[Basalt Beach]

An overseas medical event and then back home.

In 2011, while visiting my better half's family and friends in Taiwan, I collapsed and lost consciousness due a hernia. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. It was quite serious per the doctors in Taiwan and I needed surgery ASAP. I had surgery, spent 5 days in the hospital and paid cash upon being released. The total bill was under $2,400. The hospital was very modern and approximately 10 years old.

My itemized bill included X-rays for $19 and a CAT scan with contrast for $325. My surgeon in Taiwan was schooled in the U.S. and graduated from an Ivy League school. The anesthesiologist was schooled in Pais. The nurses, and there were quite a few, would check on me every 15 minutes or so. My insurer re-imbursed me the entire amount.

I returned home and had another medical event (unrelated) within two weeks which required a CAT scan with contrast and as I entered the machine I noticed the machine name, Siemens, was the same as the one in the hospital in Taiwan. My statement from my insurer showed the hospital billed them $5,800. I could not help think back to my itemized bill from the hospital in Taiwan where the same CAT scan cost me $325.

In going over the U.S. CAT results with my doctor of 20 years, he commented that my rush to the ER in an ambulance and subsequent surgery in Taiwan would have run between $35K to $50K in the U.S. and I probably would have been done as an outpatient or spent no more than one nite in the hospital. It is baffling to comprehend the cost differences.