What is good medical care?
I recently was encouraged to get some tests done due to a
pre-existing issue 12 years ago (angioplasty in 2001). Since I was going to India, I decided
that I would wait until I got over there as it would be much cheaper than in
the states. A friend of mine was a
bit irritated with my decision, implying that I was risking my health “on the
cheap.” His belief was that the
best care is measured by how much you pay; the old adage “you get what you pay
for.” Spend the money and I will
get good care was the implication, go cheap and I will likely regret it in the
long term.
After our conversation I thought about my time in
Kenya. Africans have the
concept that for medicine to really be good it has to taste really bad. A story is told of some Ethiopian
tribesmen who visited a missionary and told them they had malaria. This missionary wasn’t a doctor, but 40
years ago they thought all foreigners were so they regularly visited this missionary's home
asking for medicine. Lyle told
them men to wait outside and in a few minutes he came back with quinine
tablets. He gave each of them
three tablets and told them to chew them real slowly. If you know anything about quinine tablets, they are
excruciating bitter. These
Ethiopians did as the missionary suggested and their faces went into
contortions, eyes watering as they gasped for air. After the ordeal, they went back to their village declaring
to their friends that they received the best medicine from missionary that day!
The cost of health care in the U.S. is outrageous. I would suggest bordering on criminal. Between the insurance and drug
companies, doctors and hospitals, a person’s livelihood is one diagnosis away
from financial ruin. Paying more
doesn’t mean its better medical care, anymore than bad tasting medicine is
better medicine.
In the end I had the procedure in India in when of the most
famous hospitals in the south. It
cost me a fraction of the cost as in the sates. True, the facilities looked like a WWII ward and they didn’t
provide food, soap or a towel. But
the doctor who did the angiogram on me has preformed over 5,000 over his many
years in medicine. All the doctors
were as professional as anyone you would find in the states.
My wife had a heart attack 15 months ago. Her cardiologist was fine Hindu doctor
from India. I could have had my
test taken in the states and let an Indian in America doctor treat me and pay
$20K, but instead let a good Indian doctor in India do the honors for less than
$1K. Good medical care is indeed
important, but it’s many times a cultural perspective.
