4 ms·

American healthcare is indescribably inflated. There must be very powerful anti-market forces at work.

tormeh 11y ago
Well, at those prices, what's keeping you from flying to another country, getting stuff done there and going back again?
- icebraining 11y ago
  Most people don't pay for it out of their pocket, as far as I'm aware, either they have health insurance coverage or they use public clinics like the one described in the article.
- gizmo686 11y ago
  Most people pay for it (and most healthcare expenses) through insurance, and insurance companies can negotiate their own price. This means that there is little incentive or care about the sticker price of treatments.
- douche 11y ago
  Many people near the Canadian border do exactly this. I think it's more common with dental procedures than most medical issues, but I've heard of people getting non-emergency surgery done. Even if you pay completely out of pocket, Canadian medicine is much cheaper than US. I had an emergency appendectomy while on vacation in Quebec, and the total bill, with surgery, anesthesia, an overnight stay in the hospital, and the 100+ mile ambulance ride to get me out to a real hospital, was around $2500. That's the deductible on my US health insurance... A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher (source, several in-patient orthopedic surgeries I've had)
  - mistermann 11y ago
    > A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher This is the problem most people overlook when talking healthcare reform in the US - if you just make it single payer (the government), you're still screwed if the prices are 10x what it should be.
    - lern_too_spel 11y ago
      The reason it's much cheaper in Canada is collective bargaining through the single payer. The hospitals can't charge exorbitant markups for those procedures and take the profit because the single payer knows how much it actually costs and will make it just worth their while.
      - aidenn0 11y ago
        For at least certain things Medicare and Medicaid is forbidden by law to use it's position to bargain for lower prices.
- GFischer 11y ago
  Actually, I don't live in the U.S., and the awful healthcare (unless you're wealthy) is one of the reasons that would make me hesitant to live there (in particular the cost of having children scares me).
- aidenn0 11y ago
  It costs more than $800 to fly to another country. For major surgeries, people do fly to Europe for the procedure: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/the-growing-popularity-of-having-surgery-overseas.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/the-growing-popularity-...

Well, at those prices, what's keeping you from flying to another country, getting stuff done there and going back again?

icebraining 11y ago
Most people don't pay for it out of their pocket, as far as I'm aware, either they have health insurance coverage or they use public clinics like the one described in the article.
gizmo686 11y ago
Most people pay for it (and most healthcare expenses) through insurance, and insurance companies can negotiate their own price. This means that there is little incentive or care about the sticker price of treatments.
douche 11y ago
Many people near the Canadian border do exactly this. I think it's more common with dental procedures than most medical issues, but I've heard of people getting non-emergency surgery done. Even if you pay completely out of pocket, Canadian medicine is much cheaper than US. I had an emergency appendectomy while on vacation in Quebec, and the total bill, with surgery, anesthesia, an overnight stay in the hospital, and the 100+ mile ambulance ride to get me out to a real hospital, was around $2500. That's the deductible on my US health insurance... A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher (source, several in-patient orthopedic surgeries I've had)
- mistermann 11y ago
  > A comparable procedure in a US hospital would be billed at nearly an order of magnitude higher This is the problem most people overlook when talking healthcare reform in the US - if you just make it single payer (the government), you're still screwed if the prices are 10x what it should be.
  - lern_too_spel 11y ago
    The reason it's much cheaper in Canada is collective bargaining through the single payer. The hospitals can't charge exorbitant markups for those procedures and take the profit because the single payer knows how much it actually costs and will make it just worth their while.
    - aidenn0 11y ago
      For at least certain things Medicare and Medicaid is forbidden by law to use it's position to bargain for lower prices.
GFischer 11y ago
Actually, I don't live in the U.S., and the awful healthcare (unless you're wealthy) is one of the reasons that would make me hesitant to live there (in particular the cost of having children scares me).
aidenn0 11y ago
It costs more than $800 to fly to another country. For major surgeries, people do fly to Europe for the procedure: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/the-growing-popularity-of-having-surgery-overseas.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/us/the-growing-popularity-...