2000 or 4000?

My wife had pain in her leg. So she went to the Doctor. His response was,  “Don’t worry about it.” I think the reason he took this attitude was a combination of incompetence and the quite understandable desire to avoid an MRI and the costs associated with it.

We were scheduled to leave for Russia so we could not follow up.

As my wife is also a citizen of Russia, she got an MRI there. It was done on equipment imported from Israel. Her leg was fine. They decided to send her to a specialist. The appointment was a few days later, not a few weeks as in America.

They did an X-Ray and discovered she has a pinched nerve.

Why am I relating this story? It is to bring out the problems with American Medicine. I estimate that the costs if the tests had been done in America at $2000. This may be a little on the high side, as I have never figured out billing in America. It cost 4,000 in Russia. That is rubles. So divide by 30. You do the math.

Our current system cannot continue much longer.  Already medical “vacation clinics” are popping up all over. We do not have the money to continue business as usual. What will replace the current system? Who knows?