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The reason is that what you pay for "cheap" service is actually the premium service over there. Super expensive private hospital in US would provide as good cus

by mantas 10y ago

The reason is that what you pay for "cheap" service is actually the premium service over there. Super expensive private hospital in US would provide as good customer service.

techsupporter 10y ago
Case in point in north Texas: Witness the staggering difference between the specialty hospitals that have cropped up like weeds over the past decade (many of them are clustered around the larger hospitals in places like Plano and Denton) versus, say, the public and not-for-profit hospitals that must take all comers. Most of these specialty hospitals oh-so-carefully do not offer "Emergency Services" (as in, they don't staff a room called an "emergency room" even though they, conveniently, have an ambulance bay and are staffed 24/7) so they don't have to accept Medicare or several of the known-to-pay-on-the-low-side private insurance plans. Meanwhile, Parkland, JPS, Baylor, and UTSW get to deal with the "cast-offs" who have no other choice.
cowsandmilk 10y ago
Yep, you can get luxury suites at hospitals in the US; and they'll serve your every whim. And that "better customer service" often results in worse medical care. Just google "VIP syndrome" and see tons of examples where it appears that this "better customer service" of deviating from procedure killed these VIPs.
wyager 10y ago
That doesn't make sense. The cost of goods doesn't magically scale linearly with GDPPC, even service-heavy goods. Even if it did, that wouldn't be a valid explanation. According to the OECD, average net-adjusted household disposable income is only 3x higher in the US than Mexico, but our medical care is many times more expensive than that.
- mantas 10y ago
  US medical care is much much more expensive than most, if not all, developed world. I'm too lazy for google for source, but there was statistics that US gdp/capita medical expenses are like 2x next country. Even in super expensive countries doctors don't earn as much which is part of the issue. I'm from rather cheap European country. We're on the receiving end of medical tourism. To cut costs, private hospitals save wherever they can. Nurses (as well as junior doctors) are paid less (gdp-adjusted) than in richer countries. Corners are cut in non-essential (parts of) procedures. Behind-the-scenes equipment is outdated. Anything customer-facing is top notch though. Source: ex-gf was a nurse in private hospital

by mantas 10y ago

The reason is that what you pay for "cheap" service is actually the premium service over there. Super expensive private hospital in US would provide as good customer service.

techsupporter 10y ago

Case in point in north Texas: Witness the staggering difference between the specialty hospitals that have cropped up like weeds over the past decade (many of them are clustered around the larger hospitals in places like Plano and Denton) versus, say, the public and not-for-profit hospitals that must take all comers. Most of these specialty hospitals oh-so-carefully do not offer "Emergency Services" (as in, they don't staff a room called an "emergency room" even though they, conveniently, have an ambulance bay and are staffed 24/7) so they don't have to accept Medicare or several of the known-to-pay-on-the-low-side private insurance plans. Meanwhile, Parkland, JPS, Baylor, and UTSW get to deal with the "cast-offs" who have no other choice.

cowsandmilk 10y ago

Yep, you can get luxury suites at hospitals in the US; and they'll serve your every whim. And that "better customer service" often results in worse medical care. Just google "VIP syndrome" and see tons of examples where it appears that this "better customer service" of deviating from procedure killed these VIPs.

wyager 10y ago

That doesn't make sense. The cost of goods doesn't magically scale linearly with GDPPC, even service-heavy goods. Even if it did, that wouldn't be a valid explanation. According to the OECD, average net-adjusted household disposable income is only 3x higher in the US than Mexico, but our medical care is many times more expensive than that.

mantas 10y ago
US medical care is much much more expensive than most, if not all, developed world. I'm too lazy for google for source, but there was statistics that US gdp/capita medical expenses are like 2x next country. Even in super expensive countries doctors don't earn as much which is part of the issue. I'm from rather cheap European country. We're on the receiving end of medical tourism. To cut costs, private hospitals save wherever they can. Nurses (as well as junior doctors) are paid less (gdp-adjusted) than in richer countries. Corners are cut in non-essential (parts of) procedures. Behind-the-scenes equipment is outdated. Anything customer-facing is top notch though. Source: ex-gf was a nurse in private hospital