I don't doubt this information is factually correct, or at least somewhat close to factually correct.
What I don't know is how indicative it is.
We have six categories: a 1-day hospital stay, a coronary bypass, an angiogram, an MRI scan and a baby delivery. And the price of nexium.
In each category, we are given three countries. But the three countries change around. How much does it cost for an angiogram in Germany? How much does a 1-day hospital stay cost in France? And what about all the other medical procedures? What is the cost for getting a broken bone set in Switzerland? And what about all the countries not named? How much does gall-bladder removal cost in Slovenia? How much does rhinoplasty cost in the South Sandwich Islands?
I am woefully ill-informed on health care policy. I don't know how indicative these procedures are overall, but if the person making this graph was doing their job, it has to be a bit misleading. If there were more extreme examples, it would have made sense that they would have chose those.
When my wife got pregnant we didn't have maternity coverage. We checked with the hospital to see how much delivery would cost. It was about 10 grand and I'm not sure if that included any anesthesia.
ReplyDeleteThe maternity rider for our policy was $600/month and you had to pay for it for 9 months before you could draw a single benefit so it really only serves as insurance against complications.
Back when we had good insurance I had to have my gall bladder out. Between two hospital visits and the operation that cost us about 10 grand out of pocket too.
I don't doubt it, the point of this blog isn't for me to take sides, but to see how the information is presented.
DeleteThere is no doubt that the US charges substantially more out of pocket than other nations on medical care. From direct experience, I can tell you that the estimates for the US hospital rates are low compared to what we paid as insured individuals. Nonetheless, cherrypicking results from different countries is misleading. It also doesn't explain whether the difference is before tax or after tax or even before/after insurance costs.
ReplyDeleteMost estimates I've seen show that the US is paying more total combined cost for health care, but that is unclear from this graphic or its source.