I made an appointment to see a dermatologist on the internet the day before and in less than 6 hours, I got my first choice time of 6:15pm the next day. From entering the hospital to when I was seen by a doctor took 14 minutes--from when the care was finished, billing, and leaving the hospital, 5.
I was proscribed a topical cream for some dermatitis on my shoulder. I paid 1,800 baht for everything, which is 53$ out of pocket, no insurance. I think that is about 3 times cheaper and 5 times quicker than anything I have ever experienced in the US. To get an appointment the next day, to my mind, was outrageous.
The Free Market: Helping People Help Each Other.
Thailand's booming medical industry would love for the US government to limit is choices of healthcare services, because huge numbers of people will just come get their healthcare here where the division of labor and rational property structures exist, and therefore prices are naturally low and resources abundant.
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That's great! Share some more details on the kind of care that you received!
ReplyDeleteIgor
Backlink: http://www.twsinvestments.com/2009/10/free-market-healthcare-anecdote.html
ReplyDeleteCouple links you may find interesting on the topic of healthcare reform:
http://www.twsinvestments.com/2009/06/we-dont-need-massive-health-care-reform.html
http://www.twsinvestments.com/2009/08/much-easier-health-care-fix.html
Yo Adam-
ReplyDeleteThat's a really interesting post. Those time & cost numbers are incredible. There are some places that perform like that in the US (for a variety of different reasons), but it's not the norm.
I think you'd agree that the scenario gets trickier when you delve into the market for more serious health care events. A lot of people (most?) really do need some kind of HC insurance... because the costs of a catastrophic event (cancer, car accident) are inevitably more than one household can bear.
So most societies try to pool those risks in the right way & that's the really tricky part that haunts most HC systems, regardless of how open or rational a given market is... a risk pool of only people who are already high-risk is really expensive for everyone involved, whereas a risk pool that includes lots of low-risk people is not as expensive for everyone involved... unless you are one of the low-risk people forced to be a part of the pool...
I still think a lot about the "HSA" model (tax-defered health savings accounts for primary/routine care mixed with a catastrophic coverage plan), and think it has a lot of merit. What to do with poor people who don't have any $$ for basic care or premiums on their catastrophic coverage? I don't know. But the product seems pretty good for many people.