Originally Posted by
saddlesores
not a problem! barely an inconvenience!
they sell travel insurance that excludes coverage within the usa, which has the most expensivest health care in the world!
how expensive? ten years ago, my $150K in the usa heart valve replacement operation was done in india for $10K...........equal to just the hospital charge for the freakin' valve in the usa! a few years ago, i had minor sinus surgery in china for $1K.......the same charge my sister paid for the same operation in the usa as the 10% deductible.
and now?? my expat health insurance with $1 million cover, including repatriation, costs me about $1250/year. about $100/month, NOT a spring chicken, with lifetime coverage. and being overseas i never got caught up in the obamacare nightmare!
here in chinaland (or in thailand) i can buy insurance from local carriers with reasonable coverage for under $250/year.
Just amazing. BTW I remember the 70's or 80's when USA media did many stories about the "need" to eliminate smaller hospitals: they said if we reduced the "over-supply" of hospital beds that costs would go down but of course that never happened. 3 years ago I mentioned the 80's hospital-reduction push to a friend & said, "What happens if there's a major problem but no "excess" hospital beds?". Now with COVID the media is complaining about lack of hospital beds; of course they give no mention of their role in creating the situation.