Medical Tourism Companies Helps To Reduces Health Care Expense

Online, April 10, 2010 (Newswire.com) - As Congress wrangles to craft meaningful health care reform to deliver to President Obama by mid-summer, consensus has emerged on three fronts: reform is no longer an option, the economy is inextricably linked to reducing the cost of health care, and whatever form the overhaul takes will require years, perhaps decades, to implement and fund.

Meanwhile, those who pay the bills-consumers and employers-- are not waiting idly to see how legislators fix the world's most expensive and least equitable health care system. They're taking matters into their own hands, finding ways to reduce health care costs without sacrificing quality.

One of the solutions they're turning to is medical tourism, which can be seen as the penultimate example of Consumer Driven Health Care. Traveling to another country for medical care is a solution that offers significant and immediate savings-often 90 percent-with almost no upfront investment and no reduction in quality of care if coordinated through a reputable medical tourism facilitator.

Until recently, medical tourism was fueled by individual patients. Now, employers pinched by 100 percent increases in health care premiums since 2000, are intrigued with alternatives that save money while expanding employee options, and for them, the arrow points to medical tourism. All parties involved in exercising this option win: employers save money on the cost of the procedure, employees save money by having the deductible waived or perhaps a reduction in out of pocket expenses. Employees also gain access to some of the most qualified surgeons in the world.

"For employers, this is a 'dare to be different NOW approach'," said Wouter Hoeberechts, CEO of medical travel company WorldMed Assist. "Forward-looking businesses see a strong competitive advantage in a solution that retains employee loyalty through expanded health care options while at the same time shaving cost out of the business."

But not all businesses are so forward-looking. "Sadly, a more common approach is traditional cost-cutting by reducing benefits or shifting an ever-increasing portion of the burden and responsibility onto employees. Employees paid 17 percent more for insurance benefits in 2008 than in 2007," said Hoeberechts. "This is a lose-lose-lose proposition: Employees lose precious benefits; businesses lose employee loyalty; and an ever-increasing number of Americans lose access to affordable health care. For long-term competitiveness, this strategy could become a death knell."

Politicians at both the state and federal levels have a clear mandate to fix access, affordability and efficiency of our health care system "The proposals on the table are varied, big, and expensive. Many of the solutions are excellent and are definitely needed, but they won't deliver the savings on insurance premiums that employers and consumers need right now," said Hoeberechts.
Impediments to speedy relief for skyrocketing health care costs are big: Stakeholders are lined up on all sides of all reform issues with swords drawn. With a national debt never before imagined, funding sources are bone dry. Building information technology platforms to facilitate electronic medical records, prescription improvements and enhancements to patient care coordination--all while protecting accuracy and consumer privacy - presents awesome hurdles. Two other solutions gaining traction are a shift to preventative care to reduce acute care expense and waste, and paying for proven results rather than number of cases managed. "These will require entirely new paradigms from stem to stern within an industry that has a long tradition of embracing the status quo," said Hoeberechts.

Consumers and employers can't wait for consensus and funding solutions for such a gnarly array of issues. "For them, medical tourism is like an instant-win lottery ticket," said Hoeberechts.
In working with employers and brokers to add a medical tourism component into their existing health plans, Hoeberechts explained his company can get a tailored plan up and running very quickly so that employers see immediate savings. "Once employers look into medical tourism, they find it hard to argue against a solution that's available today, brings instant savings, retains employees and their loyalty, and expands medical options to include the world's finest surgeons and facilities."