[liamconnell]

I lived in Argentina for a few years. There are plenty of problems with their public healthcare system that pretty much mirror any country with a troubled economy, but one day a work colleague recommended I visit the Favoloro Institute. I’ve never seen such an impressive healthcare organization in my life.

They time their appointments ever 2 minutes so you’re expected to arrive early. Once you start, they wiz you around to about a dozen tests including getting hooked up to electrodes while running on a treadmill. After less than an hour you see a doctor who goes through everything for about 15 very detailed and thoughtful minutes.

The entire thing is FREE! Completely publicly funded.

I don’t know much about healthcare but this type of thing always struck me as a missing apparatus of healthcare in the US. Although apparently Favoloro (who invented some kind of bypass surgery) founded the Institute after being inspired by the Cleveland Clinic.

Would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this because I tell that story all the time!

[culiao]

Interesting. I too lived abroad in argentina for a few years... the healthcare there is actually pretty impressive. I had my tonsils removed, I had a crown put on my molar, dermatolgist appointments, etc. Even a podatrist and custom orthotics... From now on... anything major - I am flying back to get things done.

USA healthcare system burns me out.

[gochi]

That sounds like what private clinics offer around here, certainly not for free, but they tend to perform an onslaught of tests.

I don't know how effective it is, and how much of it is theater.

[Scoundreller]

> I don't know how effective it is, and how much of it is theater.

They may not know either.

Most of our research is studying how well treatments work on "patients that came in with _____ symptoms and we found test X Y and Z was outside of the normal range".

Does that mean you should use the same treatments when you have X Y and Z out of range but without symptoms? We often don't know.

[phil21]

> after being inspired by the Cleveland Clinic.

Interesting. I was considering commenting that your experience sounds a lot like the VIP (using the term loosely here, it's much more accessible than "multi-millionaire") care available at the Mayo Clinic. You can accomplish in a day or two what would typically take months to years in many areas of the US, including mine.

[midoridensha]

This sounds much like the annual health check-ups that are done here in Japan. They're paid for by your employer, and involve a battery of tests on many things: blood work, stool/urine samples, chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, hearing and eye checks, etc.