The effect of malpractice caps on medical costs, one reason why medical tourism is so cost-efficient:
Malpractice expenses also are much lower. People can file claims in Costa Rican courts, he said, but they generally are encouraged to settle rather than go to trial.The story in Bangkok is similar.
At Bumrungrad Hospital, Mr. Toral said, the lower cost of living is a major factor in the savings, but so are differences in how the medical system operates.
Doctors in Thailand pay about $5,000 a year for malpractice insurance, compared with more than $100,000 for some specialties in the United States.
Thai courts will adjudicate malpractice claims, but the largest award ever issued was about $100,000, Mr. Toral said, and the law there doesn’t permit damages for pain and suffering.
(via Overlawyered)
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{ 6 comments }
Given that per capita income in Thailand is about 6% of that in the US, it is not surprising that much is less expensive, including the value of human life in economic terms. Labor costs are the major overhead expense in most medical practices, and I am sure labor costs are lower in Thailand than in the US. I would wager that many of the Thai elite go elsewhere when they need surgery, while few of the US elite go to Thailand. While I support legal reform, I do not believe this is the major reason for lower medical costs in Thailand.
Malrpactice costs? Come on Kevin… That is just patently pathetic. The difference in costs is because clinicians in other countries are not the robber barons of our domestic provider class. What we need, as shown in the LA Times article from a few months back, is Fotune 500 companies and even more importantly, government employee organizations, that offer the chance to their employees to obtain non-emergency surgical care overseas with the ability for splitting the cost savings. The market needs some real competition and this would appear to be the perfect way to bring it about.
I call BS on you criminallopath. You don’t know what you are talking about.
Doctors in other countries often live pretty well (not including failed states/economies here). A typical middle-class family can afford a decent apartment–not a U.S. transient-living shoebox, but a lifetime residence–and household service, an unaffordable luxury in the USA, and usually a car or two, private schools for the children and vacations. Quality of life for professionals is in many respects as good or better than in the USA. (Buying of imported goods is expensive, unlike in the US, with no GST and low duties.)
I always notice how significant an effort is made to accommodate visiting international doctors during my specialty’s annual meeting; those visiting doctors come to buy and come well stocked with cash. Poor and deprived they aren’t.
Thailand’s healthcare is heavily, heavily subsidized by the government, much more so than our own.
You’re comparing apples to oranges.
An interesting new development that levels the playing field even more when comparing medical tourism to domestically obtained health care. A company called Aos Assurance now offers Medical Tourism Medical Malpractice insurance. It covers a patient travelling abroad for elective procedures against malpractice. This coverage was not available before now- it removes one of the biggest barriers to those considering Medical Tourism to lower their health care costs. Here’s a link to a press release about this: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/view_release.php?id=17505
The brain drain to private hospitals of qualified doctors reflects the inherent inequalities in society. Although Thailand’s medical tourism industry is booming and achieving great success for the private medical industry, Thai citizens without big wallets may be relegated to lower standards of medical care than their wealthier counterparts. The Thailand medical tourism phenomena is revolutionizing the way medical care is provided and having important effects in Thailand. This interesting article on the Thailand medical tourism industry highlights some of the less highlighted issues involved, at this link: Medical Malpractice Thailand
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