The Rise of Medical Tourism: Scores of Americans Head to Foreign
Shores for Health Care
http://www.truthout.org/article/amid-health-crisis-more-americans-goi...
India - According to the National Coalition of Health Care in
America,
in 2007, total national health expenditures were expected to rise 6.9
percent - twice the rate of inflation. health care spending is 4.3
times the amount spent on national defense. And although 47 million
Americans are uninsured, the United States spends more on health care
than other industrialized nations.
It is no wonder then that scores of American citizens are heading
off to foreign shores for their health care needs.
New Yorker Danelle New, 29, was suffering from epilepsy, the
residual effect of a car accident during high school. She suffered
grand mal seizures lasting up to 20 minutes, which she says western
doctors could not explain or understand. "My body would build up
resistances to the pharmaceutical drugs and they would no longer
work,
which forced me to try and find other ways to solve the problem."
New traveled to India in 2004, and has been seizure-free since.
"It was a significant cost savings, as I had already spent thousands
of dollars in medical expenses, not to mention the tens of thousands
of dollars spent by my insurance company," she says. This included a
five-day hospital stay and medications that cost more than $700 a
month.
In India, she spent $1,200 for successful therapy with "less than
two months of prescription medication," she adds.
India is, indeed, one of the biggest markets for medical tourism,
where tourism companies now offer attractive packages that include
treatment with a splendid view of the ocean.
"For many procedures, the cost is 50-90 percent lower in India
versus the US," says Herb Stephens, Co-Founder and CEO of Health
Travel Guides. For instance, he says, open heart surgery costs
between
$55,000 to $100,000 in the US. In India, you would get it for $8,500.
Hip replacement is $65,000 in the US, around $8,000 in India.
Mexico, too, is a popular destination, especially for Americans.
The prices are comparable to those in India, but the flights are
direct and cheaper.
The benefit, says Stephens, of working with a company such as his
is that they take care of all the travel and medical details - no
worrying about how to get to the hospital, which flights to book, and
where to check in.
There are problems, however.
The British Medical Association advises people to be careful when
considering treatment abroad, and says flying soon after surgery can
cause complications. Some experts also question the health care
available in countries such as India and Mexico.
"Some countries have image issues that extend erroneously to
assumptions about health care," says Stephens. "For example, India is
a country with a very large population that includes a very large and
visible segment of poor people. Many Americans see media examples of
this poverty and erroneously assume that good health care must not be
available. It's a definite issue that international health care
providers have to work to overcome."
In his experience, he says, the prejudice is quickly and
decisively dispelled for medical travelers who venture abroad. Most
are shocked by the quality and modernity of the facilities, doctor
training, hospital staff and equipment. "This is true not only of
Indian hospitals like Apollo Group, but also hospitals in Mexico such
as Grupo Angeles in Tijuana, ABC Hospital in Mexico City and Amerimed
in Puerto Vallarta.
New admits to being pleasantly surprised during her trip to
India.
"I was surprised by how therapeutic the entire process was. I believe
I had mentally prepared myself for something much more strange and
maybe even more invasive than what I actually experienced."
New sought natural treatments in India, but for most travelers,
western medicine is still the big pull.
And the numbers are continuously increasing. Over 150,000 medical
tourists traveled to India in 2002. The rate of increase has been 15
percent since then and reports indicate that India's medical tourism
earnings alone will increase to $2 billion by 2012.
The Government of India is making sure the country is ready by
investing $6.5 billion in medical tourism infrastructure. In Mexico,
StarMedica hospital groups built seven hospitals in the last five
years, AmeriMed is opening ten new hospitals by 2012, and Grupo, the
largest private hospital group in Mexico, is spending $700 million to
build 15 hospitals in the next three years.
What does this mean for the United States? Plenty. It means that
with rising international competition, American hospitals are likely
to adopt aggressive marketing strategies, and maybe even create
policy
shifts allowing for better health care within the country.
In the meantime, patients seem happy with a variety of options
available to them - at home or abroad.
"I would have spent multiple more thousands out of pocket to
actually cure or even just more successfully treat my condition,"
says
New. Instead, she spent three months in India, "for a successful
therapy that truly changed my body, my mind, and my approach to
life."
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