Blood tests and ultrasounds: Korea is becoming one of the world's global healthcare hubs

259 points by rdh2dmd a day ago on reddit | 11 comments

artbystorms | a day ago

America: A...for...da....bull? I have never heard of this word. Anyway! Here's your bill for your Ultrasound, that will be $700.....yes, that is after insurance. Have a great day!

Considering how ubiquitous blood tests and labs are in healthcare and how Quest and LabCorp centers seem pretty prolific around me, I am still regularly surprised how expensive they can be.

[OP] rdh2dmd | a day ago

In Korea, MRI + ultrasound + CT scan + blood work would cost you less than 400 dollars. And you can get it whenever you want it, less than an hour of visiting a major hospital

artbystorms | a day ago

Cool cool cool. I had to have all 4 of those things done on my thyroid over about a 5 month period, and with insurance, it cost me about $2000 total of my $3000 yearly deductible.....the rest was eaten up by the cost of surgery. That was all despite already paying $360 a month for insurance.

Why do people like America again? Is it the National Parks?

SmokePeterThiel | 15 hours ago

National parks which fucking scum republicans are destroying at record pace

Rude-Needleworker-56 | 13 hours ago

In Kerala India an MRI of spine costed 40 dollars for me last week. Ultrasound should be less than half of that

perestroika12 | 22 hours ago

Geriatric care is probably fire but wouldn’t want prenatal care. Experience and practical knowledge is very important in medicine.

Adding more text because of the minimum length rule. Truly the most annoying sub rule.

[OP] rdh2dmd | 22 hours ago

Korea's TFR has been rising 3 years and it now approximates Canada. It also has better IVF support than Canada. Also the more
obstetrics and gynecology clinics shut down, the more patients certain hospitals get

perestroika12 | 22 hours ago

As of 2025 South Korean tfr has rebounded to a healthy 0.87 which is nowhere close to Canada’s at 1.3. I have no idea why anyone would engage in obstetric medical tourism to a country that isn’t having kids. Medicine has a scale factor why risk it?

I’d hazard a guess that average doula in the US has seen more childbirths compared to a Korean Md.

[OP] rdh2dmd | 16 hours ago

As of April 2026, Korea is 0.945 and Canada is 1.2

Bodoblock | 16 hours ago

It's not like the structural forces behind not having children is because of poor obstetric care. Birth rates are low but it's also not like dealing with child birth is some ultra-rare occasion. Korean medical professionals deal with it plenty.