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Comment by yummyfajitas | Hacker News Reader

I would also like to move to another country where I've contributed nothing, and then have taxpayers in that country give me free stuff. Maybe next time I need medical work done I can stop in the Italy, have the Italian taxpayer pay for it, then fly off to a country where I'd actually like to live (e.g. a country which cares more about consumers than the taxi mafia).

In all seriousness, the Indian medical system is a shining example of how to be functional. You show up, find out what needs to be done, ask the price, pay and it gets done. I've had LASIK and 2 spine surgeries done in India, +1 will return for all my future medical needs.

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> In all seriousness, the Indian medical system is a shining example of how to be functional. You show up, find out what needs to be done, ask the price, pay and it gets done. I've had LASIK and 2 spine surgeries done in India, +1 will return for all my future medical needs.

In Germany (and I guess pretty much any country) this is possible as well. You simply say you are a "Selbstzahler", and I assure you doctors in Germany will be thrilled to treat you (with an advance payment, of course).

I guess what you're meaning is that the Indian medical system is far cheaper, but that's another discussion...

I've only spent about 6 hours in Germany, so I can't speak about Germany. But in many places - the US and UK, for example - it's often quite difficult to get medical work done simply by paying money.

For example, in the US many doctors refused to treat me - I was later told by a doctor that this is for regulatory reasons. US hospitals are famous for not providing a price before treatment, and often trying to sneak non-insured items onto the bill. Compare the expereinces here (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/us/drive-by-doctoring-sur... ) with mine (https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2015/medical_tourism.html ).

I've had similar difficulties in the UK - it's mostly NHS or get out of town. (My issues in the UK were minor, so I decided to just wait until I reached India to get them fixed.)

Interesting. I didn't think it was a problem to be treated when you put cash on the table. But maybe you have to be very rich. At least in Germany, some hospitals/doctors in Munich are pretty known for courting rich patients from the middle east, and those surely don't depend on some insurance...

Medicine is always wonderful if you are a petro-monarchy prince. I'm just a regular guy.

Anecdotally, I've been told that a lot of middle Eastern medicine is corrupt and low quality. I ran into a lot of gulf state medical tourists in India who told me this (obviously a biased sample).

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