Medical Tourism in Europe

Healthcare System or Illness Profit System?

2010-12-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-11-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-10-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-09-12T07:18:00.001-07:00

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?

Medical tourism in post-reform era?

2010-09-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

In one of our last posts we expressed concern that healthcare reform is dead. We know now that it did, indeed, pass. However toothless it may be. What does it mean for medical tourism and our company? Even more opportunities!!! Recently my friend went to an orthopedic doctor to follow up after a bad ankle sprain that landed her in an emergency room several days earlier. The friend was getting ready for a track competition and wanted to make sure she is OK to participate. The doctor spent about 8 minutes with her, looked at the X-rays from the ER, wrote an RX for an MRI and commented on how he will not be able to read any results the next day because he was going to be on a boat. These 8 minutes commanded a charge of $700.00. That would be $5250 an hour! Can healthcare reform fix greed?

Clearly, one would not go abroad for a sprained ankle. But what about dental work or elective surgery?

Is healthcare reform dead?

2010-02-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

Healthcare reform does seem to be dead. At least for now. What will it mean for the future of healthcare in the US?
We just saw this insightful comment on Daily Beast:
Yeeeees!
Hooray for skyrocketing healthcare costs!
Hooray for denials based on pre-existing conditions!
Hooray for lifetime caps!
Hooray obstinate bipartisanship!
Hooray for propaganda!
Hooray for Democratic cowardice and arrogance!
Hooray for Republican obstruction and arrogance!
Hooray for a family of fame-whores beating an out-of-touch party hack!
Hooray for America!
Let our Stars and Stripes proudly wave...
- we may have to use it for a bandage.
Or buy a ticket abroad to get your healthcare.

Cosmopolitan Healthcare in the US?

2009-08-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

Slavmed is back from a Sabbatical! We just couldn't stay away when all this interesting "healthcare reform" stuff happens!

You all heard that Investor’s Business Daily ( a little to the right!) announced that the handicapped physicist Stephen Hawking “wouldn’t have a chance,” in Britain because the government run National Health Service would consider his life “essentially worthless.”

You do know that Professor Hawking was born in Britain, has lived there all his life. BTW, he expressed that he is quite happy with the care he received.

Proposed Obamacare is not like Britain's system. Faux News is screaming that the plan would turn America into the former Soviet Union. But Paul Krugman (NEW YORK TIMES) says that the plan would turn America into Switzerland, far from a "socialist hellhole".

Every civilized country other than the United States guarantees necessary care to all its citizens. Switzerland relies on private insurance companies, using a combination of regulation and subsidies to ensure that everyone is covered. Everyone is required to buy insurance, insurers can’t discriminate based on medical history or pre-existing conditions, and lower-income citizens get government help in paying for their policies. Short of single payer system, it sounds pretty reasonable, doesn't it?

Swiss-style universal healthcare coverage is so much better than the US status quo. And we already know it works in Switzerland.

So if Obamacare Swissifies America, SlavMed would be out of business. We better start developing new product lines.

Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Insurance Plan

2009-06-11T10:35:00.001-07:00

Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Insurance Plan

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: June 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — As the health care debate heats up, the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation to remake the health care system.

Let us know what you think.

Slavmed"

THANKS

Sincerely,

Milla

What kind of healthcare do YOU want?

2009-05-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Remember how Republicans killed Clinton's health care reform? NYT reported that at a closed door Republican strategy session Bob Packwood,(R-OR) said those famous words: " We've killed health care reform, now we've got to make sure our fingerprints are not on ". Are we really better off now?

Remember the cries about "Big Government Democrats Gone Wild"? It sounds familiar because opponents of the reform still repeat it, over and over again. It is mind boggling that people still buy into this crap - even those who are uninsured themselves!

Apparently,the key is to stick to “big lies” –lies so HUGE that they must be true. (Who would dare make up such a whopper and repeat it on television, online or in print?) Distorted language is not meant to provoke thought; it aims to close off thought in order to play on listeners’ emotions.

Why do Republicans refer to Obama’s proposal as a “Washington takeover” of health care? Why do they insist that patients will have to “stand in line” with “Washington bureaucrats in charge of healthcare.”?

Because apparently fear-mongering is an art that pays off. “It could lead to the government setting standards of care, instead of doctors who really know what’s best.It could lead to the government rationing care, making people stand in line and denying treatment like they do in other countries with national healthcare.”

Here the speaker neatly avoids having to offer any evidence. He is not saying that Obama has proposed letting the government set standards or ration care. He is just saying that reform “could” put us on a slippery slope, planting images in the reader’s mind without really claiming that they are true. It “It’s not what you say; it’s what people hear.”

Most Americans recognize that health care has little to do with a free market where sellers compete for customers. Eighty percent of our health care dollars are spent when patients are very sick, they don’t have the luxury of shopping around, and bartering. A patient not likely to tell surgeon A, “if you can’t give me a better price, I’ll go to surgeon B.” The truth is, at best, the patient isn’t looking for the cheapest surgeon; he’s looking for the best surgeon, just as he is looking for the best medication, the best hospital. In reality, the patients go to where their insurance plan offers the best coverage.

Get smart. Don't let the techniques designed to wake up the "group think" in you affect your own judgment. No one in Washington is talking about having the government take over the hospitals, or put doctors on the government’s payroll.

White House has no plans to take over health care. And the last thing politicians want to do is vote on what care people should and shouldn’t receive.

Stem Cell Funding Ban Lifted

2009-03-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

President Obama completed a turnaround of Bush administration policy this morning by officially ending a federal ban on funding of stem cell research. "In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values," he said, carefully noting that the new rules would not "open the door" for "dangerous, profoundly wrong" human cloning. Obama went out of his way to make clear that under his watch, "We base our public policies on the soundest science" and "appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology." The National Institutes of Health now has 120 days to figure out federal funding guidelines and limitations.
Retrieved March 9, 2009 from http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/
Maybe soon we will not need to travel overseas to find cure for Diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Cancer, spinal cord injuries and other life threatening conditions.
Tell us what you think.

Private Health advocate for insurance woes

2009-01-13T22:51:00.000-08:00

Have a health insurance nightmare? Fighting with insurance could be exhausting...

If you simply don't have the time or energy to fight, would you retain a private advocate to battle the bureaucracy? Experts say that even the most complicated claims disputes are often resolved within two weeks with an advocate's help. Would you go this route? let us know by replying to this post.

2008-12-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

Our favorite health related blog, Health Care Blog, had an interesting post. Apparently, Obama-Biden Transition Team has encouraged individuals to gather in small groups with friends to discuss their ideas for health care reform so that citizens could provide feedback to health reform czar-designate Tom Daschle.

This clever and witty poem is a product from one of such gatherings:

‘Twas three nights before Christmas, and despite cold and storm

We’d gathered together to talk health care reform.

Clutching Team Obama’s brief questionnaire

We went over each item with scrupulous care.

Middle-class, middle-aged and in the Midwest

With our host’s college kids for reality test.

O’er the country many thousands had signed up for the same

Despite fear “special interests” would come rig the game.

But as we plain folk gathered by the living room fire

We closely read instructions, then vented our ire.

It was plain to us as the new-fallen snow

That insurers existed just to say “no.”

Choosing hospitals and docs? For verification

Our group relied on the best reputation!

While I plumped for more data on quality of care

“You can’t measure,” they said – so I tread lightly there.

(OK, the truth – and please don’t tut-tut

I struggled, alas, to keep my mouth shut.

But praise to the docs there, all credit should be

For their politeness to the lone plaintiff’s attorney.)

We were asked to tell tales that came from our lives

Like self-employed men who hire their wives

In order to become an insurable group –

They still paid big premiums; insurers ain’t dupes.

“Healthier lifestyles and policy?” – we gave that a jab.

It’s mostly your fault that you’ve got so much flab.

(Not being Republicans, we adjured condemnation

We knew of the links ‘tween income and education.)

The role of employers? We cried, “Get them out,”

But decided, “A transition” -- after thinking of clout.

Yes, we had fun, we talked “big picture,” too:

Single-payer, malpractice, and why Americans do

Not think other nations can help us advance --

Though our group had lived in Italy, Russia, the UK and France.

But most of our talk, and most of the clatter

Centered on cost – there’s the heart of the matter.

A woman whose son has a quite rare disease

Spends endless time fighting for care that he needs.

Oftentimes, she must threaten to sue

To get paid for the care she knows is their due.

And this is a woman of much sophistication --

What happens to the less powerful in this, our great nation?

Care’s a “privilege” or a “right”? – those words carry freight.

And so we conducted our own short debate.

“Basic care” for all? Yes, but choices are hard.

Do you get the same care if you have no green card?

Ethics, morality – all very nice

But what Team Obama omitted was any hint of the price.

Will cutting out waste and boosting prevention

Allow painless “reform”? That is the question.

Someone will pay – there is no free lunch.

But “someone,” for now, won’t be our small bunch.

We took a group picture (it’s what was suggested).

We’ll soon review notes (it’s what is expected).

And though Daschle by the “grassroots” has vowed to be led.

No false visions of sugar plums danced in our heads. ‘

Twas three nights before Christmas, but we’ll know Santa was here

When reform becomes law – and as a Cubs fan I believe, this is the year."

We hope you enjoyed this poem. Maybe, you would even consider joining our group for similar discussion. Let us know by replying to this post.

Happy Holidays,

SlavMed Team

Daschle to Head Health and Human Services - Good or bad?

2008-12-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

It was announced today that former Senator Tom Daschle is Obama's choice for secretary of health and human services.

Obama previously said that healthcare is “not something that we can put off because we are in an emergency. This is part of the emergency.” The new health czar clearly shares this sense of urgency. He said that “Our growing costs are unsustainable, and the plight of the uninsured is unconscionable.”

But how will all these sentiments translate into practical solutions?

Will the government offer its own health insurance plan, to compete with private plans as the new administration proposed during the campaign? Will the private insurers hold down costs and improve care if they have to compete with a public plan? Or will they simply be driven from the market?

In a meantime, we still find that there is no practical alternative to medical tourism for those who need treatments now.

What do you think?

Can you believe it? Are we entering Middle Ages?

2008-11-18T10:36:00.000-08:00

Bush administration plans to grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion on religious grounds. What????

Even Bush appointed legal counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the proposal would overturn 40 years of civil rights law prohibiting job discrimination based on religion.

WTF?

Employees of the pharmacies will be able to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraceptives? Turn away Medicaid patients? Hospitals will not be required to offer emergency contraception to rape victims?

Healthcare reform anyone?

2008-11-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

Economy is in crisis. So is healthcare. Will the Obama administration be able to move forward on both health insurance and various social/culture/civil rights issues surrounding access and choice? Or will their health care reform suffer the same fate as Clinton’s?

Democrats seem to be determined not to let it happen. Senators Max Baucus of Montana and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts “intend to aggressively pursue significant - and expensive -- healthcare legislation despite an expanding federal deficit and President-elect Barack Obama's intense focus on the ailing economy” (http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/11/senate_democrat.html).

It is impossible to cover all uninsured and underinsured without revamping the entire system. On the other hand, there’s no way to solve America’s economic troubles without fixing health care for the long term. The public agrees. Even the Big Business agrees. Is it the perfect storm we needed to get things done?

Baucus’s plan claims to employ a "holistic approach” and to address not only healthcare access but also costs. But will they move fast enough to capitalize on Obama's “honeymoon period”?

Our favorite quotation

2008-10-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

Easy is right. Begin right and you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy is to forget the right way and forget that the going is easy.

Chuang - Tzu

Do we have any hope for healthcare reform?

2008-10-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

We know that American medical care is the most expensive in the world. We would like to think that being the most expensive, it is also of the highest quality. Yet year after year we look at the reports and articles that compare quality of care in the US and other industrialized nations and realize: it is simply not the case.

Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York, reported:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/business/17health.html?fta=y

1. United States spends more than twice as much on each person for health care as most other industrialized countries.

2. Yet, US is on the last place among those countries in preventing deaths through use of timely and effective medical care.

3. Access to care in the United States has worsened since 2006. More people,75 million,lack adequate health insurance or are uninsured. The central finding of the report - access has deteriorated.

4. Assessment of the United States on 37 health care measures finds little improvement since 2006. Bottom line: the cost of health care continues to rise, more people — even those with insurance — struggle to pay their medical bills.

5. United States ranks last in preventable mortality, just below Ireland and Portugal. The leader by that measure is France, followed by Japan and Australia.

6. Other countries worked hard to improve.Britain, for example, focused on improving the performance of individual hospitals that had been the least successful in treating heart disease. Making top-quality care a government priority led to success in Britain.

7. Business leaders also see a need for health care changes. They agree that it’s been as bad as they have been thinking it is.

8. Inefficiencies of the American health care system: the administrative costs of the medical insurance system consume much more of the current health care dollar, about 7.5 percent, than in other countries. In comparison, administrative costs are at the level of 5 percent or so in Germany and Switzerland, where private insurers also play a significant role.

9. A lot of the waste in the US system is the antiquity of the information technology and the burdensome regulatory and compliance costs of doing business in 50 states. A more uniform system could result in savings.

Conclusion? US healthcare needs a change! (That word again!) With a bankrupt financial system and national debt approaching 10.5 trillion, it is doubtful that there is hope for a reasonably quick solution.

Until then, medical tourism in Europe may be the most viable choice for many of us in need of necessary treatments. Difference in price is remarkable. Vacation is spectacular. Difference in quality? Read the post again.

Any thoughts?
Slavmed.com

Why medical tourism?

2008-09-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

According to the US Census Bureau over 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2005. Rising healthcare costs coupled with overwhelming number of the uninsured makes one wonder – where do Americans get their medical treatments? A medical tourism phenomenon is a logical response of market economy to the imbalance between demand, supply and price in the US healthcare.

Difference in price is main reason for patients to seek medical care abroad. Without a doubt, many comprehensive medical and dental procedures are more affordable abroad yet the quality is outstanding! Many think that lower prices equal lower quality but it is not the case. The prices are lower not because the quality is jeopardized but because the healthcare systems are different. There are no third party payers involved in the process.

We want to hear from you: Would you consider medical tourism as an option for you or your family members? Please share you pro and con arguments.

For more information: slavmed.com

SlavMed

2008-09-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

We created this blog to invite meaningful discussion about today's healthcare and unconventional alternatives made possible by the phenomenon of medical tourism.