If you spend enough time in Arizona, sooner or later you or your traveling partner will need medical attention for something. Especially as you get older.
Our travel medical coverage requires we contact them before seeking treatment. Here's why - "Medicare released data for charges and payments for the 100 most common inpatient procedures in 2011, revealing a dramatic variance among hospitals in metro Phoenix and across Arizona." You can read more about it here.
Consider this: For the most common procedure in Arizona hospitals, joint or lower-limb replacement, the average charge was $108,200 at Payson Regional Medical Center compared with $30,259 at Tucson Medical Center or $15,527 at Tuba City Regional Health Care. Follow the link above for more details.
Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City was the most
expensive place for digestive disorders with an average bill of $48,374,
more than 10 times the average bill of $4,586 at Fort Defiance Indian
Hospital.
Little wonder travel insurance companies want input. When my sister broke her wrist in Mesa after falling from her bike, her travel insurance company recommended she catch the next flight home to Calgary. She did, and her wrist was successfully repaired at home saving thousands of dollars. If the travel insurance companies were not diligent in this regard, none of us could afford the premiums.
