Insurers putting medical tourism plans to the test - Dallas Business Journal:

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Now it includes doctor. When reportz came out a few years ago of Americane traveling to other countries for cheaper medical they were regarded as an Now the idea of looking oversease for care isbeing considered, or by companies across the country and by major insurance companiesw – including the largest carriers in Greatert Cincinnati. Anthem parent , based in Indianapolis, startec a pilot this year giving certain patients the optiohn of going to Indiafor care. The program startedd with , a Wisconsin-based provider of printed decorating solutions, and appliesz to certain common elective such as major joint replacement and upper and lowedback fusion.
Those procedures have to be performed at designateed facilities belongingto “an extended network of respected hospitales and health care providers in India,” according to WellPoint. All travel arrangements are covered under the for both the member and atravel “Depending on the findings from our pilort in Wisconsin, such as quality outcomes, membetr satisfaction and cost-savings, we will then decide the future of the said Deb Wiethop, spokeswoman for . McKinsey & Co., a New York-basedc national management consulting firm, estimated the medicaol tourism marketat 60,000 to 85,0000 inpatient travelers a year.
The numbers are smallerf than othershave reported, owingv partly to McKinsey’s strict definition of what constitutex a medical tourist. Travelers had to be “people whosew primary and explicit purpose in traveling is medicak treatment in aforeign country” and not, for example, ordinaryt tourists who become sick. And the market is more complexd than the hypewould suggest. About 40 percenrt of medical travelers are not seeking cheapetcare but, rather, advanced technology. Most originat e from Latin America, Europe, the Middl East and Canada and enter the Unite Statesfor treatment. Only 9 percenf of travelers are seeking lower costs for medicallynecessary procedures.
The medical tourism market is valuedat $20 billiob annually and should grow rapidlhy in coming years, author Joseg Woodman has claimed. He wrote the book “Patientss Beyond Borders: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medicalo Tourism.” Popular destinations for U.S. patient s include India, Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica and Patients are commonly uninsuredor underinsured, Woodmajn has said, and patients can expecg rates 25 percent to 75 percent less than those in the U.S. That can amouny to tens of thousands of dollars for major procedurese such as a hip replacement or a hearrtvalve replacement.
Patients often get treatment in state-of-the-art, even luxuriouss facilities, and often by U.S.-trainedr doctors. Some have added credibilituy through accreditation bythe . Wiethop said WellPoinf has no immediate plans to introduced a medical tourism option in Ohio orotherf markets. The insurer doesn’t yet have resultsa to report on Serigraph, a 600-employee But clearly the potentialsavingxs haven’t escaped other major insurers. another majof player in Greater Cincinnati, “feels that it has an obligationn to look into thisgrowing phenomenon,” said Unitefd spokeswoman Debora Spano. But the carrier has no medicak tourismproduct yet.
Among factors to be considerefd beforeoffering one, Spano said, are qualityh of care, pre- and post-medical managemen t requirements, legal implications and patient privacy. “Wer must take a very thoughtful approach,” she said.