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MEDICAL TOURISM
Understanding the
American
Healthcare
System
Understanding the American Health Care
System is a four part series with a focus on
which aspects of the American Health Care
System will readily access overseas medical
care.
Part I:
The Fully Insured American Patient
~ Dispelling the Myth
The most common question asked when you explain the concept
of medical tourism is, “What kinds of Americans are going to get onto
a plane to travel to a foreign country for healthcare?” Surprisingly,
most overseas hospitals have very little idea about what segment of the
population their future health care clients come from. Therefore,
hospitals seeking to attract medical tourists to their country have no
idea who their audience or core market is, providing for futile marketing
efforts.
If international hospitals are to succeed in attracting Americans they
first need to succeed in narrowing their marketing efforts to those
where they will generate the greatest returns. Just as many hospitals
have been misled into believing Medicare will soon be approving
overseas medical treatment, still more hospitals are misled about the
types of American patients that will be traveling overseas for health
care.
Many international hospitals and medical tourism companies are
thrilled about the possibility of fully insured health carriers such as
Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, CIGNA, Humana, United HealthCare
and other insurance carriers affording their fully insured members the
opportunity to go overseas for health care rather than receiving care
domestically in the United States. In fact, many hospitals have been
told that the fully insured American health insurance carriers are about
to approve medical tourism, opening the flood gates to swarms of
Americans going overseas.
Here is a reality check. It’s not going to happen, but if it does, it is not
going to happen anytime soon.
If an American can go to their local U.S. hospital for the same cost
that they can go to an overseas hospital, why would the American go
overseas for surgery? Especially if by going overseas the American
would incur travel costs, such as airfare, hotel, meals, etc., and having
42 DECEMBER 2007
By JONATHAN EDELHEIT
to spend a good amount of time far away from home. Many people in
the industry are keeping the myth alive that these Americans will
magically appear abroad. This is simply not true.
And then you hear another rumor. Okay, maybe regular fully insured
members won’t go, but what about Americans on high deductible plans?
Even if someone has a $10,000 deductible on their U.S. health insurance
policy, for most procedures worth going overseas, the cost for the
American patient could be the same or comparable to the total costs for
having the procedure performed here in the US. For example, if a heart
procedure is almost 80% less overseas at a cost of about $9,000, if you