Medical Rip-Off on Regatta Now ...... So Ticked Off

I presume he's also paying U.K. Tax and national insurance ?

 

Yes emergency service is totally free , have a heart attack , trauma or what ever you get treated . And as well as just about any where else you care to mention, a friend who somehow managed to survive a servere trauma had treatment somewhere in the region of £1 million worth with out mention of charge insurance or other wise required to pay, the same would have been done for any visitor , he spent a year in hospital . So your son paid a very small amount for that level of service , how did the charge he made stack up against insurance costs at home ?

 

Biggest problem for the NHS is having the ability to bill some one for treatment, as far as I am aware the burocuracy very rarely exists in hospitals for this hence we suffer from lots of Medical Tourism , Which to a degree burdens the NHS and costs millions, no real will to stop it though so it will carry on.

Oh, yes, of course he pays all taxes to the UK and NHS. No objections to that, naturally. The only emergency care so far has been for a broken thumb while visiting, before he was a resident. Yes, the emergency care was free (and very good). Now that he's in residence, he gets his other treatment from NHS and is very happy with it. And his mum is VERY happy to know he can have what he needs, when he needs it, and need never fear bankruptcy because of medical costs. That happens in the US, even to people who have insurance.

Medical tourism sounds like a problem that should be addressed.

I don't see any rudeness in the responses. The OP was very direct and emphatic in her complaint, and many of the responses have been equally emphatic, but I would not say rude.

Read post #26. It's about as rude as can be, particularly the last sentence.

Read post #26. It's about as rude as can be, particularly the last sentence.

Fair call. It's rude.

I would certainly expect to medical office to be able to provide prices. Imagine going to the spa and saying you have a bit of a kink in your back. Next thing you know you are provided several hours of treatment without any price info being available.

Despite what the doc said, I find it hard to believe there is no idea of the cost. Someone on board must be able to do the pricing, how else to bill someone that visit the doc the last morning before disembarking.

How would they respond to a guest that does not have insurance and goes to the doc wanting the cheapest, temporary fix to get them over a non serious issue until they can get to their own doc in a few days instead of an immediate full blown 5 star treatment. I would expect many people without insurance would like to know cost before saying "yes".

CVS seems to make money doing it their way and they do not have a captive market unlike the cruise ships. Since Oceania's guests have no other place to turn then they can be RIPPED OFF . Too bad, Still say shame om Oceania for charging so much for a vital product.

Find me a CVS whose possible customer base is limited to less than 1000 people at any one time, must be provide the medical equipment as well as the prescription meds, does not have access to overnight shipping from their closest distributors warehouse. Find one that matches that and I just might agree with you on the economics. A CVS operates with a much different financial situation then the medical section on a cruise ship. The economics for a commercial drugstore depends upon inventory turn over, minimal inventory on hand, and a lot of sales from non-pharmacy items such as food, cosmetics, etc.

+1 because even knowing that medical care on a cruise can be expensive, I might have followed the Doctor's instructions and taken what I was given forgetting to ask about the cost or whether or not 2 different medications were needed. My DH would have questioned the $77 for drops and gone nuclear over $270 more for ointment-these costs seem excessive for simple pink eye. I guess we still do not take enough medicine-these were amounts I would have wanted to know ahead of time. Whether insurance or the patient will pay is secondary. You can bet I will ask the cost from now on.

What would you do if the cost is high?

Lets put it this way if you decline treatment then the medical officer for the ship has an interesting situation. You have a patient on board with a communicable infection that will not accept treatment. I would suspect in that case he would have two options 1. restrict to cabin or 2. remove from ship.

Refusing treatment for a twisted ankle is one thing, refusing treatment for a infectious ailment is quite another.

Epilogue. Mr Blue Eyes has his twinkle back and the infection has gone. Please be advised that this was a very minor issue caught at its earliest stage. No pain, no loss of blood or consciousness, no oxygen required and no CPR. Didn't need any tender ministrations from the nurse and were not offered any. All this fuss could have been avoided if someone had said "We have drops at $77 and ointment at $270. Would you like either or both?" To me that's called informed choice and is a very simple form of respect. This is my last post on the subject but I invite the flamers to come out and disagree.

Yes it was a minor infection, however it is also potentially one that could be easily spread. So if you had refused treatment due to the cost it would be an interesting situation for the medical officer. Does he allow a passenger with an easily spread, but minor infection, that refuses treatment, to remain on the ship or move about the ship, and potentially infect other passengers.

Doctors always try to err on the side of over kill...

We aren't sure we would have phrased it quite this way.

Malpractice...Oh wow....

.... Look in the mirror if you want to blame someone.....

A careful reading of the post responded to should illuminate just how misconstrued was the original reading and thus how misdirected was this diatribe.

Aren't

t we really talking about the cost of a product? When the item is stocked on the ship, they should know the price. Today with computers pricing should be easy.

Find me a CVS whose possible customer base is limited to less than 1000 people at any one time, must be provide the medical equipment as well as the prescription meds, does not have access to overnight shipping from their closest distributors warehouse. Find one that matches that and I just might agree with you on the economics. A CVS operates with a much different financial situation then the medical section on a cruise ship. The economics for a commercial drugstore depends upon inventory turn over, minimal inventory on hand, and a lot of sales from non-pharmacy items such as food, cosmetics, etc.

Problem is the Doctor on Oceania has no compititon . We can't go across the street to another store, can we? We are stuck to pay whatever rip off prices that the Doctor, or Oceania charges. And who is this Doctor? Where did he go to school? Was it in the U.S. Where is he from? We are stuck, good or bad and we do not know. At home we have a choice, not here.

Problem is the Doctor on Oceania has no compititon . We can't go across the street to another store, can we? We are stuck to pay whatever rip off prices that the Doctor, or Oceania charges. And who is this Doctor? Where did he go to school? Was it in the U.S. Where is he from? We are stuck, good or bad and we do not know. At home we have a choice, not here.

If you are that concerned about the lack of choice in medical care on ship, your only choice is pretty much not to go on the ship.

Yes, you are stuck, of course you can manage your risk by having travel insurance. Which happens to be the same way you manage risk on medical issues when you are home in Boca Raton. When you walk into your Doctors office do you know what the Doctor is going to charge for the visit or just some idea of what your responsibility is going to be? You are pretty dependent upon your insurance to provide some degree of cost management, Just try going into any medical practice in the US and ask what they would charge for treatment without insurance.

The cruise line has competition, it is called other cruise lines and other vacation travel options. Don't like the limitations select another option.

The medical staff on a cruise ship has multiple responsibilities. In addition to treating the patient, they also have to protect the other passengers in case of contagious disease. That may mean over treating to reduce the odds of the infection spreading in the closed environment of a ship. They also need to determine when they cannot effectively handle a medical situation.

The medical department is not a charity. It runs as a cost/profit center, just as your local drug store, physician, hospital does. It does that without backup of quick delivery of drugs, the ability to tell patients to go to the emergency room at the hospital down the street, quick access to a trauma center, etc. The ship must pretty much be all of those things with the ability to provide emergency care for at least 48 hours in some cases. That does not come cheap.

From having a chat with a Doctor on a cruise ship. On most lines the medical staff does not work for the cruise line directly. They work for a firm that the cruise line contracts with. That firm sets the prices and handles the medical supplies inventory. That firm competes for the contract with the cruise line.

Be thankful that the medical staff also takes care of the crew and does a number of routine items for them (physicals, health checks, etc) which greatly reduces the cost they would have to charge if their only income was from passengers only.

Sue everybody.

Sue everybody.

This thread has REALLY deteriorated....Can we close it PLEASE ?

This thread has REALLY deteriorated....Can we close it PLEASE ?

Sounds like a real good idea. Seems to be nothing much left to say.

This thread has REALLY deteriorated....Can we close it PLEASE ?

Totally agree.

It's painful to watch some people embarrass themselves.

Yes, time to close and move on.