Monetary issues are problematic for the average American, partly due to America’s health insurance crisis. In 2005, 41 percent of middle-class Americans did not have health insurance and 53 percent of those whom earn less than $20,000 per year did not have health insurance as well, many of whom have a chronic condition that requires constant medical attention (“A painful trend”). This overwhelming circumstance makes the financing aspect of treatment hard to fathom.
Kevin Stewart, a retired landscaper with no health insurance, was in dire need of a liver transplant. The surgery, an estimated $350,000, alongside waiting for a donor abridged his chance to live. Luckily, Kevin’s sister was proved to be a match and healthy donor for his liver that spared him years of being on the national donor waiting list, which would have ultimately cost his life.
Despite his sister’s willingness to provide him a liver, the monetary aspect of a surgery of that magnitude was unobtainable in the United States, however, Kevin’s surgery in India only cost $55,000 under surgeon Subhash Gupta whom ranked gold on The United States’ standard for liver transplants with over 150 liver transplant surgeries under his belt (“Medical Tourism In”). Due to the lack of health insurance and high surgery costs, opting for care in countries such as India allows affordability that those such countries have to offer.
For example, cardiac surgeries in India only cost about $4,000 USD while the same surgery in The United States costs upward amounts of about $30,000 USD. Lowered costs in alternative countries such as India are not the result of less quality, but simply because labor costs are not as elevated as they are in the United States (Elliot). Moreover, economic outputs are not equal or nearly as levitated as the United States, due to the India’s developing state.
On an economic scale, essentials that are used in everyday life also attribute to a country’s economic status such as cars, running water, oil, and even Wal-mart all attribute to the economy, principally in the United States. Realistically, India does not utilize the same fundamental essentials that the United States considers basic qualities of life. Majority of Indian natives live in rural areas that don’t have running water which consequentially allows the country to remain a developing nation.
When businesses such as oil, water, and car conglomerates have an established corporation that offers products and or services to a specific market and consumers buy into those markets, it creates a win-win situation for both parties which ultimately boots the economy when these markets are in play and are doing well. Lack of these markets do not attribute to the economy. Nevertheless, although these economic recoils are disadvantageous to India, they provide seepage in the system for foreign patients seeking cost-effective, eminent healthcare.