We recently had a woman (just last month) who came in with a post-op issue that would require another surgery to repair. I told her most surgeons won’t touch another surgeon’s patient if there is a problem, because they don’t want to get sucked into the lawsuit that will likely result. That was when she dropped the factoid on us- the surgery had been done in Costa Rica because the surgeon, hotel, and air fare was about one third the cost as having the surgery done here. We tried to get her admitted to have it repaired, but we couldn’t find a single surgeon willing to take the case.
It’s like trying to find a carpenter who will remodel your house while the house is on fire.
As an emergency nurse, I periodically (a couple of times a year) see patients who come in with post procedure complications. There was the woman who had to have her right ass cheek removed when the silicone injection she got in South America became infected.
The fact is, it’s cheaper to have these things done in other countries because the standards are lower there. You are rolling the dice.
I understand the draw- my own doctor is screwing me over. Back in February, I went in for a 6 month checkup (I go every six months because I am diabetic). The visit was billed to insurance at $500. The blood work (CBC, CMP, TSH, A1C and a Lipid panel) was billed out at $2399. Insurance got it down to $1408. For routine labs. So the total bill for a semi-annual checkup was almost $3,000. I told the lab that I am not paying that. Had I known what the bill was going to be, I would never have agreed to it.
I agree that medical billing is deceptive and often high. There is no way to know what they will bill you ahead of time, because many won’t post a price list. I can understand saying “Hey, we can’t tell you what this hospital visit will cost, because we don’t yet know what the problem, the testing, or the solution will be,” that makes sense. What doesn’t make sense to me is how a hospital won’t disclose what they charge for a CBC, or a CT scan. Trump tried to force that, but the stupid TDS sufferers and the health care companies banded together to defeat it.
Our health care here in this country is great. It’s the deceptive shell game pricing that is the issue.
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