Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete F.
Hip replacement costs
• $6,757 in Spain
• $7,685 in South Africa
• $15,465 in New Zealand
• $16,335 in the United Kingdom
• $17,112 in Switzerland
• $19,484 in Australia
• $29,067 in the United States
As far as other providers in other countries, you can save more than enough to travel and stay for the recovery period in many places.
10 to 20K will put you up very nicely.
That won't help you if you have a heart attack here, will it?
That won't help people who need primary care and cannot afford to go.
When they end up in the emergency room for issues that could have been dealt with in the early stages by a primary care physician and the costs end up shifted because they cannot pay, who does that help?
In our current somewhat freemarket system (actually the closest to your dream among developed nations) healthcare certainly is not inexpensive, though it can be for a lucky person who never has insurance and never has a need to use it.
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The Oklahoma clinic which is basically a free market model that I posted in this thread, in response to you, lists a hip replacement full out the door cost, including exams and hospital stay, at $15,499. That beats your Switzerland, UK, Australia costs, is comparable to New Zealand (but would be a lot more expensive there if you add the cost of getting and staying there--which also would raise the Switzerland, UK, and Australia costs more also) and would be competitive with your Spain and South Africa costs when you include travel to and staying in those countries as well. And it beats the hell out of US typical hospital costs that insurance and government would have to pay. The clinic accepts insurance. It has payment plans, and accepts credit cards.