HCR -- Medical Tourism -- This time to Europe

For those of us who have been tracking healthcare reform medical tourism is old news.  But I haven't mentioned it lately, so here's a snip from the latest story.

For Medical Tourists, Simple Math
By Elisabeth Rosenthal 

August 3, 2013

Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition. 

[...] “Very leery” of going to a developing country like India or Thailand, which both draw so-called medical tourists, he ultimately chose to have his hip replaced in 2007 at a private hospital outside Brussels for $13,660. That price included not only a hip joint, made by Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings, but also all doctors’ fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America. 

“We have the most expensive health care in the world, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best,” Mr. Shopenn said. “I’m kind of the poster child for that.”

Go to the link for the particulars. I'm tired of repeating the same old same old.

Better yet, go to the whole list at Elisabeth Rosenthal's link and read til you can't take it any more. Like a lot of other investigative journalists she gets paid for this kind of stuff. They do their homework. 
The don't make stuff up. 
They put it out by the ton. 
And there is still a pile of ignorant Americans who don't think the system we have needs improvements.