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.
No comments:
Post a Comment