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Originally Posted by bringer
probably because a hosptial is ran like a business. hospitals hands are tied when it comes to treating anyone regardless of insurance, so people who can pay get to pick up the slack for the non paying patients to insure profits. a bum gets hit by a car and rakes up a 100k in medical bills. who do you think pays that? the gov?  |
It's the same elsewhere bringer... they are run as business and not supported by any govt. But the difference is the costs of care/surgery are around one third of the costs in the US. These are the same medical "chains" as in the US.
The medical and staffing rates sure are nowhere near one third. OK.. example... a heart bi-pass. Same quality of staff, same heart valve etc. It may be higher now, but the estimated cost in the US was around $70K. At that time the same medical centers - owned by US companies, but outside US jurisdiction, were pricing that op and aftercare at under $20K.
They are getting a fair amount of biz from US folks who travel (eg to Costa Rica) and have their bi-pass ops done here. None of this is govt supported. (There are "govt hospitals" as well which are free - and no waiting lists.)
Was just wondering what pushes the cost up to what seems almost a rip off level for healthcare - something that should be "accessible" in economic terms to anyone without loans spanning years.