This is a huge problem in US health care financing: we have a fee-for-service model, no price transparency, and a consumer base (insulated from a lot of the costs of procedures by indirect payment through employer-provided insurance) conditioned to think procedures are inherently good. We waste billions annually on procedures that shouldn't be delivered at all.
I'm fond of pointing out the stat (true as of a year ago) that Massachusetts (I think it's MA?) has more MRI machines than the entire country of Canada.
>"I'm fond of pointing out the stat (true as of a year ago) that Massachusetts (I think it's MA?) has more MRI machines than the entire country of Canada."
Long wait times (6-12 months+) for MRIs (due to a lack of both machines and technicians) are a frequent complaint by Canadians.
Yep. Wealthy Canadians often come to the USA as medical tourists and pay cash to skip the queue at home for elective procedures like MRIs or joint replacements.
That’s about 2X as expensive as the cash pay MRIs near me in the United States, which is interesting. You don’t have to wait a week here, but that’s to be expected with how many MRI machines are all over the place. For specialty imaging like contrast or doing time resolved MRI you do have to wait a little longer to get someone qualified to do it properly. Some of those take a little more expertise that the cash walk-in places aren’t good for.
tptacek · · focus · HN ↗
I'm fond of pointing out the stat (true as of a year ago) that Massachusetts (I think it's MA?) has more MRI machines than the entire country of Canada.
nickff · · focus · HN ↗
Long wait times (6-12 months+) for MRIs (due to a lack of both machines and technicians) are a frequent complaint by Canadians.
nradov · · focus · HN ↗
Teever · · focus · HN ↗
I think private MRIs have been around, at least in my province anyways, for close to 30 years.
Aurornis · · focus · HN ↗
juliusdavies · · focus · HN ↗
Aurornis · · focus · HN ↗