Thread: Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment

Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment - Slashdot

Originally Posted by Article

"Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reports that prior to undergoing recent neck surgery, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning flew to Europe for stem-cell therapy that's used overseas but not yet in the United States. Earlier this year, Fortune reported that prior to his liver transplant, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took an unpublicized flight to Switzerland to undergo an unusual radiological treatment which was not available in the U.S. Some Americans are willing to go abroad to seek what they can't find at home in hopes of improving — or saving — their lives, and health providers are eager to respond. 'It moves fast, this industry,' said the director of Medical Tours International in 2007. 'They think, 'Look at all these sick, rich patients.''"

The article has further links to more and supporting information.

So why is this? I mean, the US is supposed to have the best healthcare and doubly so if you have money. But now we see wealthy Americans LEAVING the US for treatment they cant get here.

This does not indicate a good healthcare system if even the wealthy feel they cant get what they need here.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment - Slashdot



The article has further links to more and supporting information.

So why is this? I mean, the US is supposed to have the best healthcare and doubly so if you have money. But now we see wealthy Americans LEAVING the US for treatment they cant get here.

This does not indicate a good healthcare system if even the wealthy feel they cant get what they need here.

I can imagine getting some things approved in the US is slow. If you can afford it and not get it here ... you should go.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

This does not indicate a good healthcare system if even the wealthy feel they cant get what they need here.

Gee... I don't remember stories like this before ACA passed.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

Wealthy Americans Turning To Europe For Medical Treatment - Slashdot



The article has further links to more and supporting information.

So why is this? I mean, the US is supposed to have the best healthcare and doubly so if you have money. But now we see wealthy Americans LEAVING the US for treatment they cant get here.

This does not indicate a good healthcare system if even the wealthy feel they cant get what they need here.

the reason why is not becasue hte health care is lacking but becasue gov regulation prevent some medicinces form benig used in teh us

Originally Posted by sailorman126

the reason why is not becasue hte health care is lacking but becasue gov regulation prevent some medicinces form benig used in teh us

Such as?

Originally Posted by tsquare

Gee... I don't remember stories like this before ACA passed.

That's because you, just like pretty much anyone else opposing ACA, weren't and still are not paying attention.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

Such as?

The experimental treatment Steve Jobs got (peptide receptor radionuclide therapy) hasn't been approved in the USA.

Injecting stem cells into someone's neck in hopes that it will somehow fix a bulging disc is simply absurd, won't work and Peyton Manning was simply being conned out of his money by a quack. That will never be approved in the USA because it's simply a scam.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

So why is this? I mean, the US is supposed to have the best healthcare and doubly so if you have money. But now we see wealthy Americans LEAVING the US for treatment they cant get here.

This does not indicate a good healthcare system if even the wealthy feel they cant get what they need here.

Read the story again: "stem-cell therapy", "unusual radiological treatment" these are very wealthy people seeking out "unusual" treatments the common man doesn't get even in Europe. You don't imagine for a second someone on the dole and government paid healthcare gets this type of treatment do you?

The rich have been willing to pay for edgy medical treatments since the wealthy have existed. In the U.S. some of these treatments are considered dangerous, of limited effectiveness, simply untested or down-right fraud.

I saw a news story the other day about people going abroad (in this story it was Thailand) for surgeries/treatment. A man from Shreveport LA needed bypass surgery and it was going to cost him well over $100,000 here, as he had no insurance. He went to a very modern hospital in Thailand (they showed extensive footage of the facility) and had it done for $12,000. They noted in the story that nearly everyone on the nursing staff was an RN, not one on the floor and a bunch of LVN's like here. Also noted was the fact that many of the surgeons/doctors on staff at the Thai hospital had worked on staff at major US hospitals. Seeing the facility, the staff, and the modern equipment I would have no qualms about being treated there.

Meanwhile, in the USA, illegal aliens get treated for free, which saves them a bunch on airfare.

Treatment did nothing for Manning. Maybe there is a good reason for not approving it here...