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Sometimes the cost is bigger than the cost in a different country plus the plane ticket.
by terse_malvolio 6y ago
Sometimes the cost is bigger than the cost in a different country plus the plane ticket.
- dominotw 6y agoI guess you could roll the dice and hope the for best but you will lose your ability to sue the hospital for malpractice if they mess up.
- terse_malvolio 6y agoMaybe there is a chance that insurance could be enabling malpractice? I'd have to get hard data on this to make a determination but I'd wager that most reputable medical professionals try to avoid malpractice regardless of country.
- BurningFrog 6y agoThe alternative is often to not have the procedure at all.
- jasonpeacock 6y agoYou're making a lot of assumptions here that an out-of-country hospital would be of questionable quality and not have medical malpractice laws. Just because other countries medical & legal systems are different than the US doesn't mean they are inferior.
- learc83 6y agoThe GP was talking about losing your ability sue for malpractice not implying that every other country has inferior medical or legal care. A country can have a fine legal system for locals that's difficult or prohibitively expensive to access for non-citizens living outside the country.
- londons_explore 6y agoOne of my businesses refuses to serve Americans simply because they have a habit of reaching for the legal system if they aren't happy with the service. All the Americans end up going to my competitor, who is currently in the midst of three lawsuits which will probably sink the company. Two of the lawsuits are with clients I turned away simply because they looked likely to sue! You can bet that as an American, you will pay substantially more than a local for many services simply because Americans have a reputation for this sort of stuff, and local businesses don't want to take the risk. I really wish there was some kind of certificate saying "I have never set foot in a courtroom, threatened legal action, or hired a lawyer".
- ArtDev 6y agoAnd then the hospital can't sue you if you can't pay the absurd bill?
- londons_explore 6y agoIt isn't the people with legit complaints.... It's the people who do something foolish and then try to sue someone else blaming them... If I rent you a jetski for an hour, it isn't my fault if you drive over your child with it... It's a jetski. It's dangerous. Don't expect someone else to pay if you mess up.
- alisonkisk 6y agoIn a country with socialized medical care, someone else does pay.
- dominotw 6y agoHere in India. You pay upfront. No payment = no surgery.
- snakeboy 6y agoThat's why I don't let black people into my restaurant. Statistically, they're more likely to commit a crime once inside, so I don't want to take the risk. All the black people in town end up going to the restaurant down the street, who had their register robbed one time by a dark-skinned fellow that I turned away because he sure looked suspicious! I sure hope they've learned their lesson by now. You can bet that as a black person in our town, you'll pay substantially more than white folks, because most of us understand that black people have a reputation for this sort of stuff and general trouble, and we don't want to take the risk. I really wish there was some kind of certificate to let us know which ones are the docile blacks... (Note: It should go without saying that this is a tongue-in-cheek response)
- TameAntelope 6y agoEven the best hospitals make mistakes, malpractice is not just some cudgel used to beat good doctors over their heads, and America has some of the most comprehensive malpractice law in the world. That said, if I'm wrong about that I'm interested in learning more.
- dominotw 6y ago> legal systems are different than the US doesn't mean they are inferior Yes. Indian legal system is very inferior compared to USA. My family is fighting a garden variety land dispute case for over a decade. I cannot even imagine someone successfully suing a doctor here for malpractice while living in USA.
- skeeter2020 6y agoI have never anticipated a medical procedure, emergency or otherwise, and considered "my ability to sue for malpractice if this goes wrong". I just don't believe this is a consideration for the actual patient, even if it was relevant (example: Canada with universal public system essentially has no malpractice lawsuits).
- annoyingnoob 6y agoFrom this data, I could do that by going to another state.
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoThe U.S. healthcare system is built around the idea that everyone has health insurance. Obviously, that's not a valid assumption at all, which is one of many reasons why it's such a problem. Insurance companies each negotiate a rate for various services with hospitals. People pay different rates depending on the insurance they have, due to these different negotiated rates. This creates a perverse incentive where hospitals want to list their "cash" price as being higher than the negotiated rates, otherwise insurance companies will come back to negotiate their rates down to the obviously lower cash price. In reality, it's usually surprisingly easy to get hospitals to give significant discounts if you tell them you're without insurance and you'll be paying in cash. Patients without insurance can often negotiate their bills down to a fraction of the original list price by simply calling in and telling the billing office they don't have insurance. It's obviously not a great system.
- ArtDev 6y agoIt's a criminal racket. You have no position to negotiate and I have never got them to budge. I have tried and gotten pretty angry about it. Short-term insurance is a waste of money because the rates did not appear to be negotiated at all. They paid 5% of the bill and stuck me with the rest. The only reason to actually pay your bills is the hospital might eventually sue you. Its messed up.
- alisonkisk 6y agoIf you don't pay, they'll budge eventually. Unless you're rich, maybe, but then paying more is socialized health care.
- astrophysician 6y agoUnfortunately not my experience -- went to nearest ER for sudden and agonizing abdominal pain, got some basic pain meds, got a CAT scan to diagnose pneumonia, was sent home within a couple of hours (lots of waiting). Turned out the hospital was not in network, they charged me $15,000 (including $10,000 for a "level 5" ER room stay, which is twice the most expensive price listed on the OP's website and is 10x the local average price for that service, despite the fact that my experience could not possibly have been Level 5 service). Eventually they just sold the debt to a collections agency. I tried to fight but they didn't seem to care, and why would they? They already sold the debt!
- swebs 6y agoWhat country lets non-citizens just walk in to use the health care system?
- miguelrochefort 6y agoThailand.
- jogjayr 6y agoI assume they were referring to countries where you can pay out of pocket for care at private clinics and hospitals, as a visitor. It's called medical tourism. India is a major destination.
- dominotw 6y agoUK
- tin7in 6y agoThe whole European Union for EU citizens with an EU health card.
- dudul 6y agoI actually can't think of one I've visited that doesn't.
- mportela 6y agoBrazil
- kwhitefoot 6y agoNorway, Poland. I'm a UK citizen, resident in Norway, who has visited Poland on business many time. I stayed a night in the Krakow Neurological Institute somewhere between fifteen and twenty years ago, cost me about 100 USD. The ambulance that took me there was free.
- stevenwoo 6y agoWow, you might already know this but in the USA people decline ambulance trips because the cost out of pocket can break them financially. A ambulance helicopter trip (which people are usually not in a position to decline) costs roughly 40,000 last time I read about it, a lot of people crowdfund to pay for this.