A heart specialist at University Hospital here has heard about people traveling to India for heart surgery, & says other doctors have noticed the trend as well. I don’t doubt it. It hits their wallets. He actually wonders why someone would want to travel 10,000 miles to have a surgery done, when it can be done for the individual here, just down the street. I hope he isn’t that blind.
Health care in this country is a joke, & a poor one at that. People who have better jobs, or who are in the pink of health, have medical insurance that actually does something. The poor have Medicaid. The elderly have Medicare. Both are, at least, better than nothing.
Then there’s the rest of the population, who don’t have stellar jobs, who don’t have perfect health, & aren’t quite low enough on the financial scale to receive help. Those are the people who can’t afford the high cost of premiums for basic health insurance. Those are the people who make the active choices to either forgo treatment for what the insurance companies call a “pre-existing condition”, or look elsewhere for treatment.
The people in the article both had heart conditions. They both went to New Dehli for surgery. She received more tests than she could remember, & her total, including the 4 week stay in the hospital, was $16,000.00. He spent 20 days in the hospital, had 24/7 nursing, & his total was $15,000.00. They both said the quality of the care was much better than here. He’s even started his own company, to help people who need to arrange such a trip for the same reasons.
The reasons for the sub-zero health care here are more numerous than I choose to list. But at the bottom is the real reason. Money. And the drive to obtain more of it. By everyone involved.
Maybe, if enough people go this other route, the health care system here will sit up & take notice. Then again, probably not. They’ll just drive the prices of everything up even higher.
Here’s the link: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/health/12940407/detail.html
Go with God!
Someone on the radio, I think NPR, had a story on this. I think it’s a good thing on the whole.
Well maby they should have read Frank’s web site, and got a shot of wine!!! But what do I know. . I can’t fugure out the word to get in? LOL!!!!!
It’s a good thing, for those who can afford it. For those that can’t, well……
I have a feeling that as soon as the powers that be get the idea they are losing money because of this, they will somehow try to stop it.
It’s just another stepping stone on the list of important matters, that shows where the “general” population of this country is.
Chris: Are you saying I should have a glass or 2 of wine every day? I hope not, you know it gives me a headache.
I just have grape juice. What’s the difference?
We’ll do a study, Opie, with you as the guniea pig, because I hate grape juice. In 5 years, let us know.
It’s sometimes referred to as Medical Tourism. Yes, it is being done for quite sometime already and the results have largely been successuful for the patients. It’s such a waste that some patients are not in a condition to travel half of the orld just to get quality and affordable healthcare.
What’s the waste is a country that will spend billions of dollars on a war that only a select few want, can’t spend some of it on the medically challenged. There’s the waste.
I won’t say nothing about you not Bloging, you’ve been busy!