Richard Baker Interviews

April 14th, 2009

Rick Baker was interviewed on the Dan Rather Reports television program. The focus of the segment was on the effectiveness of Canada’s socialized medicine system compared with the U.S. healthcare system. Rick Baker explained that Canadians are dying while languishing on long medical waitlists, according to the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada. He urged Americans not to adopt the Canadian system because, if the U.S. were to have waitlists similar to Canada’s, there would be nowhere nearby for Canadians to travel for urgently needed, sometimes lifesaving, surgery.

Richard Baker, founder of North American Surgery Inc. has been much in the news this year.  With healthcare being such a prominent subject in the various Presidential debates, the media has sought our insight into the issue. Mr. Baker has been interviewed by John Stossel on the ABC-TV program, “20/20”. He has also been interviewed on National Public Radio, by Jerry Agar on WABC-Newstalk radio, as well as by Anthony Vultaggio on KRLA Newstalk radio.In print, Mr. Baker’s company has been mentioned in an editorial in the Wall St. Journal.

North American Surgery was mentioned in an article in Smart Money magazine (November 2008 issue). In a paragraph headed “Who says you can’t haggle for healthcare?”, the magazine editors advise readers to “team up with an outfit such as North American Surgery – which pairs patients willing to pay up front, with small hospitals willing to give discounts – and you could save up to 80% on common procedures like bypass surgery!”

North American Surgery is featured in the January ’09 issue of Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine. The story of our client, a chiropractor from Oakland, CA is profiled.

North American Surgery was mentioned in an article on medical tourism published in the May 12th edition of U.S. News and World Report” The article states:

In a sign of market forces at work, a handful of American hospitals have struck deals with North American Surgery, a Canadian company formed last August to match U.S. hospitals in Kansas, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington that are willing to provide certain procedures inexpensively with American patients who need them. Only travel and lodging are extra. Hip or knee replacement or heart-bypass surgery is $14,000; weight-loss surgery is $10,000 or $15,000. The service is free; the company is paid by the hospitals.

“Agreeing to offer low prices is mostly what qualifies hospitals to make the list”, says Richard Baker, the entrepreneur behind North American Surgery. He says he also makes use of a web-based hospital rating system which rates most hospitals in the U.S. on their outcomes.

North American Surgery was featured in the most recent publication of “Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Travel”. We are the only facilitator in the book who refers patients strictly within North America. Every other organization in the book deals only with international medical care.