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Medical Care Gets Outsourced Too
Muppy writes "Here's the summary from the most emailed article in The Washington Post today -- about an American who went to India for heart surgery, which he could never have afforded here. U.S.: $200,000 total cost ($50,000 deposit required) for heart operation. India: $10,000 total bill, including hospital, air fare, and a side trip to the Taj Mahal. And the Indian doctors are probably at least as good as those one is likely to get in the U.S. From the article: 'Eager to cash in on the trend, posh private hospitals are beginning to offer services tailored for foreign patients, such as airport pickups, Internet-equipped private rooms and package deals that combine, for example, tummy-tuck surgery with several nights in a maharajah's palace...'"
Anyone who needs treatment gets it in the USA. No one gets turned away. I'm sick and tired of this pink socialist propaganda thats trying to eat away at our marvelous prosperity.
First, American businesses move to India because you can get well-educated and qualified employees for 1/15th the price. And Americans get pissed.
Now, Americans fly to India because you can get well-educated and qualified doctors for 1/15th the price.
So, what should the response be?
a) Hey, I lost my job and my insurance because it was outsourced to India, so the only way I can afford surgury is flying to India myself.
b) It's a global market in today's day and age, and India needs money.
c) The American health care industry is a bunch of theives. Now we can stick it to them.
d) I needed a vacation and heart surgury. Then I found a travel agent on the internet that promised me both! How could I say no?
e) Do as I say and not as I do.
That is the key point you are missing. You could be dead shortly after going critical or before. There is also the issue of quality of life, if your quality of life is impacted by a 3 month wait what will you do? Go to America like my BC friend have? Sure thing, just hope they don't make it illegal to seek private care which is what some are trying to do.
The key issue with managed health care is that there is no reason for hospitals and others to compete with each other which does lead to lines. It also leads to abuse of the system by people who go in for every little stupid thing they have or imagine they have.
Finally it is NOT FREE. In some systems (notably Britains) you end up with two classes, those who have to use government insurance and those who get better treatment because they have private insurance.
In the end I will take our current system over any government managed system. Reports coming from Canada's own government show rising disatisfaction with their health care to the order of 40% and out of control costs. It also shows short cuts a government can take that no private entity would - that is using nurses in the place of doctors in certain cases.
Life ain't free and death doesn't have a waiting line.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
If you're critical you jump to the top of the queue.
That may be true, but it doesn't always help. My wife worked in a hospital in Pennsylvania that used to get Canadian patients on a regular basis. One that sticks out in my mind is a Canadian gentleman who was told by his cardiologist that he needed a bypass done within four weeks or he'd likely die. The soonest a Canadian hospital would do it? Six months. Fortunately for him, he could afford to pay to have it done in the US, that week.
The biggest thing wrong with our system is leeches like John Edwards, who drive the cost up by suing everyone in sight for ludicrous amounts of money.
You must be pretty fucking dumb, the rich already live longer and better lives. And in Canada, the rich just go South the border or fly to Germany and do what they need for the money they have. It only hurts Canadian economy that the doctors are not allowed to have their own clinics, since so many good doctors just leave Canada and go to the States to work. This hurts the healthcare in Canada since there are fewer doctors and much fewer good doctors and this hurts economy since the education of the doctors is somewhat paid by the Canadian taxes etc.
So while the rich will always have it good, the poor could have benefitted from better health care, doctors, shorter wait lines and more if Canada allowed 2 tier system where the private tier would have to comply with rules like this for example: 1/3 of services they provide they would have to provide to the public under Medicare system, while 2/3 of their time they could charge customers for their services.
Whatever, live in your dream, I also live in Canada and I see it the way it is.
You can't handle the truth.