"One Injury, 10 Countries: A journey in Health Care" -1

"One Injury, 10 Countries: A journey in Health Care" #1
The New York Times. Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/health/15book.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=one%20injury,%2010%20countries&st=cse
By ABIGAIL ZUGER, M.D.
Published: September 14, 2009


The article is based on the health care systems around the world. T. R. Reid is an author who had a shoulder injury and decided to get it looked at, not only in America, but all around the world. He was checking the health care systems and how they work in different countries, while the crisis of free health care in the United States is an on going issue. Mr. Reid developed a chronic shoulder problem, which opened the opportunity to check other countries and compare how the health care systems are all different. He consulted with his orthopedist in America who recommended shoulder replacement, which would cost the insurance company tens of thousands of dollars, if they were to pay. Along side with unknown co-payments, with the risks of most surgeries but an excellent golf swing. Mr. Reid then goes to France and is referred to an orthopedist with a $10 consultation fee. He is recommended to do physical therapy, but if he really wants surgery the cost would be paid for entirely by insurance. In Germany, the surgery could have been given to him in a week with a $30 out of pocket payment. In London, the doctors told Mr. Reid it was unnecessary surgery and if he really thought it was that important, he would have to go private and pay for it himself. In Japan, he was offered a range of treatments from steroid injections to surgery all paid for by insurance. In an Indian hospital, he paid $42.85 a night for a regimen of meditation, lentils, rice, and massages, which actually improved some movement in the stiff joint in his shoulder. Mr. Reid then speaks of how insurance can help or kill someone in the U.S. Someone who is unemployed could be too rich for Medicaid, yet too poor for regular insurance. These people are the ones who die of treatable illnesses because of the lack of insurance.