Irish tot undergoes life changing surgery in Boston

Well is good to know this isn't being paid for by the US taxpayer.

I'm glad she has a shot. For those worried about costs a previous article stated; "Luckily both the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Madden’s private health insurer have agreed to foot the bill for the procedure, but the cost of living and travel expenses still need to be covered"

whatIsinAname, Good points. I wouldn't be surprised if that Irish tot is getting that care free in Boston. When my daughter was injured in an accident, our health insurance refused to pay. The doctor that patched her up disappeared and we never saw him again. We did see that she got the physical therapy she needed, but my husband acted as personal nurse for months: dressing her wounds, picking her up and putting her on the toilet.

USA does have the "best" emergency care healthcare in my opinion. From gunshot wounds to rare illnesses. However, once they put you back together and back on the street you are screwed. You are basically on your own and unless you are a famous congresswoman who has been tragically shot with the "spare no expense" government healthcare coverage. Anyone else in that situation would have been stuck in their home state (not moved to Texas) and the physical rehabilitation would have been limited to a number of visits not unlimited as in her case. I am happy she got it but by no means is it representative of the working class healthcare private system we have.

Here is my opinion on the subject. Any small country with whatever type of medicine (private or public) with one or two cases a year is likely not going to be best served to have the specialist doctors catering to that condition. Why would they? In the case of the Colombian in Spain most Euro countries are clamping down on health services for those who are not part of or not been part of the system of that country. It is getting more and more difficult to get non emergency care in Euro countries unless you are a legal resident and even in that case more and more hurdles are being put in the way. Take France, probably the best "big" health care system in Europe as far as care and caring about people health and life expectancy, they have begun limiting benefits received for other Euro country retirees in an effort to stem costs. They still spend much less than we do in the USA and in the USA our life expectancy is way down to 38 or so on the list of countries. Where does all that money go? Goes into the pocket of pharmacy, equipment makers, over priced doctors who wont spend anytime with you and insurance companies, everyone of which has multi million-dollar executives.

Fran, Socialized medicine works best for inexpensive serices.In Spain I met a Columbian who had been deported from the US because he was there illegally. His wife and children had been permitted to stay because a child had cystic fibrosis and needed expensive, constant medical treatment which BTW way provided through NY social services free. I asked him why he didn't bring her to Spain, since the EU would provide the care free. He didn't believe it would be of the same quality.

Best of luck to Elie. One question - if socialized medicine is so great, why do I keep hearing about Irish kids coming to America for life saving treatments?