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It's quite regular that local media in Britain will report on a fundraising drive to send someone (often with a rare condition, sometimes not) to America for tr

It's quite regular that local media in Britain will report on a fundraising drive to send someone (often with a rare condition, sometimes not) to America for treatment because the NHS won't pay - here's an example just from today, where a family's trying to raise ~$100,000: http://www.moorlandsradio.co.uk/2012/01/help-katie/ http://www.moorlandsradio.co.uk/2012/01/help-katie/ It's not because our health service is poor - in fact, it's excellent for general healthcare and I literally trust it with my life. The country (as in you, me, everyone who pays taxes) sadly just can't afford to treat very expensive edge cases, or send people for highly expensive experimental procedures, without jeopardising the sustainability of the service for others. Conversely in America, if you have the money, you get the treatment.

parfe 15y ago
In America, insurance companies call that an "experimental procedure" and they wouldn't cover it either. Meanwhile for every case you can find for someone traveling to America, there can be an identical case found for someone traveling to Europe. http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Cerebral-Palsy-Fundraiser-102670054.html http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Cerebral-Palsy-Fundraiser-10...
- michaelcampbell 15y ago
  > Meanwhile for every case you can find for someone traveling to America, there can be an identical case found for someone traveling to Europe. You've found 1, which hardly equates to "every". Do you have any actual data? I'd be curious to see what the real difference is between "them" coming "here" vs. "us" going "there".
  - parfe 15y ago
    Sure, check wikipedia on medical tourism. An order of magnitude more people leave the US than enter to seek medical treatment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism#United_States My point in finding one was that sensational stories about fund raising for medical treatment make easy news filler. Linking to any of them is meaningless! America has a medicore health care system. We excel in some experimental treatments, and have some great medical centers for those with money. Meanwhile we rank equal to Cuba on life expectancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expec...

parfe 15y ago

In America, insurance companies call that an "experimental procedure" and they wouldn't cover it either. Meanwhile for every case you can find for someone traveling to America, there can be an identical case found for someone traveling to Europe. http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Cerebral-Palsy-Fundraiser-102670054.html http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Cerebral-Palsy-Fundraiser-10...

michaelcampbell 15y ago
> Meanwhile for every case you can find for someone traveling to America, there can be an identical case found for someone traveling to Europe. You've found 1, which hardly equates to "every". Do you have any actual data? I'd be curious to see what the real difference is between "them" coming "here" vs. "us" going "there".
- parfe 15y ago
  Sure, check wikipedia on medical tourism. An order of magnitude more people leave the US than enter to seek medical treatment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism#United_States My point in finding one was that sensational stories about fund raising for medical treatment make easy news filler. Linking to any of them is meaningless! America has a medicore health care system. We excel in some experimental treatments, and have some great medical centers for those with money. Meanwhile we rank equal to Cuba on life expectancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expec...