to make: He can afford to have surgery anywhere. Its not at all an indication of superior overall healthcare provided services in the US...
Furthermore the fact that Keith Richards is still alive is testimony to the skills of British Doctors.
I stay in contact with many in the UK, that are in my profession. Knee surgery is 9 months to a year wait, unless you pay to be bumped ahead, or fly to the USA and pay cash.
I AM in the UK, I do need to use the NHS on a regular basis (well my Mrs does anyway), my mother HAS had her knees replaced on the NHS and I am telling you, you are wrong, you cannot pay the NHS to get 'bumped ahead', it did NOT take 9 months for my mother to have her knees replaced, you do NOT have to 'fly to the USA' to pay for an operation, your post is just incorrect on every level.
Why not Havana Cuba or Toronto Canada or London. Why would he come to the United States that supposedly according to many on this forum has an inferior medical system. I don’t get it?
Because he doesn't want to wait 2 years to get surgery, which is what happens with socialized medicine.
This is simply not true, this is perhaps an example of the sort of stuff 'peddled' to Americans so that they continue to get 'ripped off' by the medical profession in the US. Are you in the medical profession by any chance?
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