R2I Club Member Hangout

nodegree wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2024 9:42 pm Medical Care - I'm a bit more ambiguous about this one.

I continue to be astounded by how cheap medical care is in India. Yes I know that I earn in USD and pay in INR but for 90% of the procedures the price here is a few orders of magnitude less than in the United States. Diagnostics like blood tests/MRIs/CT scans are a pittance to what we pay in the US. The medical industry in the US is quite a racket. The big hospitals in metro cities in India have great facilities and cost a fraction of US medical centers. On the flip side, perhaps due to the abundance of cheap medical care there seems to be a phenomenon I like to call 'overtreatment'. People tend to take antibiotics for even the basic common cold, over prescription of steroids and even doctors tend to order more diagnostics "just to be safe".

SAPPORO wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 9:55 am How does Aam Aadmi afford healthcare in India? My MIL is getting her teeth implants and each teeth costs 40k and they are not even golden! India is cheap for repetitive stuff like bloodwork, X-ray, MRI - even with those, if you shop around, you can get decent prices in the US like getting bloodwork done directly with Labcorp/Quest and Radiology work done outside hospitals using websites like https://radiologyassist.com/locations/
Granted, no one is going to come in a bike and deliver your reports home in the US!

old-spice2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 11:35 am

SAPPORO wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 9:55 am How does Aam Aadmi afford healthcare in India? My MIL is getting her teeth implants and each teeth costs 40k and they are not even golden! India is cheap for repetitive stuff like bloodwork, X-ray, MRI - even with those, if you shop around, you can get decent prices in the US like getting bloodwork done directly with Labcorp/Quest and Radiology work done outside hospitals using websites like https://radiologyassist.com/locations/
Granted, no one is going to come in a bike and deliver your reports home in the US!

If you have a job in a decent company (not just MNC) your health insurance is covered and it also covers for parents from both side. If you are govt servant at officer grade (not IAS), you and wife are covered for life with no out of pocket costs. You can even visit private hospitals and pay zero rupees. Otherwise go to govt hospitals or CGHS for small outpatient visits. For ex-servicemen (veterans in American lingo) medical is covered for life and that includes wife.

Few years back one of my coworker had a near death incidence with treatment from American doctors. He would have died had it not been for remote consultation from his relative in India. He had a follow up surgery - he said "nahi baba", took one month off and got that surgery in AIIMS for free (of course due to his contacts). He had to pay for supplies and some incidentals which was less than INR 10K. And this was for a cardiac surgery not some chota mota lab work.

If you know doctors/or have connection, you can get first class and free treatment in India. It is not that difficult to build those connection, just need to know people and not act like NRI jerk.

Now Sapro will come back with "oh I can get free treatment in US too and get $10K as gift voucher". These bloody NRIs cannot accept anything can be better in India.

wd40 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 10:47 pm

2)Familiarity/culture: No matter what I was broughtup as an Indian, I married into arrange marriage and my wife is of same caste. She cooks the same food my mom used to cook. She is stay at home mom and takes care of our house and my daughter and ours is the perfect template Indian family. So we have kind of carried on what our ancestors taught us and so far we have brought up our daughter in the same mould. Our wish would be to give our daughter the chance to follow the same path. Ofcourse she could choose to marry someone out of our caste, but atleast we if go back to India and her teenage years are spent in India, the chances are she marries an Indian. So it is easy for us and not a total shocker having to deal with inter racial marriage etc.

All the problems of India like pollution, population and corruption are manageable for me. I have reached the level of maslow's hierarchy now, where belongingness and social identity is more important than money and materialistic pursuits.

old-spice2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 11:35 am
If you have a job in a decent company (not just MNC) your health insurance is covered and it also covers for parents from both side. If you are govt servant at officer grade (not IAS), you and wife are covered for life with no out of pocket costs. You can even visit private hospitals and pay zero rupees. Otherwise go to govt hospitals or CGHS for small outpatient visits. For ex-servicemen (veterans in American lingo) medical is covered for life and that includes wife.

Few years back one of my coworker had a near death incidence with treatment from American doctors. He would have died had it not been for remote consultation from his relative in India. He had a follow up surgery - he said "nahi baba", took one month off and got that surgery in AIIMS for free (of course due to his contacts). He had to pay for supplies and some incidentals which was less than INR 10K. And this was for a cardiac surgery not some chota mota lab work.

If you know doctors/or have connection, you can get first class and free treatment in India. It is not that difficult to build those connection, just need to know people and not act like NRI jerk.

Now Sapro will come back with "oh I can get free treatment in US too and get $10K as gift voucher". These bloody NRIs cannot accept anything can be better in India.

SAPPORO wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 12:47 pm I was not born yesterday to be under the illusion that the healthcare and insurance industries are charitable anywhere in the world let alone India. Rich people spend crores just to get a medical seat and I am sure they plan on reaping the rewards of their investments. Pre-existing conditions are never covered for seniors by any insurance. Most people blame illegals storming the ER for the exorbitant fees charged for others in the US, maybe we should blame those with 'connections' for the same in the Indian context How quickly we forget that the same people with connections were in a hurry to get out of India during the peak of the covid pandemic.

Returning_Indian wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 1:07 am US medical industry treats at 3 times the prices with worst outcomes among developed world. So there is that. But it's a best place to be healthcare professional and mint millions.

old-spice2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:57 pm
I feel much safer in terms of medical services and support industry in India especially as I am moving into age where more medical and human support will be required. In States I do not have enough money to get equivalent service that I can get here for may be 10-20% of the price. For example nursing care or someone to come and cook when I am unable to get up from bed is unthinkable in US with my savings. It will drain out fast like a leaky bucket. We always had the fear of running out of money especially in high cost BA. For folks with $50M and above it may not be an issue but even with that kind of money I will retire in India. May be get some Russian models to come and dance for entertainment!

Having spent 30 years in each country, I can tell India is a better place to retire. US is for young and healthy people or for souls who have hatred towards India in their DNA. For example in my BA county, there is a 3-4 weeks wait period to get a specialist like cardiologist or ortho. That is not acceptable as here I can walk in to many hospitals and see a specialist same day. That gives me comfort.

Indian doctors are pretty good in diagnosing and treating ailments. Since they dont have to worry about malpractice they do what is right. Of course you need to go to doctors who is known to you or get recommendations from F&F. Doing search in Google or reading reviews is not the right way.

The millions I would save in spending on medical, LT and nursing care insurance, I plan to spend on trips to Fiji/Tahiti and mock Sapro from there. LoL

old-spice2 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:57 pm For example in my BA county, there is a 3-4 weeks wait period to get a specialist like cardiologist or ortho. That is not acceptable as here I can walk in to many hospitals and see a specialist same day. That gives me comfort.