Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism, It's real, just google it and you'll get the picture. If I had no insurance you bet I'd head out of the country for a $9000 quadruple bypass. Now I realize that my cat needs some dental work and has to be anesthetized to have his teeth cleaned. I was actually booking the appointment when my eyes found the estimate on the paper for this service.... "Hold on the house is on fire, I'll call you back later" They wanted about $750 for this service and another 50 bucks If I had to leave him overnight because we could not get there on time in the morning of the surgery. I live in an urban environment outside of Boston so I expect it might cost a bit more due to gouging but these people are thieves. Angela and I are building in Maine as to retire to a more rural setting so we can watch the birds. There is a veterinary clinic just outside The nucleus of the town. I figured I'd give them a shout. For less than $300 bucks they'll do the same thing. By this time it's not about the money, it's about the stealing. Any thoughts comments or advice?

Yeah, there's a lot of cost hike-ups that just aren't logical. I can't blame people for leaving the country so they can pay less for medical care, and get a vacation in.

Are you getting any of his teeth removed, x-rayed, or is it just a standard cleaning? The latter costs ~$88 here.

Wow, I live in Maine and it cost me about $250 to have Rubys teeth done, including bloodwork. If you're going to live in the Bangor area I can recommend the best vet ever, just send me a PM (I'm moving soon and the only thing I'm going to miss is my wonderful vet..sob)

Beau needs some teeth extracted. I explained this to them when I called. I was put on hold till the Doctor could make some sense of the request and they pushed a button so I could here a recording about the importance of feline dental health. So I think there on top of this. I checked int this place and see that they are a state of the art facility and also do work with larger animals out in the back bays. Sometimes I guess you just cant convince the Goat to get into the carrier!
Durring this escapade I find paperwork for spaying our last cat Tika. Seems they though this was worth about $330 dollars. I think they'll do the same thing up there for eighty bucks. I guess the drawback is it's a five hour ride. But now I'll have all four cats teeth cleaned midlife and a senior review later. I wish I was smart enough to have prevented this in the first place. My other cats teeth look ok to me but I'm having them checked out anyway.

There are costs to having practices closer to a city and more expensive areas. There's rent, insurance, salaries, etc., which I can only assume are far more expensive in your area than in Maine. Are their prices unfairly high? I can't say, and really neither can you, but IMO to call them "thieves", and to accuse them of "stealing" is rather harsh, and probably untrue.

Something I have learned about cheaper vets, they are usually not cheaper or worth it, they often skip on things I would happily pay for, but they don't tell you are not included, or don't tell you until you are there and have to pay for an office visit (like monitoring heart rate during surgery in one case)

So always double check exactly what is included

And don't forget things like office space, salaries, utilities etc. are higher in city area, and yes - they probably include a lot more for their services.

If you are happy to drive 5 hours each way though, I would go for it. The only concern would be how much a drugged out kitty would enjoy a 5 hour drive home. I know when I've recovered from surgery, the last thing I feel like is being in the car.

I do agree I should refrain form categorizing these facilitys and doctors as thieves. It is harsh. When the lawyers start subpoenaing these doctors for medical malpractice then I'll begin to understand. I guess this is the big drive for us to get out of the city. I found out that I can insure 12 cars in the Bangor area for what it cost me to insure two here in Massachusetts. Are these insurance companies stealing from us?. I guess I'm bitter dues to the retracted economy and the loss of work has forced us into a life of rice and turkeynecks and letting taxbills pile up on the desk. ( Different Thread). But truthfully I can now clearly see how we are being taken advantage of. I can now feel the desperation of a girl who wants to do feral cat work in the city and is not let into the parking lot because she's not driving a BMW. This is a real eye opener for us.

I hadn't even heard of medical tourism until I read the Robin Cook novel "Foreign Body", which was a really, really good read. Aside from that- it costs roughly $300 around here to have a cat's teeth cleaned, and that was including anethesia.

We're headed up to drop him off for a Friday cleaning. when we get him back I'm letting him rest a couple days at the camp before heading back. I figure he'll be better off alone without the other cats torturing him. This surely is medical tourism for our cats.