Healthcare System or Illness Profit System?

In the great debate over American health care the question "Why is medical care so expensive?' should be followed by: Why is our health care system so very bad -- 37th in the world according to the World Health Organization? Especially considering that we spend more on our health care than any other nation on earth.

If we believe a healthy nation is a national priority, why aren't we getting results? Recent article in Huffington Post by Stephan Schwartz offers an explanation that we, unfortunately, agree with. It is because our health care system is not about health. What we have in the United States is an Illness Profit System. The illnesses and traumas of human beings are just the mechanism by which the money taps are opened. It is part of the human condition that everybody gets something that requires medical attention some time in their life, and the Illness Profit System is structured to exploit this. If you get well, it makes money on your treatment. If you don't get well it makes even more money on your treatment. The system is profitable at either end, but weighted towards illness. It's more profitable. The result is a system that is ultimately not based on health.

Why is medical care so expensive?

Isn’t it amazing how prices for medical procedures, diagnostic tests and prescription meds are so much cheaper abroad? Why is that? Why does Hip Replacement surgery costs 10 times more in the US compared to Eastern Europe, India or Mexico?

Maggie Mahar, the author of “Money-Driven Medicine”, has an answer. She argues that the history of U.S. health care has been shaped by corporate interests' gradual encroachment on physician autonomy. According to Mahar, this has produced a system of costly and inefficient competition among providers, leaving Americans worse off than citizens of other industrialized nations.

I couldn’t agree more!!!

Free Market and Healthcare. Mutually exclusive?

We, Americans, love free market. But is there an example of cost differences making it worthwhile to shop for health services?

Medical tourism!

As medical costs in the US continue growing at double digit rates, we start to look elsewhere to get quality services at cost-efficient prices.

The typical reaction for the uninitiated is "Who's really going to trust a hospital in Hungary or Thailand to do their heart transplant? Most Americans won't gamble with their lives".

But they are! 250,000 to 650,00 of them, each year! It's true that many Americans are still apprehensive about using medical tourism. Either they don't trust hospitals in other countries, or can't travel abroad. Or they still miraculously have a great insurance coverage. However, elective surgeries like knee replacements and plastic surgeries are so expensive that medical tourism becomes a viable alternative, because travel costs will be generously offset by savings in medical procedures. That's our beloved free market successfully delivering healthcare!

What about basic healthcare and preventative medicine? Can the free market succeed there?

Imagine having virtual medical examinations where doctors in Belarus, India, or Poland provide basic health services to American patients here, in America, at a fraction of the current costs. These patients would go to a US office where a technician, not a doctor, would examine the patient and run all the basic health tests while simultaneously being supervised by an MD abroad via a high speed internet connection. Telemedicine already exists and will expand if we see changes in mindset, regulations, and technology.

With all the savings virtual basic healthcare could provide, wouldn't the AMA and other American medical interests try to block that from happening? Of course!

America picks and chooses when it wants free market capitalism and when it wants domestic protectionism. Right now the US free market is failing to provide affordable basic healthcare at home. If the international community is allowed to compete in a level playing field, then basic healthcare in the United States would probably become more cost effective.

Full disclosure: Our sincerest gratitude to the United Nations statistician and health economist, Howard Friedman, for sharing his pespective.

Dental tourism recommended on "Real Time with Bill Maher"

Well, maybe "recommended" is a slight exaggeration. David Cross, highly intelligent, brutally honest, and often confrontational actor/comedian was a guest on Bill Maher's October 1st show. He shared his experience in a dental clinic in Europe. Having never been treated anywhere but in the US before, he was truly shocked how easy the whole process turned out to be. "No $1200 panoramic x-rays, no special cleaning, no unnecessary prophylactic treatments, they just took care of a serious emergency I came there for". Cross, of course, used some language we try to stay away from on this blog, so we give you our rendition of his remarks. The whole experience apparently took only 40 minutes, no wait. Total cost was about 80 British pounds. That would be about $126. People wouldn't have to cash out what is still left of their IRA or 401K, would they?
Of, course we have plenty of those who wouldn't want any socialist dentistry like that here, in the US. Until they actually have a chance to experience it first hand. Didn't Mark Twain once say "Travel is fatal to prejudice"?

The solution!

Yes! I was going on vocation!
I was long overdue for a nice relaxing trip. I started looking for the airplane tickets to Eastern Europe, to Belarus to be exact. I knew that Belarusian dentists are wonderful, I visited them before. So I checked the ticket prices. It appeared that I could afford not one but two round trip tickets, which meant that my husband and I could have an overseas vocation together! We paid about $2,400 for two round trip tickets. Not bad!
Once in Belarus, I went to my first appointment at one of the local dental clinics. I wanted to get the work started as soon as possible as we didn’t have much time. Of course, I was also wondering about the price? I came prepared, I had my X-rays with me and I also had a good idea about what needed to be done. During my first appointment my root canal was taken care of and all the measurements for the crown were taken. The estimated cost of this whole treatment was about $250! I made two more visits to this clinic and everything was completed. I was so happy! I got to visit my family and friends - everything is so close in Europe, and I had my dental issue solved!
But what a price difference!

Medical Tourism is the only solution for many...

Medical Tourism may sound like an exotic, extravagant adventure. Until you realize that it is a necessity. $3000 is certainly an exorbitant amount to spend on basic dental procedures. Wait till we "unveil" the price difference! But it can only get worse from here. Over 30K for more involved procedures is not unheard of in the US. As people turn to medical tourism more and more often, they face not the question of whether to go abroad for their treatments, but where to go.

India, Indonesia, Thailand usually the first locations that come to mind. But how comfortable do you really feel going for medical treatment to these faraway lands? It is one thing to go with the tourist group, and it is completely different to find yourself in these alien lands when you are undergoing medical procedures. Everything is so different from everything we know… Mexico? Seriously? With all the travel advisories about drug related violence? Eastern Europe sounds better and better, doesn't it?

Pre-reform or Post-reform it doesn't matter...

Just as it was mentioned in our previous post, the Healthcare Reform is not going to affect Medical Tourism in any way. It may even increase the demand for our services. Prices are not going to decrease, no way!
Let me tell you my story: I live in Florida.
One time I went to the local dentist to replace the filling that I lost while chewing my favorite caramel candy. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal… maybe it would cost me $100 or $200, oh no!!! It cost me $200 just for the exam and the X-rays… and then I was told that I needed a root-canal done and a dental cap. The estimated cost of this project was $3,000..! I almost fell on the floor! I needed time to think - $3,000 is a lot of money!

I spent a few days researching and talking to people, including my family in Eastern Europe, and I found the solution! Guess what that was?