Any Du'ers had surgery in a foreign country because of medical costs?

[raccoon]

I've heard of Americans going to India or other countries for surgery, because they didn't have insurance, or, in some cases, the insurance companies wanted them to, to save money.

Anybody had an experience with this?

[Selatius]

1. I've heard of people going to Mexico, since Mexico has a universal health care system.

Granted, conditions down there do not meet up with American standards, but the exchange rate for the price of prescription drugs and medical procedures is still favorable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. No she does not... in fact, if the RW wanted to use a system

that has utterly failed, they'd stop preaching Canada

The Mexican Seguro Social is far from reaching even sixty percent coverage... and it has so many problems with corruption, care and standards it is not even funny

I could even share some first hand horror stories

[Selatius]

11. I didn't figure it was much of a universal system beyond simply the words "universal"

But yeah, I have heard of some going south for prescription drugs because they're cheaper down there, but then again, there is the problem of verifying if the drugs are legitimate or if they've been cut with something to lengthen the supply. With Canada, you can be assured that they check their drugs.

[babylonsister]

2. How 'bout this? Now health insurers are sending patients overseas:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=345973

[cliffordu]

3. My future ex-brother in law went to Indonesia

or some fucking place for surgery on his hand. About 15% of what he'd have paid for it. He also had one of those new state of the art MRI's on his heart. very cheap and, according to him, extremely thorough.

[RedEarth]

4. "medical tourism" is a growth industry in Asia due to the crap we

call health care in the US. See the article linked in the first post. And ......from a quick google search......


11-04-2008: Malaysia among world’s top 5 medical tourism destinations
The Edge Daily, Malaysia - Apr 11, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is among the world’s top five medical tourism destinations which presents the most attractive opportunities for medical tourists and ...
As Medical Tourism Grows in Popularity Cosmetic Harmony Goes ...
Emediawire (press release), WA - Apr 11, 2008
The term Medical tourism was initially coined by travel agencies and the traditional media to describe the practice of traveling across international ...
Medical tourism predicted to keep growing at incredible rate in ...
eTravelBlackboard - Asia Edition, Australia - Apr 10, 2008
Medical tourism is predicted to grow by up to 50 per cent in the next 12 months, according to the Health Tourism Climate Survey 2008. ...
'Medical tourism booming in India'
Times of India, India - Apr 3, 2008
A CII-McKinsey report projects that earnings through medical tourism would go up to $2 billion by 2012. Most patients visiting India are from SAARC ...


http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=MEDICAL+TOURISM

[slampoet]

5. My sweetie goes to Mexico for her teeth and has for 20 years.

[paulk]

6. I haven't

but I know quite a few people who have.

Mostly Thailand and India = There are hospitals specifically set up for it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Until I moved to the states... I had almost all my medical care done in Mexico

only knee surgeries were done here, but that was because the surgery was new.

Oh and Mexico does not have national heatlh care, not even close

In theory the Social Security System could be it, but it is not even close to fifty percent coverage

[sybylla]

9. I had a neighbor go to Mexico twice for surgery

He had issues with his spine and eventually need to have vertebrae fused in his neck. He not only went to Mexico once for the surgery but went back a few years later for a second fusion. They report they had great care, were treated well in clean hospitals and paid a pittance for it compared to what it costs here.

[AnneD]

10. I had a friend that had surgey....

She died 2 years ago. Spent the last two years of her life in ICU in indigent care. I warned her before she went (I had a bad feeling). Yeah, her family went broke cause who can you sue for malpractice, and I'm sure it hastened her dad's death. Yeah, ask me what I think about it.:bitter:

Disclosures-I am an RN, I have been overseas and encountered other medical delivery systems, I belief in socialized medicine (single payer), and I think most insurance companies should be cut out of health care-other than extra or rider policies!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. No, but I know a couple of American translators who live in Japan

and can't ever come back here to live because they developed medical conditions (heart disease, cancer) that would make them uninsurable in the U.S.