• Center on Health Equity and Access
  • Clinical
  • Health Care Cost
  • Health Care Delivery
  • Insurance
  • Policy
  • Technology
  • Value-Based Care

In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S.

Article

Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition.

WARSAW, Ind. — Michael Shopenn’s artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing. But he had to fly to Europe to have it installed.

Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition.

Desperate to find an affordable solution, he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country.

Read the full story: http://nyti.ms/15Hztdl

Source: The NY Times

Related Videos
Bevey Miner, executive vice president of health care strategy and policy, Consensus Cloud Solutions
dr kimberly maxfield
Amal Trivedi, MD
Ted Okon, MBA, Community Oncology Alliance
Lalan Wilfongd, MD, US Oncology Network
Allister Chang, co-founder, Fabric Health
Mike Koroscik, MBA, MHA, vice president of oncology, Allina Health and the Allina Health Cancer Institute
Margaret Liang, MD, MSHPM, gynecologic oncologist and health services researcher, program director for the gynecologic oncology fellowship program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center
Kathy Oubre, MS, CEO, Pontchartrain Cancer Center
Jennifer Sturgill, DO, Central Ohio Primary Care
Related Content
© 2023 MJH Life Sciences
AJMC®
All rights reserved.