4 ms·

Genuine question - what happens for these types of cases in the US if the patient isn't rich? Does the patient get turfed out onto the street once they run out

Genuine question - what happens for these types of cases in the US if the patient isn't rich? Does the patient get turfed out onto the street once they run out of money?

ars 13y ago
Medicaid pays for it. (And eventually Medicare when they get old enough.) People have such a strange view of medical care in the US. Medicaid is available to anyone who needs it (i.e. financially plus special medical circumstances). And all children in the US are able to have medical coverage - if they can't afford it the government pays for it (or gives a pro rated discount). There is no such thing as not [being able to] have coverage for your kids because you can't afford it. So basically the old and the young are both covered. The gap is in the middle.
- DominikR 13y ago
  So he would be kicked out of care after reaching the age of 18 in the US?
  - ars 13y ago
    The age varies (the younger the age the higher the income limits are) but in any case if he needed special medical care he would be shifted to a different program, but the coverage would stay.
- Luc 13y ago
  Not a wonderful situation, though, is it? $78k for a hip replacement will make one hell of a dent in the money you saved up for retirement, but hey, once you're poor you can get Medicare. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html?_r=1& http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourist...
  - ars 13y ago
    You don't have to pay $78K though. If you are old enough medicare will pay almost all of it. And if younger you should have catastrophic insurance which will pay all but a few thousand of that - and that type of insurance is very cheap. PS. No one - at all - pays list price for medical care. So completely and utterly ignore such numbers unless your goal is to be disingenuous. The numbers billed by medical providers are from the output of a random number generator, they have no basis in reality, and no one pays it.
    - Luc 13y ago
      > If you are old enough medicare will pay almost all of it. And if younger you should have catastrophic insurance You ignore the situation this man was, at 67, not eligible for Medicare and not insurable. > So completely and utterly ignore such numbers unless your goal is to be disingenuous. He already pulled strings to get the price of the implant in the US down to $13,000, 'list price, no markup'. Crazy.
      - ars 13y ago
        Medicare starts at 65. I don't know what's going on with this person. I suspect we are not being told everything in order to make a good story. And that's something to keep in mind: The strange stories you read are in the news precisely because they are so unusual. > $13,000, 'list price, no markup'. Crazy. That's what he paid out of the US as well, I guess that's what it costs. Please explain why you said $78k in your original post.
        Luc 13y ago
        > That's what he paid out of the US as well, I guess that's what it costs. Please explain why you said $78k in your original post. No no, you're mixing up different numbers. By the way, the $78k ($13 + $65k) didn't even include the surgeon's fee: "[...] he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country." " [...] he ultimately chose to have his hip replaced in 2007 at a private hospital outside Brussels for $13,660. That price included not only a hip joint, made by Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings, but also all doctors’ fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America. " "The Belgian hospital paid about $4,000 for Mr. Shopenn’s high-end Zimmer implant at a time when American hospitals were paying an average of over $8,000 for the same model."

Genuine question - what happens for these types of cases in the US if the patient isn't rich? Does the patient get turfed out onto the street once they run out of money?

ars 13y ago

Medicaid pays for it. (And eventually Medicare when they get old enough.) People have such a strange view of medical care in the US. Medicaid is available to anyone who needs it (i.e. financially plus special medical circumstances). And all children in the US are able to have medical coverage - if they can't afford it the government pays for it (or gives a pro rated discount). There is no such thing as not [being able to] have coverage for your kids because you can't afford it. So basically the old and the young are both covered. The gap is in the middle.

DominikR 13y ago
So he would be kicked out of care after reaching the age of 18 in the US?
- ars 13y ago
  The age varies (the younger the age the higher the income limits are) but in any case if he needed special medical care he would be shifted to a different program, but the coverage would stay.
Luc 13y ago
Not a wonderful situation, though, is it? $78k for a hip replacement will make one hell of a dent in the money you saved up for retirement, but hey, once you're poor you can get Medicare. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html?_r=1& http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourist...
- ars 13y ago
  You don't have to pay $78K though. If you are old enough medicare will pay almost all of it. And if younger you should have catastrophic insurance which will pay all but a few thousand of that - and that type of insurance is very cheap. PS. No one - at all - pays list price for medical care. So completely and utterly ignore such numbers unless your goal is to be disingenuous. The numbers billed by medical providers are from the output of a random number generator, they have no basis in reality, and no one pays it.
  - Luc 13y ago
    > If you are old enough medicare will pay almost all of it. And if younger you should have catastrophic insurance You ignore the situation this man was, at 67, not eligible for Medicare and not insurable. > So completely and utterly ignore such numbers unless your goal is to be disingenuous. He already pulled strings to get the price of the implant in the US down to $13,000, 'list price, no markup'. Crazy.
    - ars 13y ago
      Medicare starts at 65. I don't know what's going on with this person. I suspect we are not being told everything in order to make a good story. And that's something to keep in mind: The strange stories you read are in the news precisely because they are so unusual. > $13,000, 'list price, no markup'. Crazy. That's what he paid out of the US as well, I guess that's what it costs. Please explain why you said $78k in your original post.
      - Luc 13y ago
        > That's what he paid out of the US as well, I guess that's what it costs. Please explain why you said $78k in your original post. No no, you're mixing up different numbers. By the way, the $78k ($13 + $65k) didn't even include the surgeon's fee: "[...] he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country." " [...] he ultimately chose to have his hip replaced in 2007 at a private hospital outside Brussels for $13,660. That price included not only a hip joint, made by Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings, but also all doctors’ fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America. " "The Belgian hospital paid about $4,000 for Mr. Shopenn’s high-end Zimmer implant at a time when American hospitals were paying an average of over $8,000 for the same model."