John Freeman is a good friend. We have been friends since we were in Cub Scouts about 150 years ago. Long stretches of time have passed between contacts but, we still have remained good friends.
Today John is listening to Obama's speech to the Middle East from an interesting perspective. He is in the Middle East recuperating from a complicated heart surgery in a hospital room in Istanbul, Turkey.
He had the surgury last week on Memorial Day. The procedure repaired a funky heart valve and uncloged a "critically" clogged artery. John was not over confident about surviving the operation but, it now appears that he is recovering well in Istanbul.
I know for a fact that John likes to travel but, that is not why he went to Turkey for heart surgery. He went there because the healthcare system in the United States was not up to the task. Sure, the same procedure was available here but, the price for an uninsured US citizen(approximately $124,000) could not compete with the Turkish rate of $18,000. His choices were to have the procedure here and face financial ruin or travel alone to Turkey and protect his net worth. Of course, he had a third option which was to die.
John's internationally-respected surgeon was trained at Johns Hopkins Medical School. John thought the entire medical team around him was high quality. The overall care that John recieved sounded more customer-focused than the care I have occasionlly experienced in hospitals in the USA.
As Obama speaks to the people of the Muslim world he probably won't mention healthcare. He is not likely to talk about "medical tourism" or how it could play a part in improving relationships between Middle East and West while helping solve our burgeoning healthcare crisis. Too bad. After John's trip I am going to remember the Turkish altenative if I ever need it.
