A Jackson WY town employee successfully lobbied town adminstrators to allow her to have a procedure called hip resurfacing be done overseas, the town paid for her plane tickets, the surgery and all rehabilitation and still saved about $50.000 dollars. The employee started researching the procedure last september when her osteoarthritis became unbearable. She then got quotes from several surgeons. The in network facility in Salt lake City quoted about $77.000 dollars. A New York City facility quoted about $112.000 dollars. A doctor in Ghent Belgium who specializes in hip resurfacing and has extensive experience preforming the procedure said it would cost $24.000 dollars, and that included the hospital, surgeons fees all necessary prosthesis, therapy and exams during the week long stay at the hospital. "My motivation for reseaching the procedure was twofold" the patient said "I wanted to get the doctor of my choice and I wanted to save money for both me and the town". This was an interesting article from a Jackson paper, I thought I would share it with the MMers who say everyone is coming to America for health care, and everything is fine.
Town looks overseas to curb health costs
- Thread starter piper
- Start date
eelgrass
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 31,505
Women from the US also go to India to get girls to be surrogate mothers. About $25K here compared to $7K in India.
I would like to see Ted Kennedy ship off to another country for treatment of his brain cancer. I'm sure he would love to save us all a little money since he is a big supporter of health care reform.
Eel
I would like to see Ted Kennedy ship off to another country for treatment of his brain cancer. I'm sure he would love to save us all a little money since he is a big supporter of health care reform.
Eel
CAforkedhorn
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 3,529
Why in the F--K is the town paying for her damn surgery?
Piper, how's your period?
Zigga, it's past your bedtime!
Hdude, Lil' Jimmy was his share!
Piper, how's your period?
Zigga, it's past your bedtime!
Hdude, Lil' Jimmy was his share!
Forthewall
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 3,327
LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-09 AT 09:04AM (MST)[p]Wow...comprehension is that challenging for you CAfdhorn. She was employed by the town...an employee. The town administrators approved the action to save money over the cost of having the procedure done here. Employee
So NO, the entire town did not pay for her surgery. Wow
So NO, the entire town did not pay for her surgery. Wow
NeMont
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 12,632
I have had clients go to Thailand to get knee replacement surgery. Total all inclusive bill was just a tad over $5,000 and everyone raves about the quality of care. I had a client have a heart attack in New Zealand. His wife contacted me as she was concerned if they were covered,(they were). The hospital in New Zealand could not figure out how to print them a bill. In the end the Insurance company they were with paid a total of $36,000 for a quadruple bypass and hired a nurse to accompany the couple home.
There is are just a few things missing from the equation and I will let all the geniuses figure out what they are. It isn't insurance overhead or attorneys either.
Nemont
There is are just a few things missing from the equation and I will let all the geniuses figure out what they are. It isn't insurance overhead or attorneys either.
Nemont
H
huntindude
Guest
Why not, we have foreign competition on every industry in America, no reason the medical industry should be sacred. unless it's an emergency a plane ticket might be the cost cutting measure we've been looking for. I know several people who have traveled out of the country for major care and they're doing great, still have their house too because of it.
I believe in always buying American, but if we're going to sit on our butts and let health care break us I'm all for doing what you have to .
I believe in always buying American, but if we're going to sit on our butts and let health care break us I'm all for doing what you have to .
>LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-09
>AT 09:04?AM (MST)
>
>Wow...comprehension is that challenging for you
>CAfdhorn. She was employed by
>the town...an employee. The town
>administrators approved the action to
>save money over the cost
>of having the procedure done
>here. Employee
>
>So NO, the entire town did
>not pay for her surgery.
>Wow
FTW
You are right about it not being the entire town paying the bill. It was the tax paying citizens and tourists that paid the bill.
>AT 09:04?AM (MST)
>
>Wow...comprehension is that challenging for you
>CAfdhorn. She was employed by
>the town...an employee. The town
>administrators approved the action to
>save money over the cost
>of having the procedure done
>here. Employee
>
>So NO, the entire town did
>not pay for her surgery.
>Wow
FTW
You are right about it not being the entire town paying the bill. It was the tax paying citizens and tourists that paid the bill.
CAforkedhorn
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 3,529
Thank you Overton. ForTheTrash didn't get my question. It's ok though because I didn't expect him to. The point of my question ForTheTrash was that shouldn't she have insurance that would cover the procedure. So either she had insurance and was just seeking to save her insurance company some money or the town paid for the procedure and she was looking to save the town some money. If she had insurance then what's the story about. If she did not have insurance and the town paid for her procedure then I refer you back to my original question. The only factor missing here is that maybe the town provides all healthcare for its employees. I tend to believe that the town pays for the insurance premiums and not the actual healthcare costs so unless I am missing something, I am not sure how the town saves money unless the town pays for the prcedure. If the town pays for the procedure, then in actuality it is the taxpayers who pay for it and again I refer you back to my original question.
Piper, how's your period?
Zigga, it's past your bedtime!
Hdude, Lil' Jimmy was his share!
Piper, how's your period?
Zigga, it's past your bedtime!
Hdude, Lil' Jimmy was his share!
I don't know how it works exactly, I mostly quoted the paper, she had insurance, maybe it helped with the premiums? it was an out of network provider, so was NYC, the in network one was in SLC. I found interesting that it was 3 to 4 times cheaper in Belgium, thats not exactly a third world country. also in the paper was a graph of the exploding health insurance costs for the town employees, $640.000 in 2002 to a budgeted 1.45 million for 2010. seems hard for governments to not raise taxes and balance budgets with that stuff going on.
