Grab your duffle bag and get out your list.
[img]657|left|||no_popup[/img]Camera? Check.
Sunscreen? Check.
X-rays? Check.
There’s a new kind of tourist.
They’re not looking for the best beaches or hotel deals. Instead, they’re off in search of affordable medical care.
It’s no longer a shady south-of-the-border business. Medical tourism has become a full-blown multi-billion dollar global enterprise.
Doctors and hospitals from Brazil to Botswana are competing for American patients.
Doesn’t Sound Like a Fad
Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry. A quick search of the internet reveals hundreds of travel agencies that not only will book their clients’ hotels, but schedule their pre-op and post-op care.
Traveling abroad for medical care has become so big, that it has its own organization, known as the Medical Tourism Assn., MTA. In October, the MTA is hosting its second annual conference in Los Angeles.
Conference organizers are expecting medical specialists, hospital representatives and insurers from nearly 100 countries. Eight hundred and fifty participants from 43 countries attended last year’s conference.
The MTA gathering included representatives from nearly 400 international hospitals. This year, with the cost of healthcare on the rise, the MTA is anticipating three times as many attendees and exhibitors.
More health insurance companies, employers, claims payors, and health insurance agents are looking at medical tourism as the creative solution to the healthcare crisis. A recent report on medical tourism found that by 2017, over 16 million Americans could be traveling overseas for medical care.
The concept of medical tourism is not a new one.
[img]658|left|||no_popup[/img]The first recorded instance of medical tourism dates back thousands of years to when Greek pilgrims traveled from all over the Mediterranean to the small territory in the Saronic Gulf called Epidauria. In 18th century England, patients visited spas for its supposedly health-giving mineral waters, treating diseases from gout to liver disorders and bronchitis.
Americans have long traveled to Mexico for cheap dental care. Now for about $1,000 and the price of a plane ticket, you can get two dental implants in Buenos Aires. A similar procedure in the U.S. may cost about $6,000.
Not surprisingly, Brazil long has been known as a destination for plastic surgery. Instead of paying Beverly Hills prices, you can get a Copacabana body at a São Paulo discount.
Circumventing High Costs in U.S.
U.S. patients routinely cross the border into Canada where they can save 30 to 60 percent on their healthcare costs. Because of its universal healthcare, Cuba has been a popular medical destination for 40 years. After the release of documentarian Michael Moore’s 2007 film “Sicko,” Americans began clamoring to rub shoulders and share a hospital ward with Fidel.
Israel, with its global reputation for high quality innovative medical care, has seen its influx of healthcare tourists triple. Israel’s neighbor Jordan is emerging as a medical tourism destination, reporting related revenues of nearly $1 billion in 2007.
Although former British colonies Hong Kong and Singapore have always attracted regional patients, it should come as no revelation that China is competing to capture medical dollars for treatments ranging from cardiology and neurology to orthopedics and immunology.
Some self-insured U.S. employers have discovered that they can achieve huge healthcare savings by sending their employees abroad for surgeries that would costs hundreds of thousands at home. Blue Ridge Paper in North Carolina has cut a healthcare deal for its employees with Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, India. Even with a luxury travel package, the company enjoys an enormous healthcare savings.
Medical tourism is not a one-way street.
For years, foreigners have traveled to the U.S. for medical care that may otherwise be unavailable in their own countries. The reputation of highly trained U.S. doctors has always been a draw for foreign patients.
Each year, Japanese patients fill U.S. hospital transplant units where they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain a critical procedure that is rarely performed at home. Unlike the U.S., the Japanese do not have a broad-based organ donation network. Consequently, Japanese transplant patients often travel abroad in search of a new heart or liver.
Healthcare tourism in South Florida has been a boon for local hospitals. Miami area clinics have hired public relations firms to tout their services. Affluent citizens of tiny Caribbean nations like Curacao can purchase special insurance policies that will allow them to receive coverage for care they receive in the U.S.
Dozens of prominent American hospitals, from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, have entered into cross-certification programs with their foreign counterparts. Because foreign patients pay hard cash and aren’t looking for deals, the competition for these clients has been stiff.
One of the biggest issues for medical tourists has been the assurance that the medical care they receive outside the U.S. is safe and that procedures are performed by certified specialists. For a biannual fee of $2,500, participating members of the Medical Tourist Assn. are referred to the network of doctors and facilities certified by the MTA.
As the debate over healthcare in U.S. heats up, thousands of Americans are looking for answers. More often, those solutions are being found on foreign soil.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group, based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
