Health Tourism News

Earlier, wealthy citizens of developing countries used to visit developed countries like U.S and Europe to gain access to advanced medical care.  Of late, the ‘Medical Tourism’ wave seems to have reversed this trend.  It is now the Western patient’s turn to travel offshore for First-World healthcare at Third-world prices.
It all began about a decade ago, when patients in need of quality healthcare started looking at viable options for medical care in ‘Medical hubs’ like India and Thailand.  Exotic destinations like these were no more considered as hide outs for recuperating from face lifts and nose jobs.  Even those who needed non-elective medical treatments began flying abroad in pursuit of quality healthcare at lower prices.  Initially, medical tourism occurred outside the purview and control of organized healthcare systems.

 As the medical tourism gained momentum, health insurance companies began to include in their insurance to cover some of the procedures.  Since the cost of treatment through medical tourism was comparatively lesser, medical tourism soon became a compelling and viable healthcare option that even heath insurers began advocating .
UnitedHealth which provides health insurance for over 70 million Americans has already made a move to make Bumrungrad International hospital in Bangkok “in network”.  Aetna, a popular American health care benefits company made a significant move towards promoting medical tourism by buying the overseas insurer Goodhealth Worldwide last year.  The company has begun a pilot program to send patients abroad for knee and replacement procedures.
The quality of healthcare through medical tourism is always debated.  Nonetheless, these doubts are baseless given the state-of-the-art hospitals offering safe medical treatment to patients.  In fact, some argue that treatment through medical tourism can be better than treatment received in the U.S.  Most hospitals serving international patients have international accreditations, which certify quality medical treatment available in these hospitals.  Dubai Healthcare City is a brand-new, state-of-the-art development that, when completed next year, will include 17 separate hospitals, each devoted to its own specialty.
Insurers who outsource patients have one major question to tackle.  Every insurer who wants to outsource patients has to meet with the challenge of convincing patients to travel long hours before they can get medical attention. To tackle this, insurers have created incentives that do the convincing. Companion Global Health, a new division of Blue Cross Blue Shield for example has billed itself as a “one-stop shop” for global surgery and has decided to have co-payments and deductibles as incentives for patients who opt for off shore medical treatments. A study done by McKinsey in May 2008 shows that 20 percent of the 40 million patients in the U.S are well suited to receive medical treatment abroad.  The save made on cost of treatment was what prompted the patients to become medical tourists.  The study estimated that this trend in medical tourism is set to save a total of $33 billion.
 

However, not everyone is advocating medical tourism as the best option for healthcare.  Linda Green, a health care expert and professor at Columbia Business School opines that the idea of getting medical treatments at lower cost fails to focus on prevention of ailments and rather promotes inexpensive treatments and   surgeries.
 

Others- including Clayton M. Christensen who is a professor at the Harvard Business School disagree with Linda Green’s views on medical tourism.  They see health tourism as a tool which can fight the commercialization of healthcare, so that hospitals advocate preventive care and disease management.  Besides, advancements in communication allow doctors to virtually assist patients with post-treatment care even while staying miles apart from each other.  So that seems to nullify all the aspects held against medical tourism and give an overseas patient several reasons to travel abroad for medical treatment and recuperation.