THE REAL STORY BEHIND LIMBAUGH’S PROMISE TO LEAVE COUNTRY
Read Time:2 Minute, 14 Second
The blubber filled blowhard whose opinions pass for political commentary, Rush Limbaugh, promised to leave America earlier this week if health care reform were to pass. He threatened to go to the country that has more socialized medicine than any other in the world. Read this story from Yahoo News:
Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said this week he’d go to Costa Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes proposed reforms to the US healthcare system.
That might sound like an unusual choice, since this is a country with one of the longest standing socialized healthcare systems on the planet. Everyone here (including resident foreigners), are required to pay into the government-run health system, whether they use it or not.
But Limbaugh’s choice may also serve to advertise what many Americans traveling here for medical treatment already know: Costa Rica is a fabulous place for medical tourism.
Life expectancy in this little Central American country surpasses that of the United States and at one point, back in the early 2000s when the World Health Organization rated countries’ general health, Costa Rica ranked higher (No. 36) than its northern neighbor (No. 37), despite spending 87 percent less on health care per capita.
Some who’ve studied Costa Rican health care consider it better overall, and attribute that to the fact that free coverage extends to 86.8 percent of the population.
But the Cadillac-style private hospitals at Chevy Aveo prices are what really draw 25,000 Americans to Costa Rica every year.
“People travel to Costa Rica (and) receive the same quality of medical services for a fraction of the cost,” said Jorge Cortés, president of the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine and medical director of Hospital Biblica, one of three internationally-accredited private hospitals in Costa Rica. “When people see they can get the same surgery for three or four times less, they decide to get medical care abroad.”
Lower labor costs and fewer malpractice suits keep the prices down here. In Costa Rica’s private system, a teeth-cleaning might run $40 and a general check-up costs $50.
A facelift averages $2,800 to $3,200 in Costa Rica, compared to $7,000 to $9,000 in the United States. A knee replacement may cost $11,000 in Costa Rica, but can be as much as $45,000 in the United States.
But there’s another arm of the country’s medical system – the public system – which is relied upon by a majority of the population. While celebrated by Costa Ricans for “universal access,” it’s often criticized for long wait times and delays in treatment.
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Rush did NOT say he would leave the country- but that’s how the lamestream media reported it.
If you read the Yahoo story, you will see that THEY reported it correctly.
Obviously you don’t listen to his show and take his comments totally out of context from the complete issue that was being discussed.
Doctors are leaving this country in droves to practice in Costa Rica. And if ObamaCare passes-more will follow. And less people will get into the medical field. And less medical testing and drugs will be created and prescribed.
When he had the heart attack scare in Hawaii, he was treated at at PRIVATE hospital and paid cash. He also got a 40% discount for doing it that way.
I love it how people listen to a 20 second sound bite and make such outlandish comments.
Practically every TV news commentator said this same thing over and over last week.
No wonder people believe it.
This blatent distortion and/or lying to their audience is the reason we’ve got what we’ve got in this administration- top down.
Rush has never kept a promise he made before, I hope he keeps this one.
Hey Rush, liposuction and and drugs are dirt cheap down there.
How can anyone with a modicum of sanity be named Rush?…only in America eh?..;-)
It’s not just a research department that he doesn’t have. He doesn’t have a Clue Department either.
He’s responsible, more than anyone, for the divisivness we suffer in this country.
I agree Shaw!
Rush evidently doesn’t have a research department.
I’ve always assumed that Will 🙂