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The terribly mis-named “medical tourism” market brings up contrasting images of sick, flower-shirted tourists, wandering into primative, third world hospitals for care. 

However, the high-tech of the overseas medical market now available for orthopedics and other fields often puts medical technology in North America or the UK to shame.  Need the best hip replacements available in the world? Well, you better get on a plane. This is because cautious and slow to adopt government agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and tight-fisted government programs, such as Medicare, drag their feet in approving new treatments and techniques for expensive, high-end procedures. The large national health plans in many countries such as Canada and the UK’s NHS can make things even worse. But, it’s not really their fault. Governments everywhere are struggling to control out of control budgets and spirling costs. However, in the U.S., high labor costs and high technology combine to drive prices into the health care stratasphere.  

Surprisingly, high-tech health care have arrived in force overseas. In many countries, western trained doctors apply the latest in medical technology, such as replacing aging knees with the latest composite materials and ”resurfacing” hips, (like your auto brakes, I guess) using cutting edge techniques not yet approved in the U.S.  In beautiful, modern facilities in Thailand to Turkey, doctors use newly developed tools for heart surgeries and organ transplants, often obtaining outcomes that exceed those of the finest American healthcare institutions.   

Quietly, this is becoming the most rapidly growing area in healthcare. Because of costs, quality and the suprisingly international nature of many healthcare institutions, it may be poised to become a healthcare tidal wave, as healthplans and retiree medical programs strain to cut costs for an aging population.  

How it works:

This entire area of medical “tourism” is one that requires a bit of getting used to and the information available on the Internet can be confusing at best. However, an extended conversation on this topic with an expert helped to bring things into focus for this author.  Basically, it works like this: 

You are sick, but ambulatory, and need expensive care that will cost you at least $6000.   You call an agent or agents and request bids on your medical treatment. The agents all respond with bids, employing a list (or lists) of medical facilities that they have access to, around the world.  You are provided with information on hospitals, quality, doctor training, outcomes and lots of other data. Since you are paying this out of pocket, usually, these agents and the facilities they represent want your business and compete based on medical and service quality.  Travel arrangements and lodging costs for yourself (before and after your care) and a companion are often included in the package price.  Even with travel included, the cost for treatment can be up to 1/3 that of care in the the hyper-expensive U.S market. 

I had one of these medical agents instruct me on this globetrotting, or umm, hobbling, approach to cheap, but high quality healthcare. 

I am told that the technology available varies dramatically based upon the medical facility. Often, particular countries stand out for certain procedures.  The quality is often driven by procedures developed by particular world-class physicians and surgical teams at particular hospitals. These doctors and their teams have developed new techniques and may have earned a planet-wide following of doctors, researchers and now, patients, based upon trusted results which are carefully measured and reported by highly reputable, international healthcare quality organizations.  

I’m told by the agent that the Netherlands has wonderful knees and hips, whereas Mexico is lovely for extensive dental work. Certain facilities in India and Turkey can’t be beat for heart surgury and some hospitals there are world leaders in organ transplants. I am reminded you must bring your donor with you. (Though, I suppose it is optional that you tell them they are the donor before you leave). 

In any case, you medical agent is both your healthcare co-ordinator and travel agent, taking care of all the details, from the moment you and your escort arrive at the airport, through post-op recovery, to the moment you leave for the airport. 

Most folks tap into this service when they don’t have insurance. However, more self-insured employers in the U.S. are experimenting with offering this type of option. TechGhy thinks this means that we could see insurance plans offering this as part of an insurance plan in the near future. If such a plan was competitively priced, this could have a fast and dramatic impact upon the market, especially in overseas medical.

After all, if you were a retiree, wouldn’t you appreciate a “free” trip and other financial incentives to receive superior, technologically superior care overseas?  Now, if you were a retiree plan trustee with a diminishing pile of reserves to cover your members, the answer looks like a win-win option. Overseas care is the preferred option for those who need to stretch both their healthcare quality and their dollars. 

For more information on overseas care, contact a quality agent. World Med Assist, http://www.worldmedassist.com/ is run by fine, detail-oriented and reputable people and provided some of the information for this article. 

John Ghysels