I became an expat because my foreign husband wanted to move back to his home country in the Middle East. He tried life in America for two years, and decided he preferred life back in his home country.
However, at the time in 1991, I was pregnant with my first child. I lived in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. At that time, we did not have any health insurance. The cost at then of about ten prenatal visits over the course of the pregnancy, and one night uncomplicated delivery in the hospital in Denver was about $10,000. So, we decided to move to the Middle East to have the baby. Here, at that time, the cost for each specialist visit was about $10, and THREE nights in the hospital (and a vaccum extraction) was $500.
Swedish Hospital in Denver, Colorado
In the intervening years, I’ve seen many Americans all have their babies here, while most of my British acquaintances fly back to Britain where they can have their babies for free, using the National Health Service.
Recently one of my British friends suffered a broken arm in France from accidentally falling down some stairs. She said the treatment was expensive in France at 2230 Euros. The exact treatment was an operation to put in three pins and set the fracture, plus two nights in the hospital.
An American doctor friend of mine in Denver wrote back to me and said the same treatment in Denver would now be about $30,000 (that’s right, THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS…).
I find it amazing that so many Americans wonder WHY we need health care reform, and why there are so many more uninsured than before? Minimal insurance is now $600 for a family of four with no pre-existing or unusual conditions…PER MONTH (according to my doctor friend in Denver), and that is with a pretty high deductible, and no/little prescription drug coverage. I was one of those uninsured, before leaving America in 1993….it is one of the reasons I left when I did. The country I live in now has a completely private system, just like the United States, but at least it’s still affordable.
I shared this information and the story of my friend who fell down the stairs with two British friends of mine, and here was there reaction:
First Friend: Phew!!!! I think that if the UK population knew anything about this, then they wouldn’t complain at all about the National Health Service!
Second Friend: Crazy prices in the US ! Just a broken bone could wipe out your savings ??? Very scary.
–Expat 21
Tags: America, Australia, Belguim, Britain, Canada, cost of health care in Denver, cost of health care in France, cost of health care in the Middle East, cost of heath care in Britain, Denver, emergency services in France, Europe, France, Germany, Health Care Abroad, Health Care Debate, health care in the Middle East, Health Insurance Abroad, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, U.S.
September 15, 2009 at 9:12 pm
It’s true, although the recent set of articles about WHY it’s so expensive in the US have been very enlightening. Combination of doctors getting paid for each procedure, thus doing too many, and patients demanding that doctors DO something instead of manage conservatively. It’s hard to see how Americans used to this could get used to a more paternalistic system where they are not “consumers” and so I see a long road ahead for reform.
September 15, 2009 at 10:16 pm
[...] is the original post: Comparing Costs of Health Care Treatments in France, America, Britain, and France Share and [...]
September 21, 2009 at 4:08 am
I believe American healthcare is so expensive because there are too many players with vested interests (big pharma, big insurance, corporate hospitals, medical universities that charge a fortune etc.) involved in healthcare. I’m sure they wouldn’t want anyone to loosen their vice-like grip on American healthcare. Sadly, it’s American citizens who are being fleeced and many don’t even seem to realise it
October 17, 2009 at 12:03 am
I do not delve deeply into specific issues like this, because they remain ‘content’ orientated versus ‘context’. As the gentleman above said, it all boils down to corruption. Modern politics is so far removed from what our Founding Fathers intended, and with it, the people whom they are governing. This can best be surmised in a quote by James Madison:
“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea. if there be sufficient virtue in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men, so that we do not depend on their virtue, but in the people who are to choose them.”
Comparing international costs in a direct vis-a-vis fashion is giving rise to many false notions. In countries you mention, taxes run as high as 80%, whereas in the United States the maximum tax rate is 36%. The disproportionate tax levies would have to be factored to draw more accurate parallels. Also, outcomes would have to be taken into account, recovery times, rates of incidence, etc.
If the American people were not being manipulated falsely by using Health Care Reform as an excuse merely to grab Power, there could be some really simple solutions to help bring costs down. Discounting for the moment all the corruption between the Health Companies and Politicians, the most compelling avenue would be to de-regulate State boundaries of operations, allowing insurance companies to compete nationally.
An additional 10-15% of health care costs could be immediately reduced through tort reform. This is never going to happen because of that nasty little buggar that keeps creeping up: ‘corruption’. When the politicians receive 10’s of millions of dollars from the Lawyer Lobbyists, you can bet they are not going to legislate anything that will hurt their buddies.
And in the final analysis, it is what it is. No one complains all that much that a house that used to cost $10,000 50 years ago now cost $1,000,000.000. Or a car that cost $1,500 40 years ago now costs $60,000. I have seen over the last 30 years my personal health insurance go from $200/mo to $700/mo…but that is not nearly as much as food, clothing, houses, and cars have escalated. If people were not so prone to live beyond their means, they could adapt more readily to some of the basic necessities in life.
Also, although choices are limited, there are choices. I just recently cancelled my $700 policy in favor of a very well respected HMO that is only costing me $315/mo.
This is a bit disjointed…but another huge strain upon our system is illegal immigrants and other welfare recipients. It is ironic to note that those that are paying the least, abuse it the most. People that are used to paying for insurance, show up in ER’s and Hospitals only as necessary. Go to any metro E.R. and there are tons of freeloaders there, often with their family of 10 kids, and they show up for any reason at all. Splinters, runny nose, baby is crying, etc. They are a HUGE strain on the entire medical system.
November 2, 2009 at 6:35 am
Mr. Obama has gone back on the campaign trail to try to sell his health care reform to the nation. Mostly hand-picked, sympathetic attendees have been showing up to his town hall meetings. He continues to make the same points regarding health care reform, which need to be addressed specifically. I hope to address more in future articles.
* 1. We need health care reform.
We do not need health care reform. We have the best health care system in the world. We need health insurance reform.
* 2. Free market health insurance has caused our current problem.
It is the government that has caused the current problem. We have not had free market health insurance in this country since 1965. It is not possible to consider our system of medical payment free market when the government controls $.60 of every dollar spent on health care.
* 3. The evil and greedy health insurance companies have caused prices to skyrocket.
Again, it’s the government that has caused prices to skyrocket. Medicare and Medicaid are the 800 pound gorilla and insurance companies are the fleas on the gorilla. Nothing can be done by the private insurance companies that has not been done by Medicare and Medicaid. The federal government opens the door and the private insurance companies follow. It is the government manipulation of the free market that has caused our current health insurance problem. The out of control medical costs in Britain and Canada, as well as in Massachusetts and other states that have tried government health care prove this point.
* 4. Nearly 50 million Americans are without health care.
Nearly 13 million Americans are without health insurance. No one in the United States is without health care. Government regulations prohibit patients from being turned away from hospitals, which must provide medical care to anyone. The huge number that the Obama administration has used is highly inflated.
* 5. A government option will lower costs and improve quality of care.
A government option will increase costs and reduce quality of care. In every instance so far government involvement in medical services has caused prices to increase. Medicare spending has increased at a rate greater than 10 times that which was projected. Medicare and Medicaid will be broke in less than nine years. Adding another entitlement program will cause economic disaster. The Congressional Office of Management and Budget has stated that the president’s plan is unaffordable. Further, the necessary rationing in order to even begin the program will reduce quality of care.
* 6. If you like your insurance and your doctor you can keep them.
The same things were said at the inception of Medicare. Medicare was supposed to be a supplemental insurance plan for retired people. It now covers the disabled as well and those over the age of 65, who are now ineligible for any other type of primary medical insurance. The government option will become the only option. Therefore, it’s not an option and in the end hospitals, doctors, and all health care companies will be working directly and only for the government.
* 7. Government medical insurance is more cost efficient.
Government medical insurance is less efficient. The government, by force of law, transfers administrative costs to the private sector. Hospitals and doctors’ offices must assume the burden of administration under threat of criminal penalty. This unfunded administrative burden transferred to private individuals and private insurance is then added to the cost of the supposedly free-market healthcare system.
* 8. The government option is necessary in order to prevent loss of insurance by individuals with medical problems.
Government regulations make it mandatory for hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. The government can certainly pass a simple regulation making it illegal for medical insurance plans to be canceled due to illness on the part of the insured. This would be a simple solution but of course would not increase government control over our lives.
* 9. The government option would ensure treatment for sick individuals who would otherwise have lost health care insurance. It would prevent lifetime limits on medical care.
This is blatantly untrue. There are definitive limits to Medicare that are not being publicized. For example, a review of Medicare regulations shows it will pay up to a maximum of 90 days in the hospital for each medical incident. After that, a patient must be in a rehabilitation facility for 60 days in a row in order for Medicare to begin another cycle of payment. Similarly, there are limits on most other Medicare services. While private medical insurance may have a total lifetime limit on the amount that can be spent, there is almost never a limit on the number of days in the hospital.
* 10. A government option will not result in rationing.
The major government options already in existence employ rationing every day. Prohibitively difficult preauthorization, statements of medical necessity, convoluted and complicated paperwork, and often impossible to meet requirements result in rationing on a huge scale. Furthermore, delay in payment, denial of payment for services already rendered and other tactics reduce access to medical care on a widespread basis. The government may not call this rationing but it is an insidious form of rationing that will be an integral part of any government plan. Medicare misuses and abuses its funding and is guilty of literally stealing from hospitals and physicians.
As an example of this thievery, due to a change in the corporate status of my practice I was required to apply for a new national provider identification number (NPI) in March of this year. Within several weeks, without exception, all of the private insurance companies had registered the number and were paying on claims. After five months and exhaustive work of over 140 hours by my office staff Medicare and Medicaid had still not paid on a single claim. Finally, on August 14, Medicare made their first payment on claims that were five months old. Yet, if we do not bill Medicare within three months of the date of service, Medicare will not pay us at all. Government regulation and control permeates the entire medical system.
* 11. A government option will simplify the payment for medical services.
The government has always made things more complicated and expensive. This is part of their rationing system. The government has a habit of requiring new provider numbers every couple of years that must be used for all claims, including private insurance claims. When these are instituted, payment can be delayed for as long as six months. To see how “simple” the federal government makes medical claims, what follows are my required identification numbers.
UPIN #G16766
OMAP#079496
Medicare#R0000BLCGY (PTAN) OLD
Medicare # R147304
(PTAN) **NEW** R147303
Railroad Medicare#110162014
NEW Tax ID # 264520277
OLD Tax ID# 911768627
DEA # BRxxxxxxx (Hidden to prevent use)
Clia# 38D0933946
NPI# 1306924691 (individual)
NPI Group # 1235371485
Every point the president has made regarding his health plan is either a gross misrepresentation or an outright lie. The purpose of this plan is to ensure dependence on government and a financial windfall for his cronies, including trial lawyers, and has nothing to do with concern about the cost of medical care or about the health or lives of American citizens.
November 11, 2009 at 9:00 am
NHS Treatment.. I can only speak on the British health care which has been in decline for decades. Because its way too much management structure too many chiefs and not enough indians. Ive worked within it before and there was 6 of us (the workers) then 2 supervisors above us who also had 2 administrators, who then had contracts manager and a site manager who both had PA`s. So its 6 managing 6 are we in the old Russia?
Then there is the staffing shortages which at the hospital I was involved at was resolved by :-
1. Flying Doctors in from India.
2. Full-time nurses going off with stress quitting then coming back as part-time agency nurses on double the pay.
All in all its a mess because its all controlled by people either associated with or part of the British government.
On a medical care basis my brother had to wait 2 months to have blood tests done. Result being he has to go for another one in a months time as the results have come back “the wrong tests were carried out”. Which is ok since he has been in severe pain now for nearly a year while they decide “what is wrong with him”.
My mother has cataracts which have taken upto now 1 year to get anything done about she will be getting her first eye repaired in December. Spent most of this year blind.
Is the NHS service great?? Miles from it 10,000 die on the waiting list for operations and body parts. Is it a last resort? It is for me as I have had a friends mother die while in for a “routine” operation which was caused by a lack of basic hygiene in the hospital. Alongside 2 other friends over the last 10 years who all died at the hands of the NHS down to poor service and hygiene. Including a guy who went in just to give his sister a break from looking after him due to her age. In those 2 weeks he gained an infection in his foot that eventually worked its way upto his brain and killed him.