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Medical Tourism Insurance
Because there are significant savings for patients, insurers, re-insurers, and employers seeking medical care in other countries, we are witnessing the growth of a new industry with a free market response to peoples' concerns over escalating health care costs.
OnlineMedicalTourism.com provides a platform for information on medical tourism insurance, where medical tourism insurance is headed, and how the changes will impact not only the medical traveler, but also all the other businesses that are involved in the medical tourism market.
With the term medical tourism or medical travel often used as catch phrases to describe the process of traveling to another country for medical and/or dental care, the globalization of health care consumerism is a reality. While citizens of other nations have accessed medical care in the U.S. for several decades, the situation is now evolving. Global outsourcing for health care is a growing phenomenon, which is likely to impact not only the American Healthcare system, but also self-funded employers and payers, the UK Healthcare system, citizens from other countries from around the world, and all players associated with the medical travel industry.
The main reasons why a citizen of one country travels to another country for medical or dental treatment are nearly always the same: accessibility and cost. Cost is an issue when medical insurance doesn’t cover the procedure and the actual costs associated with the procedure are exorbitant. Lack of access is an issue when either because the technology is not available, is prohibited or perhaps even illegal, or the wait is too long in the home country. In the past, lack of access was a common reason why patients came to the U.S. for more cutting edge treatments and surgery in cardiology, orthopedics, oncology, and reproductive technologies. Americans have traveled to other countries for access to unproven medical procedures. Add to this mixture the lack of insurance for many folks, under insured people, rising health care costs, and the need for change, and the result is the emergence of the present day medical tourism industry.
For a number of years there have been those who could afford to travel abroad for cosmetic surgery or dental surgery, medical procedures often not covered by regular medical insurance. For American citizens, a majority traveled to Mexico and other Latin American countries for their cosmetic or dental procedures. However, motivation for medical tourism is increasing, especially with expanded information available to the public about treatments in other countries through the globalization of the world, easier access to medical information and the marketing of medical tourism on the Internet. Folks are still traveling abroad for cosmetic and dental procedures, visiting new destinations and combining medical procedures with a recuperative vacation. For Americans it is a chance to access treatment in an exotic destination such as Singapore, Thailand, India, Costa Rica, Mexico, South America, in addition to dozens of other countries in Europe and the Middle East, while mitigating the costs of US-based treatment. However, there are now many other people traveling abroad for serious medical procedures with the medical tourism secondary to the need to cut medical costs and accessibility. Without a doubt, comprehensive medical tourism insurance would greatly benefit these people.
Insurance Companies Offer Various Types of Medical Tourism Insurance:
There are a number of international travel health insurance and trip cancellation insurance providers. These companies offer various policies each designed with specific coverage. Some of the different types of insurance coverage for medical tourism insurance are:
- Trip Cancellation & Interruption Insurance
- Travel Medical Insurance: including procedure complications coverage, with options for emergency evacuation, political unrest, and travel companion coverage
- International Travel Insurance: with no procedure complication coverage, but with general travel related insurance cover.
- Student Medical Insurance: medical coverage not only students, but also instructors, and education professionals traveling outside of their home country
- Worldwide Medical Insurance: medically underwritten programs designed for the needs of long-term international travelers, expatriates and their dependants, and for folks who live, work or are retired abroad
- Employer Liability: for employers who offer medical travel to their employees.
- Professional Liability: for medical travel facilitators
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Major Insurers and Foreign Health Facilities
DALLAS (November 1, 2007) - One of the most promising solutions for our nation's soaring health care costs may be found in patients traveling outside the country for care, according to a new study released by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The NCPA notes that health care spending per capita is growing at twice the rate of growth of national income, an unsustainable path that is on course to crowd out all other consumption (http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st304).
"Wealthy patients from developing countries have long traveled to the U.S. for high quality medical care," said NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick, author of the report. "Now a growing number of less affluent Americans are traveling outside the U.S. for affordable health care that rivals care in the U.S. in quality."
"Most insurers do not cover foreign providers, and we are unlikely to see a large number of patients going overseas right away," said Herrick. "But if these trends hold, the future of medical tourism will be insurers taking advantage of global competition by adding nearby lower cost foreign facilities to their network." For example, BlueShield of California's Access Baja plan is for people living near the border that want to receive physician care in Mexico.
Medical Tourism Insurance and the US Employer
The health care costs for US businesses, whether small or large companies, are skyrocketing. According to:
The Self-Insurer: ‘US Employers Turning to Medical Travel'
Medical travel emerges as one of the newest, most innovative options for U.S. employers to realize significant savings on their health benefits while ensuring high quality care for their workforce. What started as an alternative for dental care or cosmetic and plastic surgery has morphed into a preferred option for acute care procedures, especially for the 48 million uninsured or under insured.
Today, medical travel is generating the attention of the self-insured marketplace, as the interest level soars among employers and payers to produce further savings to their medical expenditures. Results of a survey of 400 U.S. corporate benefit managers released this year by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, a Wisconsin-based research group, show that 11 percent of employers now cover medical tourism involving medical treatment outside the U.S.
Already there are US companies that are beginning to include in-hospital networks as an option for getting care outside the U.S. according to Arnold Milstein, the San Francisco-based chief physician of Mercer Health & Benefits. In addition, some employers are encouraging their employers to go abroad for treatment by offering financial or time-off incentives.
In Texas, U.S. Risk Underwriters, a subsidiary of U.S. Risk Insurance Group, Inc. , the fifth largest managing general agency in the nation, announced in Feb 2009, the launch of a new professional liability product for the medical tourism industry called MedTour Pro for Employers. Currently, U.S. Risk is the only provider of Professional Liability for medical tourism facilitators and for employers.
U.S. Risk Underwriters Launch MedTour Pro for Employers'
MedTour Pro for Employers is designed for companies who provide freedom of choice to their employees, including an option to obtain medical services outside of the United States. Coverage is for damages caused by any actual or alleged negligent act, error or omission by the insured while providing options for medical tourism services.
“We are the first to market with a product specifically designed for employers,” said Art Seifert, President of U.S. Risk Underwriters. “MedTour Pro for Employers enhances our suite of products designed specifically to cover the risks inherent in the dynamic new industry, predicted to generate $100 billion in revenue by 2012.”
If you are interested in such coverage agents and brokers may contact Lorna Greenwood at 1-800-232-5830 or lornag@usrisk.com.
For employers looking to offer their employees savings on their surgical needs, here in the US, consider the innovative health care benefits presented by Healthplace America, an innovative company working to change the face of healthcare in the US.
Innovative Benefit from Healthplace America'
The Healthplace Surgery Benefit™, the first—and only—comprehensive Surgery Benefit Management solution for health plans, offers both employers and employees a chance to save big on surgeries that typically might cost them thousands.
"Healthplace America’s network can offer savings of 30%-50% over rates negotiated by traditional insurers," said Ken Erickson, CEO of Healthplace America. “Not only does this result in savings for the company who can now more accurately forecast their healthcare expenditures, but those savings get passed to the employee as well.”
There are many types of procedures are available, including Cardiovascular, Orthopedic, Neuro & Spine, Cancer, Gynecological Procedures, Breast Cancer and Reconstruction, Bariatric, and among others. Contact them for a complete list of their providers and procedures.
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Hannaford Bros. Co., a supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine, is one of the first companies in the U.S. to include a foreign hospital in its network of providers. On Jan. 1, 2008 the company added a hospital in Singapore for hip and knee replacements where the cost for hip replacements is about $10,000 to $15,000, compared to more than $40,000 in the U.S.
Generally, under the Hannaford health plans, the company pays 80 percent of an employee's medical costs -- until the worker reaches an out-of-pocket limit of $2,000 to $3,000. For an employee who goes to Singapore for a hip replacement, Hannaford will pay the entire medical tab; the worker won't have any out-of-pocket costs. In addition, the firm will pay for travel costs, including airfare and lodging for the patient and a companion, up to $10,000.
Full Service Medical Travel Facilitators and Medical Tourism Insurance
Full service medical travel facilitators help patients coordinate their treatment with specific medical facilities abroad. Recognizing the need for some type of medical tourism insurance, a number of full service medical travel facilitators provide medical tourism insurance through affiliations with insurance companies. A case in point is Swiss Re, a leading and highly diversified global re-insurer that operates through offices in more than 25 countries. They have selected a full service facilitator in the US, WorldMed Assist, as its logistics provider for Swiss Re’s US clients utilizing their medical travel benefits.
Connections Between US Hospitals and Overseas Medical Facilities
The quality of healthcare abroad can be high, with many foreign hospitals actively courting business in the U.S. by catering to American tastes and expectations. Foreign healthcare facilities often have physicians with internationally respected credentials, many of them with training in the United States, Canada, Australia, or Europe. Some foreign hospitals are owned, managed, or affiliated with prestigious American universities or healthcare systems such as the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins International. This connection between US hospitals and overseas medical facilities is a strong marketing plus for these hospitals to assuage patients’ concerns about quality of care.
Recognizing the need for lower cost healthcare, but the desire for high quality medical facilities with English speaking personal, several companies are building and operating hospitals that meet American standards in Mexico and Central America. These hospitals will cater largely to American patients, and also to wealthy citizens of those nations.
International Accreditation Standards:
“Patient Experience” criteria are important to acknowledge in assessing how successful foreign patients view overseas hospitals and facilities. Knowing a facility is associated with a well-known American university or healthcare system will help.
However, having international regulatory standards is a better way of assessing overseas facilities. For foreign hospitals appealing to the medical tourist one of the key quality benchmarks is accreditation by the Joint Commission International (JCI) and/or other respected accreditation organization. For insurance companies considering issuing medical tourism insurance it is critical.
- One of the key players in this market is the US based JCI, a division of the Joint Commission Resources (JCR) and a subsidiary of the Joint Commission. JCI has operated since 1991 and is specifically organized to continuously improve the safety and quality of medical care in the international community. JCI recently formed a partnership with the World Health Organization to develop international standards for patient safety so hospitals and doctors across borders would have uniform standards to be judged on. The average cost of accreditation is about $30,000, for a three-year period. Hospitals who choose to go through this rigorous and expensive accreditation are serious about attracting foreign medical patients.
JCI
- Trent Accreditation Scheme, or TRENT (based in UK-Europe and Hong Kong) TRENT is a non-profit organization formed with a mission to maintain and continually elevate standards of quality, especially in healthcare delivery, through the surveying and accreditation of healthcare organizations, especially hospitals, both in the UK and elsewhere in the world.
TRENT
- Australian Council for Healthcare Standards International, or ACHSI (based in Australia). ACHS International delivers accreditation and quality improvement
programs for health care organizations, offers a comprehensive clinical indicator program, provides consultancies for the development of local accreditation programs and undertakes tailored reporting and analysis.
ACHSI
- Canadian Council on Health Services Regulation, or CCHSA (based in Canada) Accreditation Canada guides clients to reach standards of excellence. Organizations that participate in the accreditation program benefit from a thorough assessment that leads to an action plan for improving every aspect of the health care and services they deliver. By evaluating the quality of care and service they provide, organizations are able to accurately measure their clinical and operational performance — thereby giving them a clear picture of their strengths and areas to be improved. Accreditation Canada's programs and guidance have been helping organizations strive for excellence for more than 50 years.
Accreditation Canada is accredited by ISQua, the International Society for Quality in Health Care.
CCHSA
- International Society for Quality in Health Care, or ISQua is a non-profit, independent organization with members in over 70 countries. ISQua works to provide services to guide health professionals, providers, researchers, agencies, policy makers, and consumers, to achieve excellence in healthcare delivery to all people, and to continuously improve the quality and safety of care. Its offices are based in Australia. JCI is accredited by ISQua.
International Accreditation Standards and Medical Tourism Insurance
Most government and traditional medical insurance companies only reimburses for face-to-face consultations. There are numerous problems with this stipulation since often it is difficult to see a doctor and often it is difficult to take time off from work. People end up in the emergency room for non-emergency health problems that could have been avoided. And for folks who have chronic conditions, many are not receiving appropriate care, in part, because monitoring is complex and expensive.
DALLAS (November 28, 2007) - Health care entrepreneurs working outside the traditional health insurance payment system are using telephone, e-mail, text messaging and innovative computer software to make medical care more accessible and convenient for patients, according to a new study by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
The most interesting developments in telemedicine are occurring outside traditional insurance, both by new medical services and by individual practitioners. For example:
* Approximately 1 million patients now subscribed to a nationwide service operated by TelaDoc Medical Services (http://www.teladoc.com/). For a low $35 consultation fee, enrollees can talk to a doctor by phone, any time day, or night.
* TelaDoc maintains electronic medical records that are available online, allowing physicians access to patient records anywhere in the country and ensuring accuracy.
* Virginia physician Dr. Alan Dappen also practices telemedicine. Patients can schedule an appointment or e-mail him from his Web page (http://www.doctokr.com/).
* Dr. Dappen bills his patients in five-minute increments ranging from $25.50 for in-office visits to $17 for phone consultations. His office assists patients with insurance billing even allowing them to pay using PayPal.
Hospitals are also using telemedicine to follow up with patients, consult with specialists at other hospitals, to have x-rays read, and medical records sent, reducing medical errors, and allowing better coordination of patient care among different providers, doctors, nurses, and specialists.
Where Medical Tourism Insurance Is Headed
Today we are witnessing the growth of a new industry with free market response to employer concerns over escalating health care costs. The models for medical tourism and medical tourism insurance that are emerging range from where the patient pays for everything to the insurer pays and the patient pays a deductible, or the insurer pays and waives the cost sharing, to the insurer pays the patient to go abroad.
There is a long way to go to improve medical tourism insurance for individuals and companies alike.
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