Posted on 03/12/2010 9:51:45 AM PST by shove_it
San José, Costa Rica Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said this week hed go to Costa Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes proposed reforms to the US healthcare system.
That might sound like an unusual choice, since this is a country with one of the longest standing socialized healthcare systems on the planet. Everyone here (including resident foreigners), are required to pay into the government-run health system, whether they use it or not.
But Limbaughs choice may also serve to advertise what many Americans traveling here for medical treatment already know: Costa Rica is a fabulous place for medical tourism.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Nearly every country in the world has socialized care. This fear mongering must stop.
Article totally lies about what Rush said.
I’m shocked! /sarc
Whose fear mongering do you mean, exactly?
1- read the article...mote what is says about the citizens of CR
2- which nation has the best medical care on the planet?
No it doesn’t. It says and Rush said, I was listening, that if health care passes he wouldn’t use it he’d go to Costa Rico instead.
And people come from nearly every country to the good old USA to get advanced treatments. Are you suggesting that because most other countries have inferior care that we should go the same route? I don’t want inferior care. If you do I suggest you go overseas for your medical care.
He would go to the medical clinics run by US doctors who will have fled ObamaNoCare.
If it passes, Medical Tourism to places like India and Singapore that have elite private hospitals with US trained doctors will skyrocket. I would not doubt that countries nearer to the US like Costa Rica might take a look at this as a source of revenue.
I’ve heard Rush say he’d “go to” Costa Rica for medical care if ObamaCare passes. I also heard him mention going to (”moving” to?) New Zealand as well. I assume the latter would be as a last resort if the US completely imploded or something...?
That’s what I heard his say too. The article sounds OK to me.
“If it passes, Medical Tourism to places like India and Singapore that have elite private hospitals with US trained doctors will skyrocket.”
Not a prollum...O and the fellow travelers will just seize dr’s assets or tax their income to the point that there is no gain for them overseas. And cooperation of every socialist government in the world, to shake every last penny out of the peasant’s pockets, there will be nowhere to hide undocumented lucre!!
The strengths of our health system (is) that it is universal, that its based on the idea of solidarity and that its fair, says Dr. Ana Morice, vice health minister in Costa Rica. What we need to improve is access to health services. Many times someone requests an appointment and doesnt receive it until a year later. In that area, we have much to improve.In other words: The good news is, everybody theoretically gets care. The bad news is, nobody can actually GET care when they need it.
It's like a sign offering "free cheese for all", but they never have any cheese.
I wonder if the reason the private care is so great is that the best doctors were all driven out of the public system by the stupid universal care, and thus drove down prices for foreigners as they competed for their business.
The strengths of our health system (is) that it is universal, that its based on the idea of solidarity and that its fair, says Dr. Ana Morice, vice health minister in Costa Rica. What we need to improve is access to health services. Many times someone requests an appointment and doesnt receive it until a year later. In that area, we have much to improve.
Rush could presumably easily afford the "private option" where the best hospitals are anyway.
Plus Rush has repeatedly said over the years that he is "self insured" and I know professionally that if you pay cash for your care the price is much lower than what is charged to your insurance carrier.
If we could graduate twice as many doctors, and completely rid our selves of health insurance, and doctors had to compete for patients on the open market, we’d probably get comparable prices for services.
Look at how cheap lasix surgery has become, mostly because insurance doesn’t cover it, and it’s in a field where there are more doctors available than patients.
Just an observation, but I have seen posts by this “DonaldC” before and they seem to be contrarian views on whatever is being discussed.
I know that he’s been around for awhile but one has to wonder why he even is logged onto Free Republic.
OK, maybe I misunderstood him then, but I was under the impression that he would be going to Costa Rica for medical care to use their PRIVATE medical system — not their government run socialist one.
Kind of like when he went to Hawaii back in December. He went to a private hospital and paid for his care using his own private money, but the media reported that he loved the public (socialist) run health care system there.
“....and I know professionally that if you pay cash for your care the price is much lower than what is charged to your insurance carrier...”
Yep. Just gotta ask and negotiate. About 1/2 price! I know as a consumer.
It was the point in my life when I realized government involvement in health and welfare...in a real way... was what was responsible for the inflation of med services’ cost.
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