Veterinary medicine is where the money is at. Fee for service (no BS with heath plan reimbursement contracting or CMS), predominantly self-pay customers, and an increasing population of childless pet owners that become quickly attached to and lavish huge amounts of affection on their pets.
On another note, the Cleveland Clinic and top health care institutions in this country have programs for foreign VIP patients that include accommodations for family members at in-house or affiliated hotels, as well as other valet and hospitality services. It's an increasingly lucrative business model for these health care institutions given these patients (self-pay) are wealthy enough to afford health care anywhere in the world, and they still prefer to come to the US for their treatment.
Sure the new health care facilities they are building in Singapore, Thailand, and other places across the world look beautiful. They are wired and supplied with all the latest and greatest equipment, not to mention they are charging dirt cheap rates for services (enticing some US corporations to provide incentives in benefit plans to encourage their employees to seek care outside the US). Really though, how qualified is the staff and how good is the care?
In other countries health care is viewed as a social service (although some countries also have a hybrid model that includes a privatized element). Not here though, and that is representative of how our country and economy has evolved. Health care is just another business model and health plans are not committed to the community at large, but rather on shareholder value.
