>21 December 2006, ABC News ::: YouTube video report on"Medical
Tourism"
Video interview with Jeff Schult, author of
Beauty From Afar, regarding pros and cons of Medical Tourism.
>16 October 2006, Personal YouTube video about Thai hospital
experience ::: "What's a Thai hospital really like?"
Personal video of US citizen's Medical Tourism
experience in Thai hospital.
A broken healthcare system... where do we go
from here?
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The State of the US Healthcare System
The US healthcare system is spiraling out of control and no one is fixing
the problem. Indeed, every year the problem gets worse. At DAL we are dedicated
to fixing many of the problems of this broken system, by linking the best
Physicians and Hospitals with patients seeking the best care, at affordable
prices.
One byproduct of the broken healthcare system is that it has left many physicians
and surgeons overworked and underpaid. While HMO’s and third party payors
are earning enormous profits, physicians and surgeons are left with the
losses. At DAL we address this issue by offering reimbursement to our network
of physicians, where the fees are respectful of their many years of training
and unselfish service to mankind.
Notwithstanding our efforts, the problem of providing high quality, cost
effective medical care for US citizens is complex. One possible answer is
Medical Travel. Unfortunately, many self serving parties within the failing
medical framework object to the idea of US citizens leaving the country
to obtain quality medical care at affordable rates. This, however, may be
just the proof needed to demonstrate that small companies like ours can
play a major role in the development of real answers and solutions to health
care failures around the world. Since DAL is not part of the existing self-serving
healthcare community, and does not support the status quo, and since we
are not part of any regulation-making department of the government that
also wants to keep things as they are instead of fixing the problem, we
are postured to make a real difference in the delivery of quality
care to millions worldwide.
Governors, Senators, and Representatives have the burden upon their shoulders
of solving this country’s healthcare failures. They alone can fix the “bigger
problem”, and it will likely take them years to do it. However, companies
like ours can offer solutions today to the millions of small self
insured businesses across the country, and to every citizen in need of healthcare…
by providing them with access to lower cost and often higher quality healthcare
than is presently available to them. Even if we can’t meet everyone’s needs,
we clearly are able to reach out to the community of the uninsured and the
underinsured and offer them tangible solutions, without creating a further
burden upon the State and Federal governments and legislatures that are
seeking a long term answer to healthcare delivery problems.
As for what the long term solution should be, from our perspective, the
answer to America’s healthcare crises is NOT socialized medicine. Every
nation that has implemented socialized medicine has sacrificed quality of
care in favor of universal availability. Our solution is different: we offer
quality care at affordable prices, on a truly universal
basis. Best of all, the price structure we envision will levy no tax
expense on the citizens of the United States, or any other nation.
Our solution is simple: build global networks of physicians–hospitals–patients
that are able to make use of the massive amounts of excess healthcare
capacity that currently go unutilized or underutilized around the world;
then buttress this network with IT and Web 2.0 Internet technologies to
tie these networks together so that patients can gain access to validated
health information, quality physicians and affordable healthcare. Once
that has happened, all that is needed is to enable cost effective medical
travel of a form that delivers the patient to the physician and facility.
Finally, cross-link these international networks with a network of highly
trained US Physicians so that the patient receives local as well as international
medical oversight, and you have an affordable, global, world class quality,
medical care delivery system.
Companies like ours can do this. In fact, as you read this, we are busily
building our global healthcare network. Via our global healthcare network,
we are already able to offer solutions to those who seek and want affordable
elective medical procedures. Just like those in need of quality emergency
care, they too have every legitimate right to avail themselves of lower
cost, higher quality global medical solutions. Those who are uninsured
or underinsured can also take advantage of our network, and we predict
that it will just be a matter of time before insurance companies join
our network so that we are able to offer global, insurance-covered healthcare.
It is clear that the infrastructure of health care in the US needs changing.
We are doing our part to change it. If you don’t think the need for solutions
is real, or think it can wait a few more years, then consider this statistic:
$99.2 Billion dollars a year is the direct and indirect medical
cost to the US economy from people who are medically overweight. Who in
the present healthcare system is doing anything about it other than talking
about it? Our answer: we are.
DAL International is a company with solutions. The DAL Network of Physicians
and Hospitals is a network that offers real solutions. The need for
solutions to today’s medical problems is a message that needs to be
told. We believe that there are hundreds, thousands and perhaps even
tens-of-millions of concerned citizens that would like to hear that
someone is finally doing something to legitimately solve the healthcare
problems that we face.
Thank you,
Dr. D.A. Leatherman, D.C.
Chairman and C.E.O.
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