Tuesday 10 April 2012

Differences between the Danish and the US healthcare system/practice

After a round of crossfit Monday morning I got a crick in my neck and couldn’t move my head properly without it hurting a lot. That same evening I got a 30 min massage and the massage therapist suggested that I went to a chiropractor to get it fixed. So I did that the following day. As I saw a chiropractor in Denmark about half a year ago, this gave me an opportunity to compare the two treatments. (Laura will love this!)

The basic treatment/procedure was the same; they spent 3-5 min on the actual diagnostics and then max 2-3 min on the actual treatment. However there were a few differences:

1)  Time:     In DK I was out the door and had paid in 15 min. In US it took 1 hour and 20 min

2)  Price:     DK: 284DKK, US: 620DKK (after 30% discount, because I told them that I would pay myself and that I was not insured (wtf!?))

So how come it took one hour and 20 min? Here’s my estimate of how the time was spent:

Minutes
Activity
5
Waiting
10
Intro from assistant to the clinic and tour of the facility (?!) + stories on how chiropractic had help her
5
Watching a video on what chiropractic is
5
Waiting
5
Dialogue with the chiropractor about my health condition and neck problem
5
Change to robe and wait for chiropractor to return
5
Actual diagnostics
5
Heat scan of back/spine, confirming what he had just found out
5
Waiting for the assistant to apply ultra sound (pain relief)
10
Assistant applying ultrasound to my neck
5
Waiting for the chiropractor
5
Treatment
5
Getting dressed and chatting with the chiropractor
5
Receptionist booking new time and not knowing how to add two numbers on a calculator (!?)
Total
80

For my visit in Denmark the chiropractor was alone and his booking slots were 15 min. also he took care of payments as well as the booking himself.  In the US there were 2 receptionists to do that (servicing five or so chiropractor, so maybe that’s ok).  I fully appreciate the good service and the very broad range of services that the US clinic offered, but not I have a better understanding of why the US system is so expensive... the insurance companies are paying...

From the nice video they made me watch 



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