"Medical Tourism" about 1/8th the cost of U.S. prices - 60 Minutes piece:

[BrendaBrick]

This is a spur (duplicate) off another thread. 60 Minutes piece is about 13 minutes:

I think it was earlier this year I saw a piece on 60 minutes about something called "Medical Tourism:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJCyaVkR7Lg

Bumrungrad International Hospital:

http://www.bumrungrad.com/thailandhospital

Evidently there is a conference next week in Chicago Oct 25th - 28th: "4th World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress:"

http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com /

And just a general link: Medical Tourism.com:

http://medicaltourism.com/

[daa]

1. a lot of insurances will pay for the trip also nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. My concern in this is safety. Not that they're less safe than U.S. medical providers...

But when one gets an operation abroad, there are the same chances that it might turn out bad, as we have here. Here, however, we're closer to home and can get repaired. Abroad, you only have so much time to be abroad to repair medical mistakes.

So what to do?

[cutlassmama]

3. Exactly. An oral surgeon almost killed my step father in Mexico.

You are putting your life in someone's hands that you don't know anything about when you go to another country.

I almost died from a surgeon here in the US and wouldn't have made it if the surgical center was further than the few blocks it was from a major trauma center (bled out 9 units of blood). If I had been in another country and that happened, likely I wouldn't be here right now.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Oral surgeons can kill here too, but it's the distance that makes me nervous...

Not that I think that medical providers in other countries are any worse than ours here.

If other countries were closer, well, maybe. But we're this gigantic piece of land, and most countries are far away.

European countries have it nice. They can cross a border within no time at all, and be elsewhere.

[Xithras]

5. That's a genuine concern. It stopped my wife

She was looking at getting a "mommy makeover" about five years ago and was seriously looking at having it done in either Argentina or Costa Rica because of the price difference. She had multiple estimates that put the cost of the procedure at $22,000 in the U.S., but about $12,000 in Costa Rica and $15,000 in Argentina. Not only was the surgery cheaper, but she'd get to hang out in Costa Rica or Argentina for a month. The one thing that stopped her was a fear of complications. She'd have three weeks after the surgeries to heal and have any follow ups done. If anything happened after that, she'd have to find another doctor in the U.S. and pay additional money for treatment.

Of course, then the economy crashed and made the entire discussion moot...who the hell can afford that kind of work nowadays?

[thelordofhell]

6. Cuba

If Cuba is ever opened back up, it would make a killing in medical tourism.