In Portugal, every medical procedure is on a table together with its cost. This cost is, of course, agreed with the medical order, but the table is set by the government and those costs cannot be unreasonable as they are used for the annual health budget on public hospitals and clinics.
From what you say, pappy, it seems to me that these procedures are somewhat more expensive in the US than elsewhere.
What's the reason for such an extra cost?
From my uninformed POV, I think it has to do with the fact that American hospitals are private for-profit companies. Couple that with the existence of insurance and the hospitals end up charging almost whatever they want.... regardless of the actual cost of each procedure. The insured patient only has to worry about having that particular procedure covered.
Who is insured? mostly workers that have insurance as part of their income... and rich people...
With a table set by the government, for use in public hospitals, you get to apply only reasonable prices to the required procedures.
This cost is mostly covered by our Social Security budget.
It's not a perfect system, but it helps regulate healthcare prices.
I don't know how that could be translated to the US reality... but I do believe that it would require a massive restructuring of healthcare... do you guys have public hospitals at all?
From what you say, pappy, it seems to me that these procedures are somewhat more expensive in the US than elsewhere.
What's the reason for such an extra cost?
From my uninformed POV, I think it has to do with the fact that American hospitals are private for-profit companies. Couple that with the existence of insurance and the hospitals end up charging almost whatever they want.... regardless of the actual cost of each procedure. The insured patient only has to worry about having that particular procedure covered.
Who is insured? mostly workers that have insurance as part of their income... and rich people...
With a table set by the government, for use in public hospitals, you get to apply only reasonable prices to the required procedures.
This cost is mostly covered by our Social Security budget.
It's not a perfect system, but it helps regulate healthcare prices.
I don't know how that could be translated to the US reality... but I do believe that it would require a massive restructuring of healthcare... do you guys have public hospitals at all?
