To throw in one more country - my mom had a stroke while visiting relatives in Prague. Spent a week in the best hospital around, with all the necessary tests, medications, rehab, great care and she loved the food. The total bill (before insurance) was less than ten thousand dollars.
FWIW, the best dentist we had married a gal from Prague. She was so homesick, he decided to move back with her. I wonder if he is still practicing in Prague… I have to look him up. He was trained in one of the top US dental schools and had an amazingly gentle touch.
Panama City
They have brochures in the hotels - beautiful glossy brochures - detailing their services.
Some of this, I don’t get. My derm visit to check my skin is either covered by my insurance or costs about $40 (specialistcopay.). Dental cleanings are covered, 2x/year. When I had looked into the need for dental insurance, my OOP would have been maybe $150 or less.
So the value of a foreign treatment seems on the bigger cost procedures. ?
Or for (cosmetic or other) procedures not covered by insurance, or for people with high deductible plans. If you’ve got a $13,500 deductible and it’s close to the end of the year with little or none of it met, that covers a lot of travel expense.
We pay cash for dental and see a guy in Canada, it’s about an hour drive, but he both came highly recommended and the exchange rate discount is helpful.
I have had friends who need dental work - crowns etc. - that runs over 10k in the US. Not everyone has dental insurance, and if you do, usually it covers 50% of these procedures, at best. In our family we haven’t needed crowns at this point so our dental is usually covered 100% for now, unless the kids get a cavity, and then it pays half.
@allyphoe - Bingo!
@lookingforward - Obviously you’re among those fortunate to have great insurance coverage. For me, the idea of a “copay” is almost foreign. I might get one subsidized visit to my primary doc per year (maybe not, I don’t remember) but aside from that I’m pretty much full pay all year until I (hopefully don’t) reach my deductible. But we also get the benefits of cheaper prescription drug prices as well as the security of coverage in the event of huge medical expenses.
So for me, at least, a foreign procedure for about the cost of your copay makes a lot of sense, especially on the small stuff. And it especially makes sense to those of us with the time, means, and motivation to travel, but retired and too young for Medicare.
Are you concerned about sterilization of the equipment/tools when you do it in Asia or other countries? In the US, we have health regulations and health inspectors, but in some countries, they don’t have that nor do they have malpractice insurance.
Since I’m away now, I’m curious about dental prices in the US. In Thailand fillings run $20-40 apiece and a cleaning is around $30-40. That’s the walk in price at a private clinic or hospital for someone paying cash. No insurance, no government subsidy. What are the retail prices back home?
I see your issue now, @sherpa, thanks.
I was paying maybe 700/year for dental insurance on the side and that was more than individual pricing, assuming nothing big happened. Cleanings, xrays, and fillings were not so costly. (I ran a cost projection without insurance.) But I knew I’m up for crowns, maybe a root canal (and had seen what an RC cost D2, when she was off dental insurance. the whole shebang over 3k.) My present insurance does cover dental. Yes, not everything at 100%. But it makes sense, at present (because I can project what I’ll likely need.)
In Germany, I had dental checks and would have absolutely trusted any procedures there. OTOH, they told me I had fabulous teeth and would “never” need what I do need.
Retail US here:
Cleaning (including exam and basic X-rays): $300
Filings (composite): $200-$600 (depends on how many surfaces need to be filled)
“Are you concerned about sterilization of the equipment/tools when you do it in Asia or other countries? In the US, we have health regulations and health inspectors, but in some countries, they don’t have that nor do they have malpractice insurance.”
I would be concerned about the lack of malpractice insurance and the potential difficulty of getting a US doc to “fix” any issues that are caused. Definitely a case where you want to research to ensure you’re going to a provider with a stellar reputation to minimize risk of error.
I would not be as concerned about lack of sterilization since that can be addressed by an examination of the facilities and again, researching reputation rather than just walking into any streetcorner provider. The idea that US health inspectors do a job that’s sufficient to ensure sterile environments is laughable. Can’t link the article as WSJ has a paywall, but the WSJ has had several investigative articles about how weak the inspections on the part of certifying/accrediting organizations such as JCAHO are. The standards and inspections are a joke.
@sherpa a decent price for no-insurance dental cleaning runs around $75, here in California. Same for metal fillings. A dental implant can run $2500-3000. Usually dentists charge a lot more to the insurance provider if you have insurance.
I didn’t look at the prices for metal fillings in Thailand. Composite fillings run from a low of $20 up to as much as $60 depending on number of surfaces.
I had dental work done at two different places in Thailand, both in Chiang Mai; a simple filling at a modern and spotless dental hospital and a $33 cleaning at an equally clean and modern clinic.
Between cheap medical/dental, the $8 massages, and excellent food for as low as a couple bucks a day, we’re looking forward to returning next winter.
The reference to sterilization reminds me of a trip our family took to Tibet when our kids were in high school. We stumbled upon an outdoor flea market where, among other things including, of course, yaks there were a couple dentists set up with medieval looking drills. Suffice it to say I wouldn’t recommend Tibet for medical tourism.
https://www.healthcarebluebook.com/ui/consumerfront can give you estimates for US pricing of various medical and dental procedures.
However, on chewing surfaces, composite fillings are less durable and need replacement more often. Each replacement results in more tooth being drilled out, until there is not enough tooth left and you need a crown. So composite fillings could end up being a lot more expensive long term, even though they do not cost that much more initially.
I don’t have any direct experience, but I have heard from a number of people that dental care in Hungary is excellent and relatively affordable.
The hospital I work in spends an inordinate amount of time and care preparing for and remaining JCAHO compliant, so I’d not say they are a joke. If not in compliance, they return, and return again. For the smallest detail.
Regardless, Thailand has the advantage of many US trained physicians as well as academics. They are very internationally aware. My dad lived, and then died in BKK after a number of medical procedures, byass surgery included. His illnesses were of his own making, smoking essentially. But I would not fault their medical system which impressed me for the most part. He was not in Bumrumgrad, but another major Bangkok hospital. One of the public hospitals there has very high level standard care as well.
My Korean step mom in Bangkok says Koreans in the know come for Bangkok for lower cost plastic surgery.
My D, getting dental care in DC, was surprised to find that composite fillings seemed to be standard of care, unlike here where amalgam is still used for the most part on molars. They did charge more out of pocket for composite, and when she wanted the less expensive option, the dentist gave her the composite for no extra charge.
A friend just had a cleaning in Mexico for $25 and was happy with the experience.
Professor Plum, your costs are lower than the upper Midwest. Cleaning are around $100 at my clinic, and the implant in process, $7000 start to finish.
Perhaps in DC, the dentists want patients to keep coming back for replacement fillings that will be more frequent with composite fillings than amalgam fillings on molars. Composite fillings are not that much more expensive for each filling, but if you use it on a chewing surface, you will need more replacements over your lifetime (plus the greater possibility of needing a crown) than with amalgam fillings.