'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper

'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper

www.cnn.com

When hospital, anesthesia and incidental fees were all tallied, the cheapest price he could find in Indianapolis, Indiana, was $33,127 -- which he would need to pay out of pocket.

"I was speechless." Davies recalls. "It was absolutely out of the question financially for me to have this done under those circumstances."

Frustrated that his bargain shopping saved him so little, Davies called on family in the United Kingdom for assistance. When they told him they had found a private hospital in Wales that would perform the surgery for $2,930 [or £1,897], Davies didn't think twice.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Sounds to me like the best way to fix healthcare is to allow international competition.

Let American doctors compete against UK doctors. When the savings is to the tune of $30,000 like this guys, I say let the free market do its thing!

Open the border to Canadian Drugs, and have insurance companies locate cheaper alternatives abroad for surgeries...

We're not afraid of a lil price competition are we?



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

i was about to post this, you win! A lesson in searching before you post: Pick a phrase or something you know will be in the post to see if someone has already posted about your subject. I copied the amount he was suppose to pay in america and searched that and found this one article.

Anyways, pretty F'in crazy. It drives me crazy that they want to charge 30,000 when it's obvious it's not worth that. That is a huge problem in America, they are over charging us and Doctors aren't the only ones doing it.

I am dealing with tax issues that i inheritable from my late mother and i am looking at the receipt from the last visit and i have to pay $167 for the woman to write an email!

This is all bad and as a society we are in big big trouble.

Can you imagine a poor black man finding out he needs this surgery and has to come up with $30,000 let alone $3000? It ain't happening.

It's indeed ridiculous as well as upsetting. The same goes for medication. Although we have insurance, it doesn't cover my preexisting condition of asthma which I've had all my life.

My steroid inhaler that I need costs $300 for a 30 DAY supply in the U.S. Also being a bargain hunter, I purchase a 6 MONTH supply from India for $300.

I've also gone out of the country for surgery and most of the people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer go to Life Force treatment facilities in Mexico or Canada instead of undergoing horrid chemo treatments in the States.

I wish we could have REAL reform- not the crap that just passed.

reply to post by AshleyD


You will either faint or become enraged when you read this (or something else entirely), so make sure you're sitting down when you do

The same inhaler in Australia costs 1/10th of that for a months supply, and $5.40 per month if you hold a health care card...

Somebody seems to be making too much money off the illness of others, methinks...

Originally posted by HunkaHunka


Sounds to me like the best way to fix healthcare is to allow international competition.

Let American doctors compete against UK doctors. When the savings is to the tune of $30,000 like this guys, I say let the free market do its thing!

Open the border to Canadian Drugs, and have insurance companies locate cheaper alternatives abroad for surgeries...

We're not afraid of a lil price competition are we?



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Open this up to pharmaceuticals from all over the world. What if I wanted to pick an antibiotic made in Europe, or a pain killer from Asia. What if it's exactly the same medication but made in another country and 10 times cheaper. I would like to pick the cheapest one to buy.

Time to end the monopoly of the pharma corporations and open up the market. Isn't that what capitalism is, free trade? Or is it free only when it benefits the established few?

I think opening up healthcare to international competition is a magnificent idea who's time has long since come. It's obvious that the politicans can't reform anything (the fact that the healthcare reform act does nothing to actually "reform" healthcare is proof of that), pharmaceutical lobbyists buy off elected officials and hospitals and health insurance companies get greedier by the day... seems the only solace we have is in a free market economy. I just wish more people could afford to actually go to an out-of-country doctor for affordable treatment - if enough people acted as such, "shopped" around as it were, the medical complex in this country would either have to cut costs or risk going out of business...

Unless of course, our esteemed leadership deems greedy insurance companies and over-priced hospitals "Too big to fail."

The health care system in the states is broken and has been for a long time and the idiotic bill the demorats just stuffed down everyones throat (or was it UP something) is just going to make it worse.

It is a systemic problem within the healthcare industry which begins with medical schools purposely not turning out adequate numbers of physicians and it escalates from there into every nook and cranny of the system.

I live in Moldova.. my wife recently got a root canal and a porcelain crown. Total cost about $150 in a facility with 100% brand new equipment and just as modern as any office in the states.

Want a nose job.. come to Moldova.. about $600. I have not a clue what one costs in the states but I suspect it would be enough more to justify the trip here.

Originally posted by AshleyD
It's indeed ridiculous as well as upsetting. The same goes for medication. Although we have insurance, it doesn't cover my preexisting condition of asthma which I've had all my life.

My steroid inhaler that I need costs $300 for a 30 DAY supply in the U.S. Also being a bargain hunter, I purchase a 6 MONTH supply from India for $300.

I've also gone out of the country for surgery and most of the people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer go to Life Force treatment facilities in Mexico or Canada instead of undergoing horrid chemo treatments in the States.

I wish we could have REAL reform- not the crap that just passed.

Ooach! that is a really expensive steroid inhaler for asthma !

And about going out of the country for surgery for Americans - just search "Medical Tourism" with Google.

I did that because I was curious last month and there's apparently a big industry regarding this in the whole world with online guides, price lists and everything.

Yeah I have to agree with you that the broken health reform they recently passed in the U.S is unfortunately nothing more than crap & scam from the big insurance industry.

I was really hoping that you guys 'finally' would get something better and perhaps similar to what we're having in the rest of the western world.

[edit on 26-4-2010 by Chevalerous]

This is more proof that too many people become medics because of the money involved today, it has truly become a business.

I had one of those when I broke my leg once, the consequences are still visible.

I'll just say - my health isn't something that just goes to the cheapest bidder. This isn't a construction job on my house. He could probably find a doctor in Russia that would do the surgery for vodka and playboys but that doesn't mean Russia has the best healthcare system.

Originally posted by jjkenobi
I'll just say - my health isn't something that just goes to the cheapest bidder. This isn't a construction job on my house.

And if the prices quoted are out of your price range?

I guess you will go without.

Good Solution.

I was going down to Mexico for Dental work the cost saved compared to doing it here more than made up for the 200+ mile drive...

I wouldn't dare do it now...
Every 48 minutes, a drug war-related death occurs in Mexico, according to El Universal, a national Mexican newspaper...

Sometime in the next day or two Juárez will have 5,000 murders since 2008...

better to stay up here and pay full price than risk becoming a statistic down there

Dental care the same thing. You might be surprised how many
Americans fly from Miami to South America (but not Mexico) to get dental care for cap/crown replacements at fees ranging from $80-$150 maximum per crown. You can get 4 crowns done for less than the average price of one here. Or two crowns with discounted round trip airfare for less than the price of one. And an interesting kicker is that many of the dentists living in South America had some or all of their training here in the states.



[edit on 26-4-2010 by manta78]

The problem is huge over here and not limited to just doctors costs. Malpractice is killing us. On top of that, if you want to become a nurse it requires a two year degree (or so they say). My sister in law is becoming a nurse and her two year degree as a full time student is gonna take six years to get. Take down the university system in things like this and put in its place an apprenticeship. Knowing calculus 3 isn't going to make you a better nurse or doctor. Get in there and start learning by watching and performing. With an apprenticeship we could learn for free and the docs/nurses can get some really cheap help in the process. Might get flamed for this but the whole college thing seems really stupid to me when alternatives would be much better and faster.

Sad to read this thread - you are all so true. It all pisses me off so much, how corrupt the pharma's are.

I am 23 without insurance, and haven't had regular health checkups. Overall I am in decent health, but I do have various 'things' wrong with me that I am afraid will develop. I wasn't too worried about insurance when I was 18, because I figured I would be able to afford it the longer I worked and advanced.

Well, 5 years later I'm still not better off and I've been working hard. What's going to happen in 5 more years if I suddenly have a random problem? I can't even afford a a visit with the doctor to talk to him for 5 minutes about my overall health, and if I could - it would cost me over $100 for that 5 minutes.

I'm also slacking on TWO daily medications because they cost too much.

#ing joke that America has become.. I hope we can all help change it.

[edit on 26-4-2010 by derickonfire]

[edit on 26-4-2010 by derickonfire]

Well, isnt the scandal 'obamacare' supposed to help with this? helping to afford surgerys and general health?
What gets me is, obama time and time and time in all his health care speeches, says the same thing..thiers no reason no american canot afford healthcare* meaning, a doctor visit, surgery ect. Where does he get his numbers from? i mean the cost of livign goes up anyways, infaltion..so what good would obamacrae* (healthcare) really be anyways? other than an expense so far welthy or rich, since the recession can really afford anyways? isnt our long list of taxes enough?????

reply to post by jjkenobi


Very true, but no longer does the United States... I can't remember where the last ranking had us but we weren't even in the top 10. So not only is it rediculously expensive, it's not even that good...

Originally posted by Grey Magic
This is more proof that too many people become medics because of the money involved today, it has truly become a business.

I had one of those when I broke my leg once, the consequences are still visible.

Only one Dr? It must have been a while since you have seen somebody for a broken bone. If you go to the emergency room (huge bill right there) they only confirm the break, then they refer you to an orothopedic!(another huge bill)
Some racquet!

Originally posted by jjkenobi
I'll just say - my health isn't something that just goes to the cheapest bidder. This isn't a construction job on my house. He could probably find a doctor in Russia that would do the surgery for vodka and playboys but that doesn't mean Russia has the best healthcare system.

You are half-right, because ultra expensive health care system doesn't mean it's the best either. In fact, Russia actually has some of the best doctors .

I know for a fact that you can get a equal quality dentist job in Serbia for 100e which usually costs over 500e in EU countries. Many people travel because they just don't have such money to bargain.