Shopping for Health Care

CNN reports that uninsured semi-retired American, Godfrey Davies, needed nasal polyps removed and that the best price the intrepid shopper could find for the procedure in the United States was $33,127 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Davies promptly proceeded to demonstrate the superiority of government run health care systems by purchasing a round-trip airline ticket to his native Wales for $768 and having the procedure done there for about $3,500.

But the CNN report got it all wrong.

On Pajamas Media, Dr. Peter Weiss explains that the CNN story overestimates US surgery prices by a factor of 10. He did a simple web search on prices for Mr. Davies' surgery. At the first web listing in Indianapolis, Dr. Weiss was quoted a price of $3,440. In high cost Los Angeles, the quoted price was around $4,000.

With airfare, Mr. Davies could have saved money by having the surgery done in the United States.

 The moral? Don't hire CNN or Mr. Davies to be your personal shopper. And keep in mind that CNN, in this simple and easily verifiable case, does not appear to do a good job of getting the facts straight in its health care reporting.