Medical Tourism Equals Affordable Health Care

Finding Affordable Health Care through Medical Tourism

The word is out.  It’s becoming easier and cheaper to go abroad for that operation, and businesses are now looking at the benefits of outsourcing American health care to other parts of the world.  Medical tourists have been checking into Asian hospitals for cosmetic surgeries for quite some time now.  In fact, the National Coalition on Health Care reports that about 500,000 Americans visited overseas hospitals for affordable health care last year.  With improvements in their facilities and increasingly reliable reputations, many Asian medical institutions are now admitting patients for more complicated operations such as heart surgery.  There are about 45 million Americans who do not have medical insurance and with rising costs a problem in health care, affordable health care vis a vis medical tourism must surely appeal to them.

Employer-Sponsored Programs for Affordable Health Care

Certain hospitals in America are already outsourcing certain health care jobs such as diagnoses and X-ray analyses to countries like India.  In addition, some facilities have even begun importing doctors and nurses from abroad.  However, the healthcare industry in the U.S. has, by and large, been unaffected by this, with rising costs still a problem in health care for the average person.  Payments for health coverage by employers have shot up by 87% over the past few years.  But now the first signs of resistance to this migration of medical tourists are manifesting.  Case in point: Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc.’s Carl Garrett was all set to fly to India for a gall bladder operation last September.  This would have been the first case of a U.S. employee being sent abroad for medical treatment via an employer-sponsored pilot program.  However, America’s largest union, United Steelworkers, threw a wrench in the works at the eleventh hour, indicating that they did not want to expose their members to risks involved with health care in the third world.  The arrangement was called off.

The Future of Medical Tourism and Affordable Health Care

In spite of this, other insurance corporations are eyeing the situation with an open mind, claiming that with rising costs a problem in health care, this will help employers save more than 50% of medical expenses.  Ray Canterbury, a West Virginian legislator, intends to recommend legislation allowing government employees to take advantage of affordable health care abroad.  He estimates that this could work out to an annual saving off at least $2 million and opines that enticements such as 20% of the money thus saved, extra sick leave, and medical travel insurance would actually allow employees to profit financially from the transaction.

The Downside of Medical Tourism and Affordable Health Care

However, there are certain considerations that must be carefully looked into.  Despite modern, spotless, well-equipped medical facilities, surrounding sanitary conditions, pollution, and poverty could take its toll on patients not immunized to them.  Dietary conditions, jet lag, and common traveling ailments must also be taken into account.  Difficulties in communication between patients and medical staff could also prove to be exasperating.  And medical travel insurance coverage still has to be worked out.  Another important issue is follow-up care once the patient is back in the United States.  Physicians feel that affordable health care is all very well, but they worry about what could happen if something went wrong later on.  Who would be responsible?  And who would pay?  Medical malpractice claims are uncommon in most Asian countries and would be very difficult to follow up on from the United States.  Thus, it is up to the patients to scrutinize physicians and hospitals they will be approaching if they decide to look for affordable health care abroad.  Medical travel insurance is also their responsibility.

Source: Malcolm Foster and Margie Mason, “Outsourcing Health?” Worcester Telegram and Gazette, November 6, 2006