The tonsil thread reminded me of something...

There are people who are flying themselves to India to have expensive/complex surgeries done, because they could not afford it here. Apparently the doctors there are not only good (well educated), but dirt cheap. Operations/hospital stays that cost $100,000+ here are 1/5 the price.....

Which brings me to another point - family practice doctors are in great demand..... but today's doctors in training (DITs ) know that the money is in specialized fields, so that's where they're going.

I think here everything is about the benjamins....... maybe saving lives is a "secondary" bonus.

Thoughts/comments?

The American Health industry is all about $$$$$$ and not your health.

The American Health industry wants to treat everything they can find "not normal".

The American Health industry does not want to cure anything.

quote Originally posted by Butter: The American Health industry does not want to cure anything.

Very interesting that you brought that up....

One of the talk show programs was saying they already had a cure for cancer and AIDS, but were keeping it under wraps, because patents only last xx years, then it goes up for generic production..... Why sell a cure for $1000/bottle for 10 years, when you can milk "treatments" for $200/bottle for a patients lifetime?

"Big pharmacy" has so much legal power it's unreal........ they run the show

well, I'll start with its not the doctors.
I would never endorse anything that takes away from the doctors.
the problem to me is lawyers & insurance. also, prescriptions/drug companies & manufacturers of medical equipment.
another part of the problem is hospital management. management, being what it is, assumes it should make as much, if not more, than the actual people doing the work. if the doctors make xxx, management wants xxx+yyy. this includes doctors who are now managers.

In this area, people are almost scared to death to go to the doctors here for anything more than a boo boo. We have over one hundred full-sized golf courses here (meaning a full 18 holes) and the doctors around here seem to want to practice just to make money to support their golf habit. I went to the ER years back after having a fire ant bite me on my little finger. I had a bad allergic reaction to it that caused my finger to swell up to twice the normal size and it turned red and hard. Had to go to the ER because it was a holiday weekend. But I had waited long enough. Top of the "allergic to" list on the ER form was penecillan. If I get ahold of that stuf, I'm gone in ten to fifteen minutes tops. Doctor prescribed amoxycilin. Had I not read the stuff from the drug store, I would have been but a memory to some. I've heard other stories like that too unfortunately. I think this may relate back to another post I did. That the professionals, at least in this area, are acting less and less so. Seems like a general attitude.

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Whade' "The Duck Formerly Known As Wade" Duck
'87 GT Auto
'88 Ferrario
'84 Indy (8/26/06)

In Germany, the average starting salary for a doctor is $36,000..... here it's $120,000.....

I remember a friend who travels in America extensively telling me an interesting story about a woman traveller who had an accident when a ceramic toilet bowl shattered and she needed to go into hospital for 5 days and received 120 stitches. The total cost of the bill tendered to her travel insurance was $120,000.

Now a a comparison, I asked a local doctor what that would cost here and the 5 day stay in hospital and the stitching would have ran at about $11,000.

How can the USA medical system justify such crazy expenses? I know insurance is a biggie but do you ever ask yourself why a lot of doctors in your country are so rich compared to the rest of the worlds doctors? And no, it is not because they are better, because they are not.

Most of the costs of medical treatment actually goes to pay for a Doctor's medical schooling and their malpractice insurance. Medical school = big $$$ and they have to spend several years and many thousands of dollars attending medical school to become a Doctor. After school, they have to make money to balance that out. I can understand that, its a legitimate cost that is passed down to the patients. What I hate is the malpractice insurance that forces Doctors into charging insane amounts. That is caused by all the little lawsuits in this country. I hate insurance companies.

I went to the ER about a couple of months ago because I thought I had strep throat. It was the weekend and the "normal" hospital was closed, and I don't have a regular doctor. I ended up waiting for about 3 hours to see a Doctor for 5 minutes. He swabbed my throat, and ran a test for about 15 minutes. The test results were negative, but it was 1 of the most painful, and longest lasting sore throats I've had (lasted 3 weeks during the middle of summer). All along I asked nurses, the Doctor himself, etc, for what this is probably going to cost. None would tell me, heck they wouldn't even give me a ballpark figure. I ended up paying over $250 for 15 minutes of service, and getting sent out with a prescription for vicodin. Because I didn't know any better I got way overcharged IMO. I make $12 an hour. According to my bill, the doctor makes $1000 per hour. Is his time really worth 100x more than mine? Now I swear that I will not go to a hospital or any kind of Doctor unless I'm on the brink of death. Death is almost favorable to getting lubed up and bent over by insurance companies and big pharma.

[This message has been edited by Tinton (edited 11-03-2006).]

quote Originally posted by whadeduck: In this area, people are almost scared to death to go to the doctors here for anything more than a boo boo. We have over one hundred full-sized golf courses here (meaning a full 18 holes) and the doctors around here seem to want to practice just to make money to support their golf habit. I went to the ER years back after having a fire ant bite me on my little finger. I had a bad allergic reaction to it that caused my finger to swell up to twice the normal size and it turned red and hard. Had to go to the ER because it was a holiday weekend. But I had waited long enough. Top of the "allergic to" list on the ER form was penecillan. If I get ahold of that stuf, I'm gone in ten to fifteen minutes tops. Doctor prescribed amoxycilin. Had I not read the stuff from the drug store, I would have been but a memory to some. I've heard other stories like that too unfortunately. I think this may relate back to another post I did. That the professionals, at least in this area, are acting less and less so. Seems like a general attitude.

Whade, same thing happened to me with an antibiotic prescription from an ER. I too am DEADLY allergic to Penicillin. They don't seem to have a clue some places

quote Originally posted by ryan.hess: Which brings me to another point - family practice doctors are in great demand..... but today's doctors in training (DITs ) know that the money is in specialized fields, so that's where they're going. Thoughts/comments?

This may be just speculation but, by the time a patient is seen by a specialist hasen't the patient been screened. Meaning 'somebody' pretty much knows whats going down?
The chances of a GP making the wrong call is much larger by comparison. Perhaps that's why GP's order so many assinine tests, just to cover themselves, avoid the big MP suit.

I'd have to agree that the insurance folks are at least one reason for high medical costs, but arn't the ambulance chasers the root cause of the Malpractice problem, please don't hold Idjiot jurries blameless either.

Quite a few people can nolonger afford medical insurance, they are treated anyway. The costs of these treatments are just transfered, to higher costs for servicing insured patients. This makes insurance premiums rise to the point that more people can nolonger afford medical insurance, not to worry these people will be treated anyway. The cost of these treatments...........

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Ol' Paint, 88 Base coupe auto.
Turning white on top, like owner.
Leaks a little, like owner.
Doesn't smoke, unlike owner

quote Originally posted by DtheC: This may be just speculation but, by the time a patient is seen by a specialist hasen't the patient been screened. Meaning 'somebody' pretty much knows whats going down? The chances of a GP making the wrong call is much larger by comparison. Perhaps that's why GP's order so many assinine tests, just to cover themselves, avoid the big MP suit.

I got to disagree with this. MY daughter is a smll baby, very underweight (she 19 months and 18lbs supposed to be about 25) and her peditrician ran 1 blood test to check her CBC and then snet her to a dieticion and gastronterologist who then ran several tests on her. Still cant find out why she's small (I think its just how she is and nothing is wrong wih her) so now they wanna send her to an endocrinologist for other tests. I have insurance and I'm still paying big bucks for all these tests when my daughter is perfectly healthy, just smaller then other kids her age I see nothing wrong with her being small but the docs think she's sick. I have to put her through these tests (some painful) because if I dont my mom (a social worker) informed me they could call CPS and take her from me for neglect.

as for the price of a docs visit its nuts.

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I'm sicker than **** right now and the thought of a doctor has only passed through my mind as a dream because of the insane costs involved. I can't even afford the parts to keep my car healthy, let alone myself! Kinda sad, really. All I really need is some random crackpot to sign a piece of paper telling a pharmacy to give me some magical pill to get rid of my problem but I can't even afford the signature that would cost some random loser 10 minutes of his time.

Ugh...

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'87 Fiero GT, Automatic, 153k miles, stock everything, just trying to make it all work again. :D

i few years ago i stuck a knife into the side of my hand(doh!). i went to the ER, got five stitches, a tetnis shot and a 1/2 oz tube of anti-septic stuff to put on it. i joked to the doc that that's probably $100 tube...

when i got the statement from the hospital it was a $700 bill. that little tube that i joked about...$110. same stuff you can get at the drug store for $3. i only had to pay $30 to my insurance co but that's frickin nuts.

Oh Canada...

Had my wisdom teeth out last year. Cost me $70 canadian. It would have been free, but I insisted that I be put completly under for the work, so I had to pay for that part. I'm one of those people who can't handle dental work.

^ Damn straight, I'd do the same thing! Dental work is definitely not one of the best things in the medical world. IMO anything involving cutting, pulling, or otherwise modifying the body should be done unconscious. Even if you can't feel it, that makes it even worse because you can SEE it happening but you can't FEEL what's going on with your own body. Very ****ing creepy!

sostock: I couldn't even afford the $48 to $68. I'd rather just wait it out. That's half a month's pay right there... >.<

quote Originally posted by Falcon4: sostock: I couldn't even afford the $48 to $68. I'd rather just wait it out. That's half a month's pay right there... >.<

are you kidding??

Until I was granted disability status, it would have been a half a month's pay for me as well.

quote Originally posted by sostock: are you kidding??

Nope... well, unless you factor in my side incomes, like selling my crap and doing computer repair work for people (which actually pays pretty well when word-of-mouth takes place). Then it's about a quarter.

I recently had a battle with cancer. My bill at this point is easily over a million and a half dollars for radition treatments, surgery, chemo and cat scans. I yet face at least six more cat scans and three more colonostopies [sp] over the next few years so I can't imagine what the final bills will be.