Medical Tourism Insurance

OnlineMedicalTourism.com provides a platform for information on medical tourism insurance, where medical tourism insurance is headed, and how the changes will impact the medical traveler.

Types of Medical Tourism Insurance Coverage

There are a number of international travel health insurance and trip cancellation insurance providers. They often have a network of providers worldwide. The network may contain hospitals, clinics, medical spas, and physicians, as well as air ambulances, house call physicians, medical escorts, and various other providers geared uniquely to the travel and medical tourism insurance industry. OnlineMedicalTourism.com lists such companies under “Medical Tourism Services.” When you link to the Medical Tourism Services page, you may “sort by SERVICE” and find the listed insurance providers. These companies offer a number of different types of policies each designed with specific coverage. Some of the different types of insurance coverage you may find as you search for medical tourism insurance are:

- Trip Cancellation & Interruption Insurance:

This is one of the most common types of travel insurance for folks who are primarily concerned with insuring the cost of their trip. Features may include:

-Up to a specific monetary amount for trip cancellation coverage
-Up to a specific monetary amount for medical coverage that may include with Emergency Evacuation, Assistance services along with others as standard benefits.

- Travel Medical Insurance:

This type of international travel medical insurance is designed for folks traveling overseas. A Travel Medical Insurance policy protects the individual from major and minor medical emergencies, accidents, and illnesses during their travels.

- Student Medical Insurance:

For parents who have children traveling broad for schooling, you are probably familiar with Student Medical Insurance. However, some insurance companies include in this type of coverage not only students, but also instructors, and education professionals traveling outside of their home country.

- Worldwide Medical Insurance:

This type of coverage involves medically underwritten programs designed for the needs of long-term international travelers, expatriates and their dependants, and for people who live, work or are retired abroad.

- Medical Tourism Insurance:

There are a few insurance companies that address this type of policy head on. As medical tourism grows, OnlineMedicalTourism.com expects to see more. Medical tourism insurance policies address the unique needs of the medical tourist to help them protect the financial investment that they have made in choosing to travel overseas for a medical procedure. Features may include among others:

- Up to a specific monetary amount for medical complications coverage while overseas and when the patient returns home
- Up to a specific monetary amount for acute illness and injuries for you and your traveling companion while overseas
-Up to a specific monetary amount for trip cancellation coverage for the patient and traveling companion for travel accommodations, pre-paid, and non-refundable expenses paid to the medical facility etc
-Up to a specific monetary amount for medical evacuation coverage

Go to our Medical Tourism Services page and click " sort by service" .
Scroll down till you see all the medical insurance companies' listings.

Medical Tourism Insurance Trends

Recognition of medical tourism as a viable marketplace, and the need for medical tourism insurance are driving the changes that will benefit all the medical tourism players. OnlineMedicalTourism.com, as well as the rest of the medical tourism industry, is beginning to see medical insurance evolve.

- US Trends:

For instance, in the US, two insurance company giants, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Aetna, have begun offering coverage for medical care abroad. Employers, health plans and benefits consultants are taking notice and in some cases are launching pilot programs allowing employees to travel abroad for certain procedures.

In an article in the 30 October 2008 International Medical Travel Journal:UNITED STATES: Insurer allows medical tourism

More US health insurers are taking baby steps into medical tourism. In an effort to control rising costs, a small but growing number of insurers and employers are giving people the choice to seek treatment in other countries.

Until recently, most Americans who travelled abroad for medical care were uninsured or were seeking procedures not covered by insurance, such as cosmetic dentistry. Now, a handful of plans are beginning to cover treatment overseas for heart surgery, hip and knee replacements and other major surgical procedures.

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Wisconsin is the latest insurer to explore medical tourism. Beginning in January (2009), the insurance company – in a pilot exercise - will allow employees at graphic arts company Serigraph to travel to India for certain elective surgeries such as spinal fusion, angioplasty, hip and knee replacement and bariatric surgery.

You can learn more about the most recent US trends in company-funded medical travel from a 2009 IMTJ (International Medical Travel Journal) article by Ian Youngman, a specialist researcher, and publisher of detailed research reports on insurance and medical tourism.

- Value of Accreditation

Today, overseas medical facilities vying for medical tourists realize the importance of assuring international patients, as well as the international community that they meet world wide standards for safe, quality care. Medical facility accreditation is about not only improving how care is delivered to patients via highly professional doctors and support staff, using the latest medical equipment and technologies, but also the quality of the care the patients receive at these state-of-the-art facilities. They understand that medical travelers want reassurances that patient safety is their priority.

Medical insurance companies recognize the value of JCI accredited facilities and are beginning to cover certain procedures at such facilities. When a hospital/ clinic receives the stamp of approval by a recognized independent third party accreditation organization, verifying the medical facility has passed certain standards in regards to safety, medical ethics, and performance of their medical personnel, they can now offer to the medical traveler a highly competitive package: quality work, no wait times, lower costs, and under certain circumstances procedures that will be covered by insurance companies.

To learn more about these organizations go to the OMT Acceditation Organizations page at:
Acceditation Organizations

- AMA Guidelines

In addition, the American Medical Association (AMA) has published its AMA Guidelines on Medical Tourism.

From MedicalNewsToday regarding medical tourism insurance standards:

In 2006, about 150,000 U.S. residents received some form of medical care internationally, and about half of the procedures were "medically necessary," such as open heart surgery or hip and knee replacements, according to AMA.

AMA's guidelines for patients include seeking care from accredited providers, being knowledgeable about legal rights in the country in which they are seeking care and bringing medical records to and from facilities outside of the U.S. In addition, patients should be informed of potential risks following surgeries, such as blood clots that can develop during long flights. AMA said that insurers and employers who are considering covering international care as a way to reduce health costs should not restrict treatment referrals or limit diagnostic tests. In addition, AMA supports allowing patients to choose their own physicians and hospitals and not be limited to an insurer's list of providers. AMA also said that employers and health plans considering coverage of overseas care should cover necessary follow-up care once the patient returns to the U.S.

- UK Trends

In the UK, there are insurance firms providing international healthcare services and consultancy for British citizens living or traveling abroad. Some insurance companies appeal to NHS patients, offering them prompt treatment and patient choice in one of their network, quality-assessed hospitals, thus eliminating the NHS waiting lists that often cause delays for obtaining certain procedures.

You can learn more about the most recent UK and European trends in company-funded medical travel from a 2009 IMTJ (International Medical Travel Journal) article by Ian Youngman, who is a specialist researcher, and publisher of detailed research reports on insurance and medical tourism.

Another bright spot for UK residents looking for medical travel insurance is from the insurance company Angelis. They have introduced a travel insurance policy specifically aimed towards people traveling abroad from the UK for medical cosmetic or dental treatments. Now people can travel more securely in the knowledge that their insurance policy has been specifically created to address the most important concerns medical tourists have. Go to their listing on OMT by clicking here.

Full Service Medical Facilitators and Medical Tourism Insurance

Full service medical facilitators also recognize the need for medical tourism insurance for their clients. Some full service medical facilitators provide medical tourism insurance through affiliations with insurance companies. Or, in the case of 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 as its logistics provider for Swiss Re’s US clients utilizing their medical travel benefits.

From a Reuters article 22 July 2008

Swiss Re's Commercial Insurance Launches Medical Travel Insurance Offering

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., July 22 /PRNewswire/ - Swiss Re's Commercial Insurance announced today they now recognize medical travel coverage as part of their existing stop loss offering. Employer stop loss is available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, through Westport Insurance Corp., a member of the Swiss Re Group, which underwrites the company's stop loss products.

"By recognizing medical travel coverage offered by our self-funded stop-loss employer client base, we facilitate the availability of top-quality health care at more affordable levels than is possible in the U.S.," said Matt Leming, Vice President, and Sales Leader within Swiss Re's Commercial Insurance division.

Swiss Re has selected WorldMed Assist (http://www.worldmedassist.com) as the third-party medical logistics provider to manage its medical travel option.

"WorldMed Assist is honored to have been selected by Swiss Re to provide logistical assistance for clients utilizing their medical travel benefits. This is another opportunity to fulfill our mission of improving lives by helping patients receive high quality medical treatment at international facilities at affordable prices," said WorldMed Assist CEO Wouter Hoeberechts. "This agreement is new to the US marketplace. Swiss Re will be the first carrier to recognize medical travel coverage on a national basis."

Report New Trends

If you have information about any medical tourism insurance availability, or if your employer offers medical tourism insurance coverage of any kind, please let us know this news. We would like to report anecdotal evidence of real changes in the way medical tourism insurance is viewed by industry.

While medical tourism insurance is not yet a mainstream product, everyone predicts major changes are in the air since the issue of affordable health care is not going to go away. The medical tourist and their need for medical tourism insurance will only benefit from the growing demand for affordable and comprehensive trip, travel, and medical tourism insurance programs