medical tourism questions

[nduetime]

Okay...I guess I'm a little confussed. I was and have been under the impression that a single level A.D.R here in the states ran for about $100,000. But Harrison says they somewhere around $30-40,000. Have prices dropped that much in the past few months or so since the last time I was reading about them? Does that cost include at the hospital charges, doc. fees, etc.?

I figured that because I don't have insurance or if I get it, chances are they wouldn't covor the procedure because it's still "experimental". So then I figured I had two options both of which included paying out of my own pocket either by going overseas or staying here. I was reading $100,000+ here in the states and $30,000+ over in Europe.

My comment about more qualified doctors over in Europe than here in America qualified by the fact they have been doing over there for many more years than here. This on top of the $70,000 savings for having the procedure overseas makes me wonder I would entertain the thought of having it done here in America. I'm left wondering now what I'm missing. Obviously I'm leaving something out of the equation right?

Just another quick question. I'm not sure if I asked this question on this site before or if it was another. If it sounds familiar, I apologize. When applying for medical insurance, it's possible that certain things are considered pre-existing conditions. Can an insurance company just flat out tell the appliciant that they won't cover a particular thing ever? I see three things can happen when I apply for insurance. One, they won't have any problems with covering my back, even with my previous disctomy and I'm immediately covered including my back. Second, they say it's a pre-existing condition and I have to wait for the exclusion perior to pass before it's covered (in California no more 12 months according to health care rights). And this is the one I'm not sure about and wondering about. Can they just say no we won't cover your back ever? If so, what is the term called?

[nduetime]

I have one more question. I'm sure I should probably make a new post for this question but I think it applies to my ealier questions. If I get insurance and I don't have a pre-existing exclusion period (immediate coverage), is overseas medical help covered as out-of-network benifits. Does this make any sense? I'm trying to figure out if insurance companies will grant benifits for anything done overseas?

[TamiN]

Harrison,

I'm sure you already know all of this but thought it might help to have it all in one place.

I have found 3 websites for Bartagnoli that contain the same information but have different addresses to send films etc. Not sure why they would be different and caused me a bit of concern.

http://www.dr-bertagnoli.com I first found this site and Tim Vicknair all the while thinking I was dealing with the main site.
http://www.pro-spine.info/ Once I discovered this forum I found this official web site which refers us to European medical tourism for Americans
http://www.europeanmedicaltourist.co...-us.html-which has Tim's US based information.

I had trouble finding Bertagnoli thru google. I wonder if other folks had trouble too?

Tami

[Harrison]

Nduetime,

This FAQ may answer some of your questions. Though it’s somewhat dated, it is still valid: How much does artificial disc replacement cost? And to address you last questions, we’ve seen all three insurance scenarios with patients, so it really depends on your situation, what information you have already shared & will share with the insurance company and a slew of other factors. Try to get a written (or at least the web copy) of the insurance company's policy.

Tami,

Spine brokers/advocates have caused nothing but trouble on this forum, which is why they are mentioned in the community rules – please read them carefully here (they are also permalinked above). There are countless examples of this shenanigans even in this community and really I feel for people when they are victimized. Did you see TrkDoc's post from April 27th?! This sad tale is but one of many and barely scratches the surface.

I may post more on this topic later, but I have to take my wife on errands….