Tale of Two Cities, Healthcare

[parrot]

We were marooned in Texas for 13 months for Covid. During that time, I had a small problem with one of my eyes and made an appointment with an eye doctor. Nothing to do with covid....the big-city-Texas wait time was 2 weeks. The doctor spent about 30 minutes taking digital photos of my eye and explaining the problem and prescribed some eyedrops. The doctor's fee was $212 along with another $62 for digital photography of the eye. My tiny container of eyedrops cost $243. (All except $37 was covered by Medicare/Tricare).
The same problem in late April. Yesterday I decided to walk into Bangkok Hospital to have the eye looked at. I waited about 20 minutes. Before I saw the doctor, a nurse took my BP/weight and gave me a short eye test (not done in Texas). I spent about 25 minutes with the doctor who took multiple digital photos of the eye and explained the problem and suggested ways to deal with it. She prescribed some eyedrops and eye ointment. The bill: 400 for the doctor, 200 for hospital service charge, 715 for the ointment, and 156 for the eyedrops. In the US, the same Novartis ointment goes for $115-215 for 3.5g. The Bausch&Lomb eye drops $280-320 for 5ml. Total Bangkok Hospital bill 1488.