I would advise physicians to get on board with HCR if they are not. Medical tourism is going to

[ncteechur]

turn their industry on its ear.

I heard a presentation on Friday from a professor from a leading national business school who predicted the coming boon in medical tourism.

Flying 1st class to India to get surgery from US trained and certified surgeons for about 1/5th the cost of the same procedure in the US is nothing to sneeze at.

Its here already. Going to get huge. The outsourcing isn't limited to factory jobs.

Ironic thing is that what we have considered the least of our jobs will ultimately be the safest.

[Juche]

1. It already gets 6 million Americans a year

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/27/india.medical.travel/index.html

Why not? If I have a hernia I can get it done in the US for $15,000 or get a $500 round trip plane ticket to Latin America and have it fixed for $2000.

This is actually one of my biggest regrets about health insurance reform, it might kill medical tourism. We need medical tourism to intimidate the medical establishment into shaping up.

[Juche]

4. Actually, let me add something to that

No matter what, medical tourism is going to keep growing. Private insurance companies are now offering medical tourism packages. The reason is even if they cover 100% of the expenses, they still come out ahead.

If you need a surgery that costs $60,000 in the US or $15,000 in Thailand/India/Brazil/Jordan, and your share of the US surgery is $6000 then the health insurance company pays 54k if you do it in the US.

However even if the health insurance company pays for the surgery overseas, 2 round trip plane tickets, hotel, food, tourism stuff, etc and offer to wave your deductible and copay and pay 100%, they are still only paying about $19,000 total instead of 54k.

So everyone comes out ahead. Health insurance companies save tons of money and consumers save money too (they get their deductibles and copays waved) while also getting a free vacation overseas.

Either way, medical tourism is going to grow for insured and uninsured. Hopefully. Unless, like pharma and their efforts to ban reimportation, some group (maybe a hospital association) tries to ban international competition by banning medical tourism.

[Wizard777]

7. Medical insurance should be like any other insurance. I get estimates and they pay the lowest.

So I submit three estimates to my health insurance company. 65,000.00, 63,000.00 and 60,000.00. The go with the 60,000.00 estimate and deduct the 6,000.00 deductible. So they send ME a check for 54,000.00. I then go to a foreign country and have the surgery for 19,000.00. I pocket 35,000.00. That would be a way to break up their price fixing. They pay the policy holder. Not the hospitals and doctors. It would be another way to force the competition the Insurance Industry has substituted price fixing for.

[murphyj87]

2. Or Canada

Costs in Canada are 35% to 50% of what they are in the US and it's much closer than India. They only reason you'd pay is because you aren't a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant. If you became a landed immigrant, you become eligible for Canadian health care after three months.

[kestrel91316]

3. How does one become a "landed immigrant" in Canada?

[JDPriestly]

5. People go overseas to get treatments and procedures that are not

approved or available here. That is very common.

We need to ask ourselves whether we really want to give up the high standards we have -- like working sewer systems and reliable electricity -- the infrastructure that we fund with our tax dollars. We can outsource everything and break our economy -- and lose our infrastructure -- like fire departments and police services and public schools -- or we can impose restrictions on outsourcing and medical tourism -- and survive here.

Our medical education system will not remain viable if the doctors in this country can't earn a living. And then, where will the doctors in places like India receive their training and from whom?

Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. We are throwing away the quality of our lives in order to save money. The only reason to go to another country for medical care is because you can get a treatment you can't get here.

[galileoreloaded]

6. I need to deal with real problemsTODAY, not maybe problems tomorrow...

smack dab in the middle of devolution and you are worried about infrastructure......

[upi402]

8. My whole family has used developing country medical and it's excellent

Much better care there than medial care here -in EVERY aspect- yes even quality. We didn't get surgery of reconstructive surgery done, but it was superior at the basics. Very cheap even out of pocket. Very fast, less waiting, higher quality care.

My wife would have to be in serious hurt to use a Dr here and I want to wait to see if we are going to leave the country. I'd rather get care elsewhere.