Nothing New Here

[Here on the border with Mexico Americans cross over for dental work (and even medical operations) all the time.

I haven’t checked, but I suspect the availability of cheaper work nearby helps keep the prices of official work down on this side of the border.]

Georgia woman, 26, saves $2,000 by getting a root canal done in Turkey - along with a week’s vacation - instead of getting the procedure in the US

Delia O’Malley, 26, of Atlanta, Georgia, traveled all the way to Turkey to have a root canal, and paid less than half the price she would have if got it done locally

She was quoted over $3,000 to have the root canal performed at her local dentist

O’Malley said she had previously gotten dental work done in Turkey and trusted her dentist there

In total, she only paid around $1,000 for a week long trip, round trip flights and the procedure itself

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10861731/Woman-26…

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I get my dental work done at the OHSU Dental School in Portland.

I had a root canal ($750) and a crown ($860) done last year. It’s about half what a regular dentist would charge.

There’s even free parking.

intercst

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Travel for medical procedures isn’t new at all. It gets into the news cycle every few years. And it’s always the same - travel costs plus foreign medical procedure is less costly than medical procedure alone in the US.

Quite the commentary on our medical industry.

—Peter

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Before Chavez Venezuela had a lot of medical tourism both from the US because US prices are too high and also from the Caribbean nations that don’t have the medical infrastructure and for whom US prices are also too high.

Plastic surgery was a main attraction. That was part of the reason Venezuela had so many
Miss Universes!

The Captain

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She was getting ripped off.
Like intercst I had a root canal & crown done last year. My cost-root canal ($1025) and a crown ($600).

Quite the commentary on our medical industry.

Thanks be to Jesus something that is not at all based as a group of industries on profits in the US ONLY is solely directed industry by industry for profit.

Where would the housing industry be without millions of mcmansions?

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Without a post op x-ray or CBCT to evaluate the end result, this really cannot be evaluated for what was done and was it done within the standard of care here in the USA.

If you remove tort law here in the USA, prices could drop substantially and more docs would elect to provide that procedure.

I have witnessed the result of folks going to TJ (or Mexico) for all kinds of care. Some ok to pretty good and some disastrous. The primary difference that goes along with a price difference is the cost of tort law there verses here.

YR

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I get my dental work done at the OHSU Dental School in Portland.

+++++++++++++

Was this done by a dental student at that college? They reduce the fees to attract patients in order to gain experience for the students. Was this the total fee charged with none being picked up or negotiated by any insurance contract of any type? If true, that would have been reasonable to disclose.

Compare those fees to the faculty practice at that same school for the same procedures.

YR

She was getting ripped off

…or simply not telling the whole story.

Quite apart from the fact that this was reported in the Daily Fail, the snapshot of what is purported to be the bill for this supposed root canal, the last line on what I imagine was a pre-treatment estimate shows an item that cost $330.

I don’t doubt that a root canal would be cheaper in places such as Turkey…but you do have to compare apples with apples and not vacuum cleaners for plausibility sake.

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More from the alleged bill…

https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailydot.c…

…this clip shows another couple of items of treatment that don’t comport with a description of “root canal” Calling BS on the accuracy of this story…and betting manicures etc are similarly cheaper in Turkey.

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