A crown I had put in 11 years ago began to ache over the last few days so I made the first appointment I could to see my dentist. An x-ray was called for, so the dentist positioned the x-ray emitter at my mouth. This time, though, instead of the usual bite wing he placed a bite wing with a cable on it in my mouth.
After snapping the x-ray, I turned to face the dentist and was surprised to see my x-ray was already displayed on the screen. Cool! No more waiting around for the x-ray to be developed. The dentist could view the problem immediately, too, which means he can put more patients in the chair each day.
It got me thinking that the day will soon come when health care is offshored like many other industries. Americans can shop for health care from places like India, Cuba, and other countries that offer top-notch health care but without the exorbitant prices Americans pay due to the screwed-up system we have now. Not everyone will have their own x-ray machine but one could go to the local strip mall and get one transmitted to their offshore doctor for analysis.
I’m not much a fan of shipping jobs overseas but it would be one way to drastically cut health care costs.