Medical Tourism Saves Money and More Insurance Carriers are Approving It

If you don't yet know what medical tourism is, you will shortly. As the cost of healthcare in the U.S. continues to skyrocket, more and more people are traveling overseas to get medical treatment. Why? Because it saves a boatload of money. For example:

A hip replacement stateside can run between $44,000 and $63,000, versus about $12,000 to $18,000 abroad, even with travel and hotel costs included. Prices vary depending on your destination and the type of surgery, but it isn't unusual to save as much as 80%.

Until recently, medical tourism has been really just an option for those people paying their own medical costs. After all, what does it matter to you if your insurance is footing the bill? But if you're forking over the cash, it's obviously a lot better to spend $18,000 than it is to pay $63,000.

But there is change in the air and more and more insurance companies are covering overseas medical care:

Health-insurance companies have been slow to accept the idea of medical tourism, but several now allow their members to travel outside the U.S. to receive care.

More insurers may cover overseas care in the future, says Greg Scandlen, president of Consumers for Health Care Choices.

But what's in it for the patient? Maybe the insurance company says "If you travel, we'll cover it. If you won't, you're on your own." Who knows?

Just wait -- before too long some insurers will only have doctors in Thailand and India listed as "in network" doctors. :-)

For more on medical tourism, see these links:

• Why Go Abroad for Medical Care Reason #1: Cost Savings

• Why Go Abroad for Medical Care Reason #2: Better Quality Care

• Medical Tourism Can Save You Thousands of Dollars

Comments

[Susan]

Is this trend getting the attention of the medical/pharmaceutical community in the U.S. or do they even care?

[Medical Tourism]

You can't really blame the healthcare industry alone. I was only a matter of time before even healthcare would get outsourced. The cost savings are huge with some critical treatments like bypass surgery, bone marrow transplants running almost 1/5th or 1/10th of the cost in the US.

Moreover, US trained or rather internationally trained doctors just reassure medical tourists of the quality of healthcare they will be recieving.

The South East Asian countries are doing their best to vie for a big slice of the medical tourism industry running into billions of $s with no specific dominant player.

[JustBeth]

My mom's friend had hip replacement surgery months ago (maybe a year), and has felt pain for a long time. She recently went back in, and they discovered the artificial hip never bonded with the bone properly, and had more surgery done. If she had had the surgery overseas, I wonder how much more annoying the process would have been. (This lady is high-maintainence anyway, so I can't imagine the production she would have made it if the surgery had been overseas!)