This report was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
This is what can happen when you go to a socialized healthcare system. A lot of people out there believe that the United States has a free market healthcare system, but that is actually not true. The percentage of the population that receives government-subsidized healthcare is rapidly approaching 50 percent, and the healthcare industry may be the most heavily regulated sector of the entire U.S. economy. Every year the rules, red tape and regulations seem to get even worse, and every year health insurance premiums rise much faster than the overall rate of inflation. If we don’t start applying free market principles and start getting healthcare costs under control, our entire healthcare system could very easily implode.
I would like to share with you an excerpt from an article by former DEA agent David Hathaway. According to Hathaway, the average cost for an appendectomy in the United States is $33,000…
My son had an attack of appendicitis late Saturday night. I knew that the Obamacare inflated prices for surgery in the U.S. would be ridiculous and that the service would likely be impersonal, involve long waits, and be nerve-wracking. I have friends in the medical field so I inquired just for grins. The price for the latest routine appendectomy in my area was, my jaw dropped, $43,000. I read on-line that the average cost for an appendectomy in the U.S. is $33,000. I am not near some of the great direct-pay medical facilities in the U.S. like the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, but I am near Mexico. I chose that option since I have often utilized foreign medical and dental facilities in the past and find the service and prices to be outstanding.
You can buy a very nice brand new car for $33,000.
How in the world did we get to the point where costs have escalated so far out of control? Should performing an appendectomy really be this expensive?
I can imagine that some of my readers may be thinking that the quality of care down in Mexico is much lower, but this is actually not the case at all. Here is more from David Hathaway…
My son was checked into a private room with private bath and satellite TV awaiting his surgery. The surgical staff was prepped and ready to start within an hour-and-a half of our arrival. The appendix was ruptured, so extra precautions were taken to clean and flush the abdominal cavity. Since the appendix was ruptured, the chief surgeon said that my son should stay two days to receive intravenous antibiotics to prevent the development of peritonitis.
The surgery was a success, and David’s son did stay in the hospital for two full days in order to receive the antibiotics that the doctor suggested.
But despite the extra time, the bill for the appendectomy was still less than 10 percent of what it would have been if the appendectomy had been performed in the United States…
The hospital stay was for 48 hours in a private room where my wife was allowed to spend the nights with my son sleeping on a couch in his room. This cost would have been significantly less if we hadn’t incurred emergency fees and if the appendectomy had not involved complications which required a longer stay and more medication. Despite all that, I though the total price of $2,830 dollars was very reasonable.
So why can’t we have hospitals like that on our side of the border?
This is yet another example that shows that Obamacare has got to go and that we need to get government out of the healthcare business.
We once had the greatest healthcare system in the history of the world, and we can do it again if we will just return to free market principles. Elections really matter, and we simply cannot allow the Democrats and the establishment Republicans to take us even further down the road of socialized medicine.
They have already turned our once great healthcare system into a giant disaster zone, and we need to show them the door before they can do even more damage.
Michael Snyder is a Republican candidate for Congress in Idaho’s First Congressional District, and you can learn how you can get involved in the campaign on his official website. His new book entitled “Living A Life That Really Matters” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
My wife was just in for a Cardiac Cath, with roto-reuter, when it was complete she almost bled out. they were putting pressure in the wrong spot. The bill for 30 hrs in the hospital 77,000 dollars.
Why ??? Probably because the Mexican peso is about 18 to 1 to the dollar. When you consider the dollar equivalence, and the income of Mexican Peasants, the cost in real terms for Mexicans is much higher as a percentage of income.
This is why Americans buy Chinese products at Wal Mart. 🙁
because people actually survive appendectomies in amerika
Mexican blowjobs are probably much cheaper too.
I’ll take my chances with American doctors thank you. No third or forth world doctors or prescriptions for me.
moral of the story – don’t get sick in America. For only one this is more ailing than you is the health-care system here.
OK so the answer to the question “Why Is An Appendectomy In The United States 10 Times More Expensive Than An Appendectomy In Mexico?” is Obamacare… You should have given more detail as to why.
Alot of people look down on Mexico, but I have lived here for the last 7 years. No problems with cartels or shootings or any of the stereotype stuff you always here about on the media. Don´t get me wrong it does happen, but it is not as widespread as the media would have you think.
My point is, another good example of inflated healthcare in the US. My wife and I had a baby about a year and a half ago here in Mexico. She had a private room and she stayed 3 days and two nights. The total cost for everything was 33,000 pesos which is about 1,800 dollars. Someone tell me what it costs in the US now to have a baby.
It is also so easy to prep and homestead here. The majority of the people already live that way to a certain degree. I have bought a very nice piece of land, approximately 6 acres and it only cost me a little over 50,000 dollars. Last time I bought land in the US a 3/4 acre lot cost me 35,000 dollars. I raise chickens, ducks, rabbits, have several fruit trees and a very nice garden. People are friendly. Several people helped me out when I was looking for certain types of chickens and rabbits to get started.
The price of everything in the US is extremely inflated and living here, in Mexico, the last 7 years has shown me just how inflated everything is. It is so easy to build off-grid here……solar, well wáter, and gas. No bills and almost self sufficient. So don´t put Mexico down until you have tried it. For a prepper, it is much easier and cheaper than the US.
You can thank Obama for actively arming criminals and drug cartels in Mexico. If anyone thinks it stopped when “Fast and Furious” was made public and discontinued, I have a bridge to sell you.
The drug cartels were armed and active long before Obamanation got into office. Thanks to the criminals here in Mexico, I was able to obtain several firearms. I could not bring mine with me so I had to buy new ones once I got here. Would not have been able to do that without the criminals.
Had a tonsillectomy back in 1960. The operation & 2 days in the hospital was $125. I heard the procedure today is somewhere between $15k to $20k & is done on an outpatient basis? Let me know, readers if this is true.
Guys and gals, if you haven’t realized , this is a major part of their Agenda 21 ,,, death by economic suppression. If you can’t pay …too bad !!! And yes, historically we are led to believe every other country in the world is 3rd world compared to ours… we are rapidly switching that role, we are the new 3rd world country… no jobs, no benefits, no opportunities, no healthcare ……
Time to split this country up into pieces I would think … but here’s the thing , anything that happens will not benefit the common folk , but we will not give up. Life is hard enough without all this political white noise … must be a better way
The answer most likely lies in the insurance rates that health care providers must pay in order to practice. In malpractice lawsuits there is no practical limit in Federal Law for punitive damages. Tort reform has been addressed in some 16 states in the U.S. Those states placed a cap on punitive damages. In Texas for example the limit is $250,000. When Obamacare was still in Congress a reporter asked Howard Dean why tort reform was not addressed in the pending bill. Dean, in a rare candid moment, replied that the American Trial Lawyers Association gives us (Democrats) a lot of money and they didn’t want it in there. What do you suppose you would call that??
Spot on Oregon Buzz
Fixed a 64 year old black male’s ruptured quadriceps tendon 3 years ago. 1/2 inch of a drill bit used to make the suture tunnels accidentally broke off and was embedded deep in the bone (patella), NOT entering the joint, tendon or through the skin. To dig around the bone and try to recover at the time it is sometimes like looking for a needle in the haystack, despite what the Monday morning quarterbacks say, and could have jeopardized an easy repair. Better to let everything heal and then you don’t have to worry about when you come back in a very simple outpatient ten-minute procedure to take it out if it is bothering him. To make a long story short, the patient would have never known it was even there if I had not told him. He went through routine post-op physical therapy according to the therapist’s deposition, and he voiced no complaints about his knee according to his family MD on routine visits for other medical problems. Months later, he suddenly said his knee was killing him and sued me.
So he waits until he is 65 and under Medicare before undergoing his ten minute procedure to remove the drill bit, and two weeks after that to remove the sutures. Remember, the repair had well healed one year later after the original operation and no therapy was required after the second operation. It was as if he had skinned his knee.
My medical malpractice carrier settled the case against my wishe. I was absolutely dumbfounded. My patient’s knee suddenly felt “much better” as he walked away counting his money: $130,000 for him, $70,000 for his lawyer, and over $9,000 paid by my insurance company to my defense lawyer on top of the $200,000.
Grand total $209,000
You are so right. The productive people are supporting an army of useless parasites.
The answer most likely lies in the insurance rates that health care providers must pay in order to practice. In malpractice lawsuits there is no practical limit in Federal Law for punitive damages. Tort reform has been addressed in some 16 states in the U.S. Those states placed a cap on punitive damages. In Texas for example the limit is $250,000. When Obamacare was still in Congress a reporter asked Howard Dean why tort reform was not addressed in the pending bill. Dean, in a rare candid moment, replied that the American Trial Lawyers Association gives us (Democrats) a lot of money and they didn’t want it in there. What do you suppose you would call that??
Ban government paying all subsidies and entitlements to nations, corporations and able bodied 18-62 year olds and the cost of everything, all medical, education, food will fall to 1920 prices. Imagine four years at Harvard for only $4,995 complete with housing and meals. We would have one hell of a national bankruptcy, but hey, people holding real money would be able to buy 1000X more for their buck. Let the savers enjoy a windfall for once, fuck everyone else that is in debt or is on entitlements.
Blame the lawyers. US surgeons are forced to order expensive tests such as a CT scan to protect themselves from frivolus lawsuits even though in most cases they could proceed to an operation after performing a basic physical exam.
I think i would want those tests done 😛
Can you spell Trial Lawyers? I remember my uncle telling me he needed to clear $400 per day just for his Malpractice insurance
this was 1975! He was a plastic surgeon in the SF bay area.
The other problem is the requirement to treat everybody regardless of the ability to pay. Hospitals then overcharge people that can pay to make up for the many sick people that get treated for free. My sister is a supervisor, in the billing department at a world class medical center, in middle America, she knows the “system”.
The government also screws up the system with Medicare regulations and red tape.
I receive my medical from VA. We have no VA hospitals here so I get referred to Civilian hospitals and medical centers for all my treatment. I see socialized medicine up close.
VA is typically more expensive per person than the average.
Most of us are older, disabled, some profoundly so, and there is a huge bureaucracy for the few medical people we have.
My CBOC is 50% administrative/security people.
Due to cost of living, we are most likely to continue to be pricey for our medical and dental, compared to Mexico or Thailand, but if we could get an open market for health insurance, do some Tort reform that would reduce prices.
Generally most states compel you to have insurance in order to drive, my state may throw you in jail if you drive un-insured. The states should encourage their citizens to buy medical insurance on the open market, by fines and imprisonment, if you aren’t insured, you seek medical care, and then cannot pay for it. That is called theft and fraud.
Health care is not a right, it is a privilege you pay for.
Outside the Military and VA the federal government has no business in the medical arena!
Rellick what a good post! Problem is also we have so many people dependant on the govt. for health care,who have a disability of some kind or another. Also govt regulations,and of course LAWYERS. Used to be hospitals didn’t have to treat the non-payers unless the problem was life threatening. Now,if someone gets so much as a sniffle they head to ER and clog the system and leave us with the bill
Cost of appendectomy in Canada: FREE. You only pay for medications, and how much you pay depends on whether or not you have insurance.
I paid $1,800 for my wife’s cousin’s L4-5 lumbar laminectomy and disectomy 5 years ago. That included the MRI which I and my neurosugery colleague from John’s Hopkins reviewed and confirmed, radiologist’s fee, surgeon’s fee and 3 day hospital stay in Cebu, Philippines. She did fine, went back to her teaching job two weeks later. $1,800 today doesn’t even pay one month’s insurance premium thanks to ACA.
Theres also the fact that mexicacn doctors are not paying 300k+ a year for malpractice insurance
US physicians wouldn’t be paying as much as they do if the AMA weren’t protecting their own in many cases that are a no brainer.
Example. A physician in NJ had to surrender his license in NJ because he grossly overprescribed amphetamines. Low and behold he then was legally employed as the licensed physician at the US Navy Yard in Philadelphia right across the river. Everything I have read is that a very small percentage of physicians cause the greatest percentage of medical mistakes. Their “Union” the AMA protects their own.
Their physicians, medial staff and general population make 1/10 of US wages with a standard of living likely 1/7th to 1/8th. Your likely to get adequate medical care for common not too difficult procedures like this. Major life threatening issues? No thank you.
K2,
Pretty well said.
But wasn’t it a South African doctor
that did the first heart transplant?
I worry about Moslem doctors, when they deal with infidels, but probably most the rest of the worlds doctors are fairly
competent. America is rich enough to do research
most others don’t.
I went to a class once and my lab partner
was a UT Galveston research MD whose latest grant
was to instrument pigs with temp sensors, flow sensors,
and pressure sensors to allow studies improve our
ability to fix bad hearts.
I’m not sure a lot of other countries do that or can afford
to train an MD and then pay them to only do research.
Darn eyes,
My final point was but the MD’s they do train
are good at what they do.
because the gubmint WANTS It that way.
Any MS-13 member will give you one for free with a dirty knife PRO BONO for street cred..Just ask. Why go straight to the cesspool and pay for it?
The cost of prescription drugs is exorbitant as well. I compared my prescription prices (used GoodRx for baseline) to CanadaDrugs.com and shocking differences in many of them. There is one that is $500 in the US and $81 from the mail order in Canada. Even the coupons one can obtain don’t make it as cheap as that. I’m checking into a lot of things like this since I won’t have health insurance kick in until January.