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A survey of sensibly priced care around the globe
Even a masochist who loves the sound of the dentist’s drill and the cold jab of a hypodermic needle is unlikely to feel any joy when presented with the bill. One side effect of the rising cost of health insurance in the U.S. is that many patients are seeking cheaper treatment centers offshore.
The National Coalition on Healthcare reports that 47 million Americans were without health insurance in 2005; an additional 35 million had insufficient coverage. According to Josef Woodman, author of Patients Beyond Borders (www.patientsbeyondborders.com), a book dedicated to demystifying medical tourism, “uninsured and under-insured Americans [are] aging into a financially compromised or potentially ruinous situation.” He’s spoken with many people forced to sell their homes “to fund an expensive medical procedure.”
See our list of 2008 international medical destinations
Woodman, who previously owned a website called mydailyhealth.com, was inspired by his own dad’s teeth. “About three and a half years ago,” he recounts, “my father announced quite suddenly that he was heading to Mexico to get his teeth restored.” He couldn’t afford the American price tag, which was more than $20,000. Woodman went along for the ride.
Like many Americans, Woodman expected to find untrained doctors, rusty instruments and dirty clinics waiting south of the border. “I guess I was just as biased as the next person,” he says. He found exactly the opposite. “In many places, the quality of care was excellent and my father saved $13,000, even after taking into account the cost of the trip, accommodation and bringing his wife along as a companion.”
Mexico also sees a number of patients from Canada fleeing cold winters and long waiting lists for procedures that are actually covered under the Canadian health care system. Nick Konev, founder of medical tourism company Mexican Dental Vacations, explains that Health Canada has a little known program where they may reimburse patients for procedures done in another country. Americans, he says, can expect savings of up to 75 percent on dental work in Mexico.
Woodman acknowledges that there is a widespread belief that medical tourism abroad carries high risks. “People can’t believe that it’s possible to save between 30 and 80 percent on an operation with the same standard as you would get here in the U.S.,” he says. That’s not to say that a majority of hospitals beyond the 50 states are operating at top standards. “If you walk into just any clinic in Bombay…well, let’s just say you’d better bring your own bandages. Those aren’t the hospitals we’re talking about.”
He points to the Joint Commission International’s (JCI) accreditation standards for hospitals, which has established worldwide benchmarks for quality, cleanliness and service. The largest JCI-accredited hospital, incidentally, is located in Seoul, South Korea and holds 2000 beds.
Of course, not everyone agrees that traveling to distant lands for medical care is the healthiest idea. According to Dr. Allen Lechtman, a Palm Springs-based anesthesiologist whose thousands of patients over the past 40 years have included Frank Sinatra and former first lady Betty Ford, “None of these procedures are as straightforward as people might like to think. Anytime someone takes a knife to the skin, or even from the most routine dental procedure, there can be complications. ”
See our list of 2008 international medical destinations
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