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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:19 am Post subject: Why are medical costs so cheap in Korea? |
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I went to the dermatologist a few weeks ago and only paid 15,000 won. The same visit in the US would've cost at least $70, if not more. Before I moved to Korea, I went to the doctor for a "checkup". The only thing that happened was they took my blood pressure with the arm pump and the doctor talked to me for a few minutes. Cost: $180.
Also, dentistry here is only a fraction of the cost in the US. I haven't been to a dentist here yet, but I assume (hope!) the quality is similar.
So, what gives? Anyone with some knowledge about the medicine biz able to explain this?
Cheers,
Q without U~ |
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tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:27 am Post subject: |
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Uh...
Medical costs here are subsidised by the government.. in the US, you have to buy your own insurance, which doesn't cover all the costs - I am told your insurance only covers around 70%?
Also, I believe labour cost here is a little lower than the US - GDP per capita is 40,100 in 2004 est. (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html#Econ); whereas Korea's GDP per capita is 19,200 2004 est. (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ks.html#Econ).
Furthermore, my husband said that medical costs are already a lot higher than, say, 10 years ago. And that they don't make money out of normal, everyday illnesses, rather, they make money out of stuff like being admitted to the hospital and staying overnight, or having surgeries etc... |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:49 am Post subject: |
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For the same reason EFL teachers' salaries are so low: there are so many, and most of them are shoddy.
Sparkles*_* |
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JacktheCat
Joined: 08 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:02 am Post subject: |
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In short,
No tort lawyers. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:25 am Post subject: |
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Three very different responses. Man, I hope Sparkles is wrong.  |
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kangnam mafioso
Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: Teheranno
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:46 am Post subject: |
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insurance covers a percentage of it. i paid about 10,000 won for doctor's visits with insurance. in the usa, it cost me about
in general, things are cheaper in korea than in the west. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:49 am Post subject: |
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 I sliced off a bit of my finger, and couldn't get it to stop bleeding, even after 12 hours and the help of a local doctor and a first aid kit.
I went to the emergency room, where they shot me full of antibiotics and wrapped up my finger nice and tight. They charged me 140,000. I didn't cry when I sliced up my finger, but I wept when they handed me that bill. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| kermo wrote: |
I sliced off a bit of my finger, and couldn't get it to stop bleeding, even after 12 hours and the help of a local doctor and a first aid kit.
I went to the emergency room, where they shot me full of antibiotics and wrapped up my finger nice and tight. They charged me 140,000. I didn't cry when I sliced up my finger, but I wept when they handed me that bill. |
Was this without insurance?
I think it would be at least that much in the US.
If you are from Britain or Canada, it's hard to compare, since those countries have more progressive health care coverage than the US. |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Managed care has been a failure in the US. Single-payer nationalized solutions will always be cheaper, even if they come with risks of their own. |
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hojucandy
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Location: In a better place
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| Three very different responses. Man, I hope Sparkles is wrong. |
he isn't. i have several students who are doctors. i am constantly amazed at how much they don't know! also they all believe in fan death.
there ARE good doctors here, but they are the minority. |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Jack the Cat's right. Malpractice suits are basically unheared of. Most of the cost of healthcare back home is eaten up in insurance. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| kermo wrote: |
I sliced off a bit of my finger, and couldn't get it to stop bleeding, even after 12 hours and the help of a local doctor and a first aid kit.
I went to the emergency room, where they shot me full of antibiotics and wrapped up my finger nice and tight. They charged me 140,000. I didn't cry when I sliced up my finger, but I wept when they handed me that bill. |
Was this without insurance?
I think it would be at least that much in the US.
If you are from Britain or Canada, it's hard to compare, since those countries have more progressive health care coverage than the US. |
I had an ear infection in the U.S. I tried self medicating, as I had no insurance at the time, but I finally had serito go to the emergency room. $700 for an exam and ear irrigation, $100 for antibiotics at the pharmacy (at a discount pharmacy, not the hospital's).
I broke my foot here, late at night. I went to the hospital, they called in an orthopedic surgeon, I had exrays, a cast, and medications. Including the follow up visits and the removal of the cast- less than 150,000 won.
It is insurance, a poorer country, and lower wages (all of those hospital employees get paid a lot less than they would in the U.S., and doctors are not rich here. They are secure, and have a good income, but nothing compared to those in the U.S.).
Also, because the U.S. doesn't have a single payer system (national insurance) a huge amount gets spent on administration there- processing bills, insurance forms, ad nauseum. Just the simple fact that you pay some of the cost in cash, and the govt. gets the rest, cuts out huge amounts of paperwork. |
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desultude
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Paji eh Wong wrote: |
| Jack the Cat's right. Malpractice suits are basically unheared of. Most of the cost of healthcare back home is eaten up in insurance. |
Hmmm, big statement- do you have some facts to back that up?
http://www.centerjd.org/private/mythbuster/MB_medical_malpractice.htm
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| Medical malpractice costs make up only a tiny fraction of total health care costs. According to a study by the Consumer Federation of America, medical malpractice costs, as a percentage of health care costs, are at an all time low, 0.55 percent. Report author J. Robert Hunter, former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator, said, ��Medical malpractice insurance is amazing value, considering that it covers all medical injuries for about one-half of one percent of health system costs!�� Memo from to Interested Persons with attached spreadsheet prepared by J. Robert Hunter, Director of Insurance, Consumer Federation of America, November 14, 2001. |
| Quote: |
| Far more costly than malpractice lawsuits are the costs of medical errors. Total national costs (lost income, lost household production, disability and health care costs) of negligence in hospitals are already estimated to be between $17 billion and $29 billion each year, of which health care costs represent over one-half. Moreover, these figures vastly underestimate the magnitude of the problem since hospital patients represent only a small percentage of the total population at risk, and direct hospital costs are only a fraction of the total costs. Kohn, Corrigan, Donaldson, Eds., To Err is Human; Building a Safer Health System, Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 1999. |
| Quote: |
| And in a startling March 13, 2002 admission, the American Insurance Association (AIA), a major industry trade group, said lawmakers who enact ��tort reform�� should not expect insurance rates to drop. Specifically, an AIA press release, evidently issued to critique Premium Deceit, led with an astounding face-saving pronouncement: ��[T]he insurance industry never promised that tort reform would achieve specific premium savings.�� If legislators really want to control insurance costs, they would be best served by taking a closer look at the insurance industry��s waste, inefficiency and mismanagement. |
I hate it when ideology gets in the way of thinking and research. Look up the facts. By the way, I have had a fairly close relationship to the American medical establishment, having been married for many years to a doctor and having seen him through medical school. He and his father, Harvard educated both, and neither ragingly liberal, understood this issue very well, and come down in it in the same way I do. |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| kermo wrote: |
I sliced off a bit of my finger, and couldn't get it to stop bleeding, even after 12 hours and the help of a local doctor and a first aid kit.
I went to the emergency room, where they shot me full of antibiotics and wrapped up my finger nice and tight. They charged me 140,000. I didn't cry when I sliced up my finger, but I wept when they handed me that bill. |
Was this without insurance?
I think it would be at least that much in the US.
If you are from Britain or Canada, it's hard to compare, since those countries have more progressive health care coverage than the US. |
I am from Canada, and no, I didn't have insurance. Under the national plan, I think 70% is covered. However, there was an additional fee which fell under "other" (50,000) which was never explained. When I asked the receptionist (Gangnam Severance Hospital) why the fee was so high, she said it was because I was a foreigner. My Korean isn't good enough to understand anything more specific. Is there a special foreigners' premium, or was she referring to my lack of insurance, or both?
If you *beep* us, do we not bleed?
Ooh, that turned out badly. To put it slightly less elegantly,
if you slice us with a potato peeler, do we not gush all over the place? |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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Emergency room care is NOT covered under your medical insurance. Unless you are dying, or seriously hurt steer clear of such places.
In regards to medical costs in Korea being cheap I don't know the reason but I can tell that the doctors and nurses, from my experience, are some of the most incompetent people I have ever met. And my experience has unfortunately been fairly extensive. |
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