[quote=kev374]I got a checkup when I was in Bangalore, India a few months ago. State of the art hospital using the same million dollar machines (from GE, Seimens whatever) used in American hospitals. I paid $50 out of pocket for Ultrasound, Full bevy of comprehensive tests including Lipid profile, Pre/Post glucose, stress test, consult with nutritionist, Dental consult, consult with Doctor, EKG, X-Ray, Bone density test and more. Not only that they gave me a full folder containing all the results, images and plots in addition to a CD with all the test data.
Oh, not to mention a delicious breakfast was also included on the house. Somehow the economics work for this hospital that has also bought these same machines for millions of dollars.
The same tests in the US would’ve cost me $10,000 or 200 times more. I can understand 3X-4X the cost but 200X? I want to know why.
Healthcare in the US is nothing more than a money making racket.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again… no healthcare strategy will EVER WORK unless we get to the bottom of why costs are so ridiculously astronomical compared to everything else in our economy. We have to get costs to a more reasonable level or we are just going to go in circles without solving anything.[/quote]
Actually, nothing you listed is a million dollar machine (or tens of million dollar machines like proton therapy). Everything you listed is a pretty run of mill test using pretty reasonable equipment.
Comparatively, $50 is actually, quite a lot with $8000 putting you on the top of middle income and the Doctors serving you made around $12000.
It doesn’t explain the vast differences those boil down to a real simple problem. Somebody else is paying for it. American’s treat their insurance almost like an all you can eat buffet. You paid the entrance cost with your insurance now you just pile everything on your plate.
We’ve also created layers and layers of additional costs in administrative functions playing whackamolevtrying to get paid.
