Go back to India Live!
By Rajkamal Rao
The Miriam Webster dictionary defines "Laissez-faire" as "a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights."
Health care in India is about as Laissez-faire as it can get in a major world economy, and is fully the opposite of the US model. Especially now that ObamaCare is the law.
The single biggest problem in the US health care system is that it costs too much for the quality of care delivered. One reason for this is that a third party (insurance company, government) always pays for care. Patients have no incentive to shop around and providers have no incentive to price their services to the market. Obama took this already terrible problem and made it worse, moving the country almost close to a single-payer system with the proposed expansion of the already struggling Medicaid.
As we note in a prior post on health insurance, in India, only about 15% of the population is under the third party payment system. The market therefore is robust and resembles the US Lasik surgery market (which conservatives often cite as a shining example of how costs come down and quality goes up when free market policies take over).
Annual health check ups
I wanted to get my annual physical done in Bangalore, and I shopped online. There were various flavors of the so called "Executive Package" offered by at least 15 hospitals, all offering same day service. I chose to go to Columbia Asia.
The equipment used for tests was all manufactured in the US, Japan, Germany or Switzerland. The nurses were excellently trained on the machines and knew what they were doing. The process was like an assembly line where I was shunted from one station to another to provide my samples or undergo a test. An usher watched over me and squeezed me into another station if my next station had a longer-than-anticipated wait.
The tests were all over in 3 hours, and I even got a free breakfast coupon (for them to check after-breakfast sugar levels). And I returned the following day for a consultation with an experienced physician (this was at my request; they were ready for the same afternoon) who went through my results and wrote prescriptions. The format of the results was identical to what I used to get in the US so I could even compare my latest reports with those from my previous annual. On exit, I got a beautifully bound folder with all reports immaculately filed and a CD to boot.
Ok, but am I comparing apples to oranges? What tests were covered? Here's a list for those who didn't click on the previous link.
The price? INR 4,500 (about $81). I converted the amount to USD just in case an Obama administration official was reading!
Knee Surgery
A close relative of ours got surgery done in November 2013 to get her knee replaced. The facilities at the new Apollo Hospital in Madhavan Park, Bangalore - were truly world class. Once we stepped inside the building, there was no difference from a US hospital. Rooms and bathrooms were extremely clean, all rooms had flat panel TVs and free Wifi. The nurses station was over-attentive, in fact, so attentive that we began to wonder how we'd provide care for the patient after she was released.
The surgery was flawless. The after-surgery X-ray picture showed how high technology surgery tools can create a near perfect knee cap. Materials used were titanium cobalt. The doctor, a consummate professional trained in the UK and the US, also had excellent bedside manners.
The total stay in the hospital was for seven days. Food served bedside three times a day was excellent. The total cost for the cash-paying patient was INR 1,86,000 - about $3,000.
The Obama administration must take note - because blaming cheap labor in India alone no longer cuts it any more. Similar surgery in the US is reported to cost $25,000 - $30,000.
By Rajkamal Rao
The Miriam Webster dictionary defines "Laissez-faire" as "a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights."
Health care in India is about as Laissez-faire as it can get in a major world economy, and is fully the opposite of the US model. Especially now that ObamaCare is the law.
The single biggest problem in the US health care system is that it costs too much for the quality of care delivered. One reason for this is that a third party (insurance company, government) always pays for care. Patients have no incentive to shop around and providers have no incentive to price their services to the market. Obama took this already terrible problem and made it worse, moving the country almost close to a single-payer system with the proposed expansion of the already struggling Medicaid.
As we note in a prior post on health insurance, in India, only about 15% of the population is under the third party payment system. The market therefore is robust and resembles the US Lasik surgery market (which conservatives often cite as a shining example of how costs come down and quality goes up when free market policies take over).
Annual health check ups
I wanted to get my annual physical done in Bangalore, and I shopped online. There were various flavors of the so called "Executive Package" offered by at least 15 hospitals, all offering same day service. I chose to go to Columbia Asia.
The equipment used for tests was all manufactured in the US, Japan, Germany or Switzerland. The nurses were excellently trained on the machines and knew what they were doing. The process was like an assembly line where I was shunted from one station to another to provide my samples or undergo a test. An usher watched over me and squeezed me into another station if my next station had a longer-than-anticipated wait.
The tests were all over in 3 hours, and I even got a free breakfast coupon (for them to check after-breakfast sugar levels). And I returned the following day for a consultation with an experienced physician (this was at my request; they were ready for the same afternoon) who went through my results and wrote prescriptions. The format of the results was identical to what I used to get in the US so I could even compare my latest reports with those from my previous annual. On exit, I got a beautifully bound folder with all reports immaculately filed and a CD to boot.
Ok, but am I comparing apples to oranges? What tests were covered? Here's a list for those who didn't click on the previous link.
- Stress test or Echo #
- Chest X-ray
- Blood Glucose Fasting and Post Prandial
- Ultrasound of Abdomen and Pelvis
- Blood Grouping- ABO & Rh
- Urine Routine
- CBC with ESR
- Pap Smear (For females)
- Lipid Profile
- Bilateral Mammography (For females) - Optional
- Liver Function Test
- Consultation with Opthalmologist
- T3, T4, TSH PSA (Male) Optional
- Serum Creatinine
- Consultation with Gynecologist
- Consultation with Physician with Reports*
- Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) (Spirometry)
The price? INR 4,500 (about $81). I converted the amount to USD just in case an Obama administration official was reading!
Knee Surgery
A close relative of ours got surgery done in November 2013 to get her knee replaced. The facilities at the new Apollo Hospital in Madhavan Park, Bangalore - were truly world class. Once we stepped inside the building, there was no difference from a US hospital. Rooms and bathrooms were extremely clean, all rooms had flat panel TVs and free Wifi. The nurses station was over-attentive, in fact, so attentive that we began to wonder how we'd provide care for the patient after she was released.
The surgery was flawless. The after-surgery X-ray picture showed how high technology surgery tools can create a near perfect knee cap. Materials used were titanium cobalt. The doctor, a consummate professional trained in the UK and the US, also had excellent bedside manners.
The total stay in the hospital was for seven days. Food served bedside three times a day was excellent. The total cost for the cash-paying patient was INR 1,86,000 - about $3,000.
The Obama administration must take note - because blaming cheap labor in India alone no longer cuts it any more. Similar surgery in the US is reported to cost $25,000 - $30,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your note. Please consider signing up for email or RSS updates on our home page www.relocationtoindia.com