"Un-American" Surgery Abroad
Reader Comments
Medical Tourism Convention
The Medical Tourism Association puts on an annual convention each year in San Francisco, September 9-12th , www.medicaltourismcongress.com
Jonathan
Bumrungrad Hospital-Bangkok
Colonoscopy-less than $400.00 total
Head to physical including lab, ekg, etc.-less than $500.00 results in hours not weeks
MRI-less than $300.00 total
Excellent care, an appointment in 17 minutes with one of over 900 doctors in every specialty.
WASHINGTON IS THE ENEMY!
It is called competition. We are losing the battle. I don't pretend to know much about the many reasns. It is not just Medical Tourists. I have read that we can't compete because Corporate taxes are the second highest in the World.
Washington would rather collect taxes, then rebate some of that money to prime the pump which those taxes have destroyed.
Harriet Wilkes is right. Our so-called health care system ixists to separate us from our money. The same can be said about the IRS.
If the polititions were not a bunch of wimps, we might be able to have tax reform which might just solve the whole problem.
The numbers...
McKinsey's medical tourist report, which I just received yesterday, excluded those "who travel in largely contguous geographies to the closest available care (e.g. Mexican facility near a U.S. border city) for they don't consider other medical-travel destination and the financial burden is minimal". You are correct, however; If they were to count these "travelers" the numbers would undoubtedly rise but it is not medical travel in the conventional sense.
In any event, the report clearly indicates those who have sought medical care abroad have exceedingly high levels of satisfaction with the care they received, they would willingly pursue this option again, if necessary, and would recommend to others that they pursue this option.
Overall, I found the study to be very positive and optimistic in its analysis of the medical travel or as I refer to it, the global healthcare market.
The numbers ...
How many medical tourists there are, as McKinsey and Josef Woodman both acknowledge, depends on how you define "medical tourist."
If you count people living in the United States who go to Mexico for health, dental and other care, the numbers they cite swell by at least some hundreds of thousands.
I am not sure why some people want to stipulate that in order to be classified as a medical tourist, one has to get on an airplane.
Jeff Schult
Author, Beauty from Afar: A Medical Tourist's Guide to Affordable and Quality Cosmetic Care Outside the U.S.
High Costs at Hospitals
I lady I know had one-day rectal surgery at our small local hospital and was home in 24 hours. Her bill was $11,000, and that didn't count the doctor, anesthesiologist, or the radiologist. Tack on another $4500 for that.
Yes, our health care system is out of whack. It's a system to separate you from your money.
U.S. News's Avery Comarow has been editor of the America's Best Hospitals annual rankings since they first appeared in 1990. His reporting on clinical medicine, from the latest cholesterol guidelines to robotic surgery, has been driven by the question: What does this mean to patients? And that is the perspective he brings to his observations and commentaries on the increasing number of programs by hospitals and other healthcare providers to improve care and patient safety.
