Luxury Hospital Suites For The Rich 

@morganbath You go private?! I had a stroke and was rushed to emergency. They fixed me up perfectly (considering they tought I was a goner due to the damage...). How can you go private on emergencies here in Norway?

Some Americans now get surgery in places like Thailand where being pampered like this is possible for tens of thousands of dollars. I read that getting a hip replacement there is around 40K, half of what it is in the USA plus you get your own suite, gourmet food and 2 doctors monitoring you.

I don't give a fuck how much money you are, everybody should be treated the same way.

Ironically, an ad for a Carribean vacation came on this video...

i work in a hospital, and while i see why most people would be upset like this, i think it could potentially be a good thing. if you have these suites for insanely wealthy people, then you can charge them insane amounts of money for it. then you can use that money to offset spending cuts, reduce the price of medical care for average people, hire more workers, give raises, etc. so i say they should charge rich people as much as possible in order to help out the non-rich people.

I went to the hospital and demanded a butler because I switched to straight talk and now have the - "demand anything and be an asshole because I am rich" - effect

All the new maternity rooms in the hospitals here in Canada all have there own private wash rooms, with large soaker tubs. There's beds for the fathers, lots of seating for family, TV. Nursing staff at your whim 24 hrs a day, decent food(it is a hospital....lol) and we don't have to pay a thing. We pay our basic MSP bill every pay day, which is about $30.00 for a single person over 18. I can't imagine living without our health care system.

You know what's funny? Ana mentions at the beginning where she mentions that she considers these people clients... in the medical field, people aren't called patients, they're called clients.

whats wrong with sharing rooms?

@Xenda Totally get what you're saying, the only issue I'd have is that it diverts unnecessary floor space that could have been used for beds for the "normal" people that are queuing downstairs.

Top floor of a hospital is usually reserved for those not "worth" saving in case of a fire. Sounds about right in this case.

@MaxFlared I have to admit, being a person who has no insurance of any kind, I have found that the less expensive Doctors, usually general practitioners, are a lot more.. reliable when it comes to actually HELPING me with my problems, rather than putting me on new meds and basically using me as a guinea pig, which is what happened when I went to expensive Dr.'s back when I did have insurance. Hadn't really thought about it before, hrm..

this is not just in the u.s. ppl many countries are doing this this whole world is about money and the healthcare field is not excluded

Uhm, most hospitals already have facilities like this. I'm a physician, every hospital I've worked in has luxury accommodations for private patients willing to pay.

My mom got a fancy suite after her surgery. Didn't make surgery any better for her. Turns out you really don't care about fancy shit when you're in pain. Shocker.

In Australia public hospitals have 4 people per room, large rooms mind you with curtain sheet privacy when needed. its not that bad because nurses can observe 4 ppl at once and can see more patients.

No money to hire more doctors and nurses, but money for luxurious hospital suites? LOGIC!

Does anyone else remember the good ole days when Ana used to wear that shirt without an undershirt.

What happens if there is no room for an influx of new patients because someone is taking up 2+ rooms worth of space for their precious amenities? A hospitial is not the space for this type of thing.

Guess my future as architect is gonna try to swindle the rich Lmao, 'you need this chair jay_z 5000 plx "

The ratios of RN to patient is also significantly increased in private suites, often a minimum of 2 RN's per a shift per patient. Meanwhile the rest of the hospital patients are lucky to have 1 nurse to every 5 patients. This is with the California law, so the rest of the US is significantly higher.

What's the problem with 2 people in a room? Most hospitals I've ever been in had plenty of rooms for 2 or more people and a slight minority of single rooms.

I don't understand why the hospitals spend money on luxury suits when that same money could have gone into the health care and saved more people.

Hmmm. Similar to the relatively recent innovation of luxury boxes in sports stadiums. You have to be pampered at a baseball game?

Pause at 0:53, then put on subtitles. Does it say it say, "Isn't enough to eat a Bulter" ??? O_o

@602goliath What happens when the hospital reaches capacity and can't take more patients while 1 rich guy is taking up an entire floor? Do you think that's in the interest of the public health?

@crocfme.... But patients in America don't have to wait a year to get a heart surgery. There have been many cases where the patient dies due to the long waiting lists in surgeries or transplants in Canada.

what happens when you get a crazy old rich person that has dementia yelling that the nurse is attacking them, the butler knows thats not the case, but hes there at the pleasure of the dementia patient. What to do what to do?

Yes! My hospital food will be prepared by chef Ramsay!

In England we have to share hospital rooms all the fucking time.

I think this is great. Do whatever you want. Buy whatever you want.

if you hate waiting in er heres a tip - find a hospital close by but in a smaller town. where i am its a 3 hour wait for anything not immediately life threatenting. theres a hospital i can drive to 40 minutes away in a small village and get seen immediately. its worth the gas.

yeah this stuff pisses me off. It's like being shoved into a 5 seat row in coach for a 15 hour flight, and then on the magazine you see first class has freaking BED CHAIRS with a personal tv and sheets and pillows and all the food and booze they want.

I live in Germany and many of the rooms I've seen are like six person rooms, but guess what? They take care of the patients. If there is an actual health risk of contagion from a patient, then they're not going to put them in a room with other people. You guys just sound spoiled. You're not there to live it up, you're there to get better.

@Teremei It is not bullshit. I live in Canada and there have been articles in which this has been clearly stated. They are running out of specialist doctors as well. Some 1 million plus cities have only a couple of dermatologists.

I am going to be honest, if you have the money then you can flaunt it. As long as the suite and the amenities are not free or insanely cheap for them then they can make their room into a fucking satin pillow fort with the butler.

If you have money to spend luxury suits while you're in the hospital, a Cenk would say, "have at it hoss".

Don't blame private hospitals for having this luxury offer, if people want to waste ridiculous amounts of money on this, what's the problem? Rather, blame the US government for not having a sane public healthcare program like the rest of the fucking world. Yes, you sometimes have to share rooms with other people in hospitals (in any country) if there are lots of patients, but of course, they don't put contagious people in rooms with others, if they do, leave a formal complaint on the nurses!!

Not surprising, when the middle class is disappearing, and the gap between rich and poor gets bigger, how could this surprise you?

it's already happening here in the philippines!

Dont you have hospital wards in America? We have six to a ward in most UK hospitals.

I see a problem with this and it is when common ppl cant even get the basic care covered, then things as this create a Marie Antoinette atmosphere and it can be dangerous for a country's stability

Sounds like the "private healthcare = maximum efficiency" argument just died. Measured in health per dollar these luxury hospitals totally suck.

@morganbath So.... how do I immigrate?　：Ｐ

If rich people want to spend their money on this, then more power to them. The hospitals can use this money to improve their facilities/patient care.

I'm most worried about the same thing as Ben said at the end. I was just about to say that. I mean, if the hospitals start favouring the rich clients over the others.

This scenario reminds me of an episode of Star Trek Voyager, "Critical Care" where the doc gets kidnapped by a hospital station facility where he's only allowed to give higher priority treatment of people of higher-class.

You fault those who are diverting resources from the majority. Hospitals and health aren't a luxury, they are a necessity and a right.

@TurboDally The point is the hospitals are generating more money by renting the rooms to the rich than what the hospitals spend on making the room. As long as the hospital uses the revenue to improve patient care and medical technology I don't have a problem with it.

I am not cool with how we are definitely moving towards a clearly divided, two-tier society.

I'm surprised they didn't just set it up at home

Eh, if people are willing to pay for the rooms, no big deal, but the hospital's main concern should be taking care of ALL their patients first and foremost. So long as the hospital can use the money they earn from these suites to provide better care and treatments for all patients, regardless of their financial status, not a problem. And, of course, we won't really know that unless these hospitals release their financial documents.

I understand that hospitals are created with government money, but don't they turn a profit after that? I mean, medical cost are HUGE. At some point, I would think that a hospital pays for itself.

I just think they should have a doctor come to them. Every room in a hospital should be used to treat the greatest amount of people possible. I don't care if they want to be pampered but other sick people should not be compromised.

Australia has the best healthcare ever. Everyone move here and work for me.

@morganbath thank you. i has been in the hospital 2 times one for surgery and the other one i was there 3 months becuse of a blood cloth in the brain

Okay I don't mind people being rich, showing it off etc. What I do mind is that they are taking up a space in the hospital which only the rich can afford.

Rich people.....they can never have enough.

@fightforyourrights9 I went to the hospital and demanded a butler because I switched to straight talk and now have the - "demand anything and be an asshole because I am rich" - effect

Tax the rich 91% Tax the rich inheritance 91%

Its all about the money. You pay, you get a suite, you don't you have to share a room. I guess it doesn't matter if your a retired vet or a homeless man, money can buy you pretty much everything nowadays.

To attempt a devil's advocate: Could a move like this raise more money for the facility itself? On another note: Could it be a sanctuary for high-profile patients to avoid paparazzi intrusion?

in Hong Kong, the celebrities have this problem all the time worryin about leaked images to the media. A lot of shady media they pay the maids to go in to pretend to see them and care for them to take photos and sale it to them. Like for example like Indonesian or Philippine maids do this often for extra cash.

Ben is like the 4th wise man !!!

@mre2pac they did and 9 months later, they made it hell for other mothers in a hospital to see their own babies

Ana. You and Ben must be wrong, saying that New York City and Los Angeles are instituting these luxury hospital suits. As NYC & L.A. are two of the most liberal cities in America, this couldn't be true, could it?

1408, remember that movie?

@ChameleonLost88 We do not have luxury hospital rooms in NHS hospitals so my point remains correct. Maybe u mean in private hospitals but the point is if you need to care you get into the NHS regardless of what you earn.

Why don't these rich people just stay home and make doctors come to them. Then this isn't a disparaging controversy.

@GoogleVideoMan then whats the point in working hard to earn more money if you will just give it away?

Ben's "1408" reference fit so well with the flow of what he was saying about the Saudi king renting the 14th floor of the hospital, I didn't even notice it until I read the comments. And even then I thought "What, did he actually say 14 08?!" and rewatched that part just to be sure. And that's another reason why I can't hate Ben. Yes, he acts like a jerk sometimes, but then we get stuff like this, or well-done political commentary, or his Glenn Beck parody...

Maybe the point is, that space/equipment is limited in a hospital, and if a few people hire whole wings for themselves, what happens when there's people needing urgent treatment, when the rooms are taken by butlers and body guards? Take them somewhere else.. which has done the same... on to somewhere else.. oh... they're dead. Never mind, they were poor schmucks, so no loss..

@bemaniac2 Actually that's not true at all. England does have luxury hospital rooms also, even caviar is on the menu in some of them in the U.K. I'm not trying to hate on you or anything, but just do a little research before you spread misinformation.

this is why they do not want universal coverage.. they would have to give up all this luxury while the uninsured die w/o coverage.. they want it all and give nothing in return

I wouldn't even go to hospital. People die in hospitals all the time.

I somewhat resent the comparison ana makes between nurses and butlers... The 2 are not even mildly analogous.

The real outrage? "What do you mean, Medicare doesn't cover that?!" -_-

As long as the poorer patients aren't negatively affected by this then I say let them have it. Who cares?

wtf y would you ever stay in room 1408

After I watched this video I listened to working class hero by john Lennon.

If there is a fire, they'll be on the top floor. I hope there will be enough firemen to put it out?

Listen, when the whole media infrastructure is broken and dated, dont expect people to keep the same habits like renting a movie or buying a newspaper just because the "providers" dont want to change the system. Movies for example, netflix, hulu etc have no support for Europe, never had. If i want to see a recent movie i can go to the cinema for 9-12 euro inside a short timeframe or wait for 3-4 month until its on dvd and pay 20. Thats mental.

And...? Hasn't it always been like this in America? It's kinda what you'd expect from a pay-or-die, for-profit health care system. The rich like to be pampered and they can afford it so why wouldn't the hospital accommodate their needs? How is this even a story?

once we cut the budget of the educational programs and the hospital, these programs will become the dogs of the riches.

you must SHARE a hospital room sometimes?! Dammmn, you poor, poor guy. Will you be able to cope with the stress?

Ana's keeping it real.

Duh, why would you want to share a room with some gross person eating processed food.

If they are renting these rooms out, perhaps they are profiting off of them to help others.

Shoulda used that money for the patients themselves this world is fucked

No matter who you are in the end you perish.

@bemaniac2 look up "nhs hopsital is putting patients up in five-star hotel rooms" and that info is from U.K. sources. With content like "THE cash-strapped NHS is putting up patients in £265-a- night five-star hotel rooms". So the people that can afford it in England get that treatment just like rich people do in the U.S. Btw, you can get into American hospitals regardless of what you earn also.

@iversonmatthew I'm not jealous at all tbh, what I do care about though is other things, basically just providing for people's basic necessities, transportation, a home etc. That should be all provided to everyone before we allow people to have these luxurious suites.

this is just the start, the natural progress of this is that they get the best doctors. and then they'll move other patients down the operation schedule so that the rich ones can get operated on earlier. and then organs will be more likely to go to the rich people. yup, this will cost lives of less wealthy people, eventually

@jwdesign336 I'm pretty sure that's the whole point of these luxury suites.

Ana, even if government money was being used for these suites nothing would happen because the rich people who use the suites run the government.

They don't hate the rich,, they are just pointing out the huge disparity between the rich and the poor in this country. They usually point out the fact that there def. are times when the rich do take advantage of the people in office that they have friendships with, the extremely wealthy or the people in office themselves are extremely wealthy. That is the main reason that they speak out against it. I think that this is just a small part of what is continually going on in this country.

Birthing suites in many hospitals in Toronto look amazing...and accessible to all... America...your country is becoming a 2 tier cease pool....

Surely the hospital could've found a better way to use their funding money.

@brionnakennedy Watch the video again, they were not begrudging them their luxuries.

Lucrative? ...Are rich people turning down going to the hospital, due to "peasant-like" rooms?