SumSam
April 3rd, 2008, 10:01 PM
Medical tourism soars as Americans seek major savings (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving2/stories/040208dnlivmedical.32d27d0.html)
09:10 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 1, 2008
McClatchy Newspapers
NEW DELHI – When James Payne found out he needed a liver transplant, he first tried to arrange the surgery at a top local hospital in South Florida. Doctors there told him that they couldn't schedule the procedure for a few months and that it would cost $450,000, a fortune for the uninsured former investment banker.
So the 55-year-old and his wife, who planned to donate half her own liver to her husband, bought plane tickets to India instead. There, at one of New Delhi's premiere hospitals, a transplant specialist carried out the surgery for $58,000 – a price tag that included their 10-week hospital stay.
"If you want to live, this is where you come," said a smiling Payne, who planned to return home to Florida last month and said he would recommend his experience to anyone suffering similar problems.
The number of Americans heading abroad for medical procedures is surging as the country's 46 million people without health insurance look for treatment they can afford and cash-strapped U.S. companies struggle to find cheaper ways to provide high-quality medical care to their employees, according to the American Medical Association.
COST COMPARISONS
U.S. cost / India cost / Thailand cost / Singapore cost
Hearty bypass: $130,000 / $10,000 / $11,000 / $18,500
Heart valve replacement: $160,000 / $9,000 / $10,000 / $12,500
Angioplasty: $57,000 / $11,000 / $13,000 / $13,000
Hip replacement: $43,000 / $9,000 / $12,000 / $12,000
Hysterectomy: $20,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 / $6,000
Knee replacement: $40,000 / $8,500 / $10,000 / $13,000
Spinal fusion: $62,000 / $5,500 / $7,000 / $9,000
(Source: American Medical Association, June 2007)
Some of the price differences are almost an order of magnitude...surely some of it has to be the wasteful bloat in the US healthcare system.
09:10 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 1, 2008
McClatchy Newspapers
NEW DELHI – When James Payne found out he needed a liver transplant, he first tried to arrange the surgery at a top local hospital in South Florida. Doctors there told him that they couldn't schedule the procedure for a few months and that it would cost $450,000, a fortune for the uninsured former investment banker.
So the 55-year-old and his wife, who planned to donate half her own liver to her husband, bought plane tickets to India instead. There, at one of New Delhi's premiere hospitals, a transplant specialist carried out the surgery for $58,000 – a price tag that included their 10-week hospital stay.
"If you want to live, this is where you come," said a smiling Payne, who planned to return home to Florida last month and said he would recommend his experience to anyone suffering similar problems.
The number of Americans heading abroad for medical procedures is surging as the country's 46 million people without health insurance look for treatment they can afford and cash-strapped U.S. companies struggle to find cheaper ways to provide high-quality medical care to their employees, according to the American Medical Association.
COST COMPARISONS
U.S. cost / India cost / Thailand cost / Singapore cost
Hearty bypass: $130,000 / $10,000 / $11,000 / $18,500
Heart valve replacement: $160,000 / $9,000 / $10,000 / $12,500
Angioplasty: $57,000 / $11,000 / $13,000 / $13,000
Hip replacement: $43,000 / $9,000 / $12,000 / $12,000
Hysterectomy: $20,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 / $6,000
Knee replacement: $40,000 / $8,500 / $10,000 / $13,000
Spinal fusion: $62,000 / $5,500 / $7,000 / $9,000
(Source: American Medical Association, June 2007)
Some of the price differences are almost an order of magnitude...surely some of it has to be the wasteful bloat in the US healthcare system.