Seeking first world care in the third world

[Cowperson]

A Washington Post story on an unintended consequence of globalization, medical tourists who can find first world health care in the third world at a fraction of the cost and zero waiting times.

An excellent read including a man from Calgary who went to India instead of waiting three years in line in Canada for a hip surgery. Instead of costing $21,000 USA if he'd gone to America, it cost $5,000 USA in India.

Not only that, but you get the best and brightest in those countries

Trehan said, for example, that the death rate for coronary-bypass patients at Escorts (India) is .8 percent. By contrast, the 1999 death rate for the same procedure at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where former president Bill Clinton recently underwent bypass surgery, was 2.35 percent, according to a 2002 study by the New York State Health Department.

An eye-opening story.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6293825/

Cowperson

[Cowperson]

One warning that stood out for me is that malpractice insurance for doctors in India is a fraction of the cost as that for a doctor in America.

That might imply that if something goes wrong, you can probably only sue an Indian doctor for a fraction of an award you might expect in the USA.

Cowperson

[Lurch]

Strike me down for saying it if you like, but the public system in Canada should look to this sort of thing to cut down on costs as well. Regular working schleps like myself compete with other countries (their workers, not the countries themselves!), why shouldn't doctors. You want to see medical inflation, waiting lists, etc. come down in a hurry WITHOUT massive restructuring? Let people travel abroad if they want and have the government pay up to a certain amount for the procedure on their behalf. If you set the payment at say 75% of what the 'cost' of the procedure is in Canada, bingo, competition without compromising our system at home.