preview

Comparable Physicians In The United States (Herrick, 2007).

Decent Essays
comparable physicians in the United States (Herrick, 2007). Median nurses’ salaries in the United States are typically 50 percent greater than those in many overseas locations. Furthermore, unskilled and semiskilled labor, such as technicians and housekeeping staff may be procured at massive discounts when compared to U.S. wages. The end result is these reduced labor rates make it extremely cost effective to both build and operate medical facilities in overseas locations. Market trends or third party payers also contribute to cost inflation. In the United States, approximately 87 percent of health care utilization is financed by third parties, and approximately 64.3 percent or $1.9 trillion of U.S health spending is tax funded (PNHP.org,…show more content…
A recent survey determined that the average American consumer can guess the price of a new car within that margin of $1000. On the other hand, the same consumers were asked to estimate the cost of a four day hospital stay, on average their estimates were off by over $12,000 (Herrick, 2007). Furthermore, 68 percent of consumers surveyed who had recent medical care actually did not know the cost until the actual bill arrived and another 11 percent never learned of the actual cost of care (Herrick, 2007). The international healthcare market often openly post medical procedure pricing so savvy consumers may compare prices. Additionally, providers that do not offer fixed prices are willing to provide reasonable quotes. As a result of these practices, overseas medical centers are able to draw in large numbers of medical tourists who seek out the best value of treatment. Overseas medical facilities are also able to keep prices lower due to the lack of cross subsidies. In the United States, full service nonprofit hospitals may utilize revenues from some treatments as a means to cover costs of providing other procedures to other patients. This cross-subsidization process is made possible because some medical procedures produce more revenue than what the actual costs are. For example, the revenue generated from specialty services and or procedures such as heart catheterizations, or diagnostic radiological procedures may be utilized
Get Access