Medical Tourism Insurance

This is a very broad topic and one that is at the heart of the question of Medical Tourism. In the United States in particular, consumers without medical insurance are the most likely people to become medical tourists.

We believe that the often-quoted number of forty five million Americans without health insurance is a conservative number. This means that for those people, any significant medical procedure will trigger a significant out of pocket expense. In many cases this might represent an unaffordable expense for the family. Estimated savings on medical costs tend to be as high as 90 %. When factoring in the additional costs of travel and accommodation, including the cost of a spouse or partner, the savings drop to 75 % as compared to having the procedure locally. (Financial Savings in Medical Tourism – Dr. Michael Horowitz {{Medical Tourism Magazine}}).

We have established that one of the many reasons patients travel abroad or even to other states in the U.S. is to seek better or less expensive medical care. Other reasons patients travel abroad for medical care are cosmetic procedures and experimental procedures may be more readily available as well as far less expensive.

But what of the issue of medical tourism insurance? How is the insurance industry responding to this change in patient behavior? There are numerous aspects to the topic of medical tourism insurance and many different kinds of policies available.

A few examples of the medical tourism insurance policies available and coming to the market are described below:

• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance:

Prospective patients are able to purchase medical tourism insurance against losses suffered in the event of their trip being interrupted or cancelled.

• Student Medical Insurance:

In the event American students studying abroad would like to have protection against high medical costs, they can purchase insurance to cover the costs of their treatment abroad.

• Travel Medical Insurance:

For the eventuality of the American or European or Canadian traveler getting ill or needing a serious procedure abroad, medical tourism insurance can be purchased to cover any treatments that may be required on your trip.

• Global Medical Insurance:

For Americans traveling extensively abroad or working for long periods of time abroad, there are Medical Tourism Insurance policies that cover these circumstances.

• Medical  Complications Insurance:

This type of insurance is as its name implies specifically related to complications that might arise from a surgical procedure. For instance you might pay for coverage that states:

- Coverage up to $150,000 after surgery for Physician, visits, treatments, hospitalizations etc.

-Benefit Period up to 6 months from the date of the Initial Treatment

• Medical Tourism Insurance:

This is the ultimate medical insurance tourism group of policies designed to cover all aspects of the patients planned trip abroad. These comprehensive policies would include coverage for travel, accommodation, hospital stay, doctor’s fees as well as payment for a companion and various levels of medical complications coverage.

Over the course of the last few years, several significant US Insurers have developed policies to blend coverage for corporate clients designed to lower the overall cost of the policy by incorporating both domestic and international medical care for the employees. These medical tourism insurance policies allocate funds to cover the employee’s care, travel, hospital stay and the costs of a spouse for the duration of the trip. In addition, they are covered for care upon their return under the traditional auspices of their plan.

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.

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS133075+22-Jul-2008+PRN20080722

One of the likely adopters of medical tourism insurance is the self-insuring corporation or even in some states the state government itself.

The Self-Insurer: ‘US Employers Turning to Medical Travel'
by Victor Lazzaro Jr., CEO of BridgeHealth International, Inc.

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 underinsured. 

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.
http://www.bridgehealthinternational.com/corporate/coverage/the-self-insurer-us-employers-turning-to-medical-travel.html

There can be little doubt that as medical costs spiral in the developed world and millions are without coverage or would like procedures that may not be covered by traditional insurance, we can expect to see a continued interest and increase in the number of people seeking to purchase medical tourism insurance. A mid Atlantic state recently passed state legislation to encourage state employees to accept treatment abroad for major surgeries. In the event the employee accepts the offer of treatment abroad they receive 20 % of the cost savings as well as allowance for themselves and a companion to cover all costs and expenses. The medical tourism insurance policy is put together by a major global insurer and the arrangements are made by a medical tourism facilitator or service provider.

This could be a win-win for the state and the employee, particularly at a time when state budgets are slashed and employees are struggling to make ends meet.

The greatest challenge to medical tourism insurance would seem to be employee acceptance of the quality and the concept. Given the foreign aspect and the frightening nature of dealing with one’s health not only in a foreign country, but specifically in a developing country, we can understand why this alternative will take some time or work to gain acceptance.

Like the notion of accepting nuclear reactors, this idea of medical tourism insurance and the associated medical travel is a solution that will need to be explained to the prospective medical tourists in great detail, particularly with respect to quality, as well as after travel care (also called continuity of care) when back at home.

Once these challenges have been addressed, we believe that medical tourism insurance will gain substantial support from employers on a cost basis as well as patients on a quality and experiential level.

Clearly, medical tourism insurance is a service and an industry that will achieve upward trend growth over the next decade.