4 ms·

Somebody needs to create international healthcare insurance based in stable non-US jurisdiction similar to travelers insurance. Insurance that would cover medic

Somebody needs to create international healthcare insurance based in stable non-US jurisdiction similar to travelers insurance. Insurance that would cover medical tourism - flight, lodging and care for Americans.

khuey 14y ago
Most Americans can't afford to travel out of the country for routine medical care.
- cpursley 14y ago
  Not for routine care - stuff of $10,000 or so. And the insurance would cover all travel expenses.
- PeterisP 14y ago
  It feels like most Americans can't afford to NOT travel out of the country for routine medical care. If you can pay $1300 for the routine stuff described in the article, it'll probably be cheaper to do it outside. I don't know the prices in North America, but based on EU prices I'd guess it should cost less than $500 to fly across half continent and back, and $150 for the actual operation in any good Mexican hospital; which coincidentally adds up to half the USA price.
jen_h 14y ago
No kidding; after months and months dealing with the actual mechanics of the medical bills for a simple leg contusion (stupidly thought it was broken; won't do that again), if the big C ever hits, I think we're headed to Mexico to avoid bankruptcy of both time and money. Just dealing with the afteraffects of a simple ER trip for what turned out to be a bruise was eye-opening. I had the pleasure of dealing with a multitude of bills from random places (in some cases, lawyers' offices, who handle some doctor's bills from first charge--i.e., not collections--and boast on their web sites about being able to return "200% of what's owed"), determining what's legit and what's fraudulent, the paperwork sent back and forth between us and our insurance company and between the billers and our insurance company (who weren't paying anyway because we have a very high deductible, but you have to jump through massive hoops to get them to actually count your payments towards the deductible), the attempts of the medical billers to double-bill and continue to appeal the bill with two insurance companies months after I paid the bill (how they collect that 200%, I assume)...a total mess. Someone got paid 2k for a deep contusion, but I think most went to middle(wo)men and lawyers' offices. That 62% medical bankruptcies in 2007 in the US are actually insured persons (cite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/american_journal_of_medicine_09.pdf http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/amer...) is no surprise; what would surprise me is if it isn't 20%+ higher now.

khuey 14y ago

Most Americans can't afford to travel out of the country for routine medical care.

cpursley 14y ago
Not for routine care - stuff of $10,000 or so. And the insurance would cover all travel expenses.
PeterisP 14y ago
It feels like most Americans can't afford to NOT travel out of the country for routine medical care. If you can pay $1300 for the routine stuff described in the article, it'll probably be cheaper to do it outside. I don't know the prices in North America, but based on EU prices I'd guess it should cost less than $500 to fly across half continent and back, and $150 for the actual operation in any good Mexican hospital; which coincidentally adds up to half the USA price.

jen_h 14y ago

No kidding; after months and months dealing with the actual mechanics of the medical bills for a simple leg contusion (stupidly thought it was broken; won't do that again), if the big C ever hits, I think we're headed to Mexico to avoid bankruptcy of both time and money. Just dealing with the afteraffects of a simple ER trip for what turned out to be a bruise was eye-opening. I had the pleasure of dealing with a multitude of bills from random places (in some cases, lawyers' offices, who handle some doctor's bills from first charge--i.e., not collections--and boast on their web sites about being able to return "200% of what's owed"), determining what's legit and what's fraudulent, the paperwork sent back and forth between us and our insurance company and between the billers and our insurance company (who weren't paying anyway because we have a very high deductible, but you have to jump through massive hoops to get them to actually count your payments towards the deductible), the attempts of the medical billers to double-bill and continue to appeal the bill with two insurance companies months after I paid the bill (how they collect that 200%, I assume)...a total mess. Someone got paid 2k for a deep contusion, but I think most went to middle(wo)men and lawyers' offices. That 62% medical bankruptcies in 2007 in the US are actually insured persons (cite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/american_journal_of_medicine_09.pdf http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/amer...) is no surprise; what would surprise me is if it isn't 20%+ higher now.