Sandra Miller

Recent Activity

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  Sandra signed the petition | 7 months ago

  Stand With Me, Jose Antonio Vargas, for a New Conversation about Immigration
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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  Alana, I agree, and I think it's a huge mistkae on Obama's part (and I'm a huge Obama fan) to let the insurance companies have a seat at the table as we enact health care reform.  An industry with a CEO that has a billion dollar pay day (United Healthcare) is an industry where something is amiss.
  
  you can read the story about how the health care middle men are reaping outsized rewards here: http://community.healthtravelguides.com/htg/blog/article?message.uid=164
  
  

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  Michael and Charlie -  Since it is hard to read 'tone' in electronic comments, let me preface my remark by saying, this is an honest question asked in a neutral tone.  France and Canada have, by most accounts, done at least a reasonable, and by many measures quite good job providing a health care system that works for the vast majority of their respective populaces. Is it your belief that the US government is so inferior and/or corrupt we simply can't accomplish the same? Is there no possibility that any US administration can accomplish efficient and effective universal health care, or is the disease in the system of our government so broad and deep, the government simply has to be taken off the table as an option for solving the crisis in American health care?
  
  I have difficulty with the assertion that our goverment can't do it because it hasn't been able to do it thus far. That is something of a tautology.  Surely our government today is not identical to 1963 or 1903 or 1783.  And yet that seems to be the argument from those who say "out government can't provide universal heath care".   What am I missing? If we can't trust the government, then how can we trust the free market? The current economic mess we're in - and that includes the insurance-and-health care debacle,  has everything to do with a deregulated free market running rampant.

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  The fact is that the quality of medical and dental care in many countries is quite  high, and has been for a long time. Medical travel from Europe to Asia for orthopedic care is quite common; many Europeans go to Eastern bloc countries such as Belaruse for dentistry. Here in the US there are many great dental options across the border. Dental Travel Guides / Health Travel Guides works with a network of dentists that are all ADA approved, use US labs for their labwork and have clientele that are 90% American...and they work with many US insurers.  Where dental work is concerened, the fact of the matter is there are many options in Mexico that present NO quality difference vs. the US, but cost less than half the price.  It's time to ask not "why is it so cheap in Mexico" but rather, "just why exactly is it so expensive in the US that 111 million people do not have dental insurance?"

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  It is true that the current crisis in the American health care system is one of access, and that access is roadblocked by cost. 50 million are uninsured, another 50 million underinsured, the number one reason for personal bankruptcy is medical bills. Most people who lose their jobs lose their health care within 1-6 months - forcing them to go to COBRA ($12k per year) or go to an independent plan that leaves them vulnerable to being dropped. 
  
  Our system needs to provide greater access to quality, affordable care for all.  The role of insurance companies needs to be reconfigured.  Until these things happen, medical travel will bring free market dynamics to health care - proivding a quality, affordable option for people priced out of the US health care system.  Since these people already have no option, it's good that they have this one. Ideally, however, patients should be able to choose to go overseas for reasons of quality and prefrence, not because price concerns drive them to do so.

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  One of the most common objections we hear about medical travel is actually less an objection about the competence of foreign health care than an assertion about the presumed superiority of American health care.  Many American citizens subscribe to the (mostsly) benign and untested prejudice that our medical system has the checks and balances needed to protect patients from mistakes and incompetence.
  
  "Face, it, I can never get the quality of care abroad that I can get here," confidently asserted my friend Joe, a lawyer who lives in Houston Texas.  I've heard some flavor of this comment at least a dozen times from other well-educated folks.
  
  A new survey conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital and reported in the journal Annals of Internal Medicinen gives us good reason to question this presumption of 'safety in superiority'. The study found that, among 1,500 doctors, nearly half admitted to failing to report an incident of incompetence by a doctor colleague.   
  
  So the system that has become exorbitantly expensive apparently isn't too good at self-regulating.  Another blow to the assumption that cost and quality are positively correlated - a notion debunked by another study reported on by the NY Times which you can read here (requires sign in to NY Times site).
  
  What does this mean for the patient?  Certainly it is still very possible to obtain high quality medical care in the U.S.  What this study tells us (along with other information reported in this blog) is that getting health care in the U.S. is not a guarantee of the best, or even adequate care.  Combine this with the fact that, good or bad,  your U.S. health care is almost certain to the most expensive in the world, and you can see why the National Center for Policy Analysis  projects the medical travel industry to grow to  $100 billion by 2012.

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  Martin, that's why my brother in law lives in Canada and not the US.

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  Sandra commented on the article | over 2 years ago

  Traveling for Care -- Outside the U.S.

  Hi Tim. I'd like to add to this conversation, if I may.  My company, Health Travel Technologies, has developed a technology platform for major hospitals and facilitators serving the medical travel market.  Our largest client serves an average of 5 American patients per day.  I'd say about 30% of them have insurance, but the copays and dedcutibles are so high, they'd rather get their care with a top private Mexican hospital.  Prices are much cheaper, but the care is stellar, because top hospitals attract top surgeons. Hospital Angeles Tijuana, for example, features on its staff the gastroenterologist surgeon who perfomred the first ever LAP Band at UCLA medical center - - he has also worked as a proctor / teaching surgeon in more than 100 US hospitals.
  
  So the quality of the care is certainly very compelling.
  
  Let me just add, the latest patient to come to us asking for help getting care in Mexico - a young couple from Arizona who would like to have their baby in Mexico, so it will have dual citizenship.  The couple owns some property in Mexico and are thinking ahead to the time they may wish to retire to Mexico, mostly for health care price reasons.