Medical Tourism Insurance
Medical tourism was initially considered to be an area of interest of uninsured or underinsured population since medical tourists from developed countries like the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom discovered that many European and Asian destinations (especially, countries of South East Asia) offer lower prices for medical care encouraging them to travel abroad for affordable medical treatment.
Such globalization of healthcare leads to the rising demand of the special type of insurance – medical tourism insurance, which is currently one of the most developing niches in health insurance business.
According to the American Medical Association a growing number of insurance providers admitted to undertake at least a part of the cost of medical tourism. US companies, such as Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield or United Group Programs, are now exploring the idea of including medical tourism to their coverage.
So, medical tourism is transformed from ‘’the trip for people looking for cheaper healthcare services abroad’’ into a billion dollar industry where medical travel will be accepted by health insurance policy making its benefits accessible to more people.
Pros and Cons of Medical Travel Insurance
- Benefits for Patients
Standard insurance policies for tourists do not provide coverage if you are traveling with purpose of obtaining medical treatment abroad. These types of insurances will be of no help if a medical complication arises and would cancel any travel insurance policy. Without proper coverage there is always a risk of ‘’runaway’’ expenses.
Insurance companies confirm that different incentives or services need to be considered to motivate medical tourists opting overseas treatment. They offer fully or partial coverage for the high costs of medical complications. Medical tourism complication insurance responds to the specific needs of the medical tourist, from flight delay and hotel booking change up to wrong surgery or its delay, co-morbidity factors, poor outcome, evacuation from one medical facility to another, or any other unforeseen occurrences. Some companies provide also packages both for a patient and an attendant. When checking out the right company, patients should look for one that provides maximum privileges in a single plan to guard against probable ‘’out-of-pocket’’ expenses during medical trip.
According to current estimates it is expected that over 1 million Americans will seek out overseas treatment in 2014 and providing coverage could lead to further expansion of medical tourism.
- Benefits for Insurers
Every year more insurance companies add overseas treatment to their services as a component of healthcare insurance package. The main reason of the growing trend of medical travel insurance lies in significant monetary savings. Some dental and medical services abroad are up to 80% cheaper as compared to those in the USA and Europe. For example, the same medical service that costs $130,000 in U.S. will cost $12,000 in Turkey, about $6,500 in India and just $4,000 in Costa Rica. Average costs of some other medical procedures are compared below:
| Medical Procedure | USA | Costa Rica | Mexico | Turkey | India | Vietnam |
| Hip Replacement | $50,000 | $12,000 | $13,000 | $15,000 | $7,000 | $8,000 |
| Knee Replacement | $50,000 | $11,500 | $12,000 | $15,000 | $6,500 | $8,500 |
| Spinal Fusion | $100,000 | $11,500 | $12,000 | $15,000 | $6,500 | $6,000 |
| Breast implants | $10,000 | $3,900 | $3,500 | $3,900 | $3,500 | $3,900 |
| Rhinoplasty | $8,000 | $4,500 | $3,500 | $2,500 | $4,000 | $2,500 |
| Facelift | $15,000 | $6,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $4,000 | $4,000 |
| LASIK | $4,500 | $1,900 | $2,000 | $1,900 | $500 | $1,700 |
The primary benefit of medical tourism insurance for employers is possibility to reduce a part of their healthcare cover expenses. That is why many big employers are interested in providing medical tourism insurance to their employees when some of them found it cheaper to buy foreign healthcare insurance.
Medical travel insurance is still a new market in the healthcare insurance business; therefore insurers have to develop all services that are included in the insurance packages as well as their costs in order to be competitive.
Imagining medical tourism 20 years ago it could be a group of people traveling abroad for some minor medical procedures, while now it is a choice of millions all over the world counting well their budget. It is clear that medical tourism insurance delivers monetary benefits for insurers as well as for patients.
Do the Dangers Overshadow the Profits?
The lower cost of treatment in medical facilities abroad and their claim to be on par with U.S. healthcare providers are the main factors that attract medical tourists and insurance companies. However, some of cautious insurers and physicians in the USA are concerned about safety and quality of medical care when patients are treated abroad.
According to the guiding principles released by the American Medical Association it is not clear yet whether the dangers overshadow the profits in medical tourism. It is also stated that patients should only be recommended to the medical centers accredited by the Joint Commission International or the International Society for Quality in Health Care. Patients should have full access to information regarding doctor’s qualifications and track records. (Learn more about choosing the right doctor)
Patients should be aware of consequences that may be caused by long-distance flights and mixing holiday activities with the treatment. The most critical is to arrange in advance follow-up care as long-term medical complications may also occur after returning home. Medical tourism is quite a good solution for affordable healthcare abroad when patients comply with standard precautions.
Today, international patients are mostly paying for overseas medical care out of their own pocket. But this is predicted to change since insurance industry giants have already started including overseas treatments to their services and finally, these insurance plans provide huge monetary benefits or savings not only for the insurer, but for both employer and patient too.