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Health Plan To Allow Surgery Abroad

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posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 11:17 AM
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4o corporations have now signed up with United Group Programs, a Florida based health insurer that allows their employees to go overseas for medical procedures. The reason is that they could save 80% on medical procedures. Even Europeans are looking to countries like India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore for medical attention due to the rising costs in their own countries. The differences in cost? A $50,000 medical procedure in the US can cost as little as $6,000 in India.
 



economictimes.indiatimes.com
NEW YORK: At least 40 American corporations have signed a health plan which allows sending employees abroad, including to India, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, where they could save over 80% on the cost of medical procedures.

United Group Programs, a health insurer in Boca Raton, Florida, began offering the programme six moths ago. With medical costs skyrocketing in the US where Americans spend an estimated 16% of the GDP on healthcare and in Europe, the idea of going abroad to get healthy is becoming more and more attractive, Newsweek reported.

More than 150,000 North American and European are currently seeking medical treatment abroad, it said. Giving instances of the savings, Newsweek quoted GlobalChoice Healthcare, a firm arranging foreign procedures, as saying that angioplasty which costs $50,000 in an American hospital can be performed for merely $6,000 in Mohali in India.

The magazine quotes Abacas International, a leading travel facilitator, estimating that medical tourism to Asia could generate up to $4.4 billion by 2012.



Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


It is pretty sad when insurance companies are even looking to overseas countries to help their insured to get the medical needs met due to the high cost of health treatment in the US.

A big reason, I believe, that doctors and health care professionals have to charge so much is due to the high cost of their medical malpractice insurance. In order to pay this required insurance, they must charge their patients a lot more than their actual treatment costs. I believe there should be a cap on how much a person can receive if they win a malpractice suite. This would help lower the premiums for medical professionals for malpractice insurance which will in turn lower everybodies health care costs.

Related News Links:
www.hindustantimes.com



[edit on 24/10/06 by Keyhole]



posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 11:44 AM
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Good find.


...This is "outsourcing" at a whole new level.

Smart move. Not.



posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 02:21 PM
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It is pretty sad when insurance companies are even looking to overseas countries to help their insured to get the medical needs met due to the high cost of health treatment in the US.

If the quality of medical care is comparable, what is wrong with saving money on a surgical procedure?

Many people also come to the US for medical care. And that includes people from countries with socialized medicine. They come here for the high quality of care, and to bypass long waits for even simple procedures.



posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 03:33 PM
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Originally posted by jsobecky
Many people also come to the US for medical care. And that includes people from countries with socialized medicine. They come here for the high quality of care, and to bypass long waits for even simple procedures.


It is sad because people come to the US to recieve the best medical care in the world, and now US citizens have to go to other countries, not for better doctors or better hospitals, but because they can't afford to be treated in the US.

That is sad!!

Those are two totally different reasons for seeking health care in another country.



posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 03:44 PM
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There's a difference between going to another country to save money and going to another reason because you can't afford it here.

I didn't see any reference to the latter in the article.



posted on Oct, 24 2006 @ 04:24 PM
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The price of health insurance rising and health insurance companies looking abroad for more reasonable rates are all due to high health care costs. This to me, is the health insurers trying to keep their businesses from going bankrupt and still providing care for their insureds.

Your right, the article might not have delved into the problem this much, but to me it is all related.

Here is an article that tells about one persons dilemma her choices, and what the price differences were.

A Cut Below: Americans Look Abroad for Health Care


Lying in an intensive care unit more than 4,000 miles away from her New York City apartment, the uninsured 27-year-old entrepreneur trembled with the thought of having to pay her foreign medical bills.

Her left leg was fractured in more than a dozen places, and Mahoney was told an amputation was very likely. She was forced to weigh the merits of losing her leg against a potentially huge medical bill.

"Would you rather tell them to go ahead and cut if off if it's only going to cost me $10,000, or should I bankrupt myself and my family trying to save my leg?" she said.

Mahoney went ahead with the reconstruction. Three weeks later, she got the bill. What could have easily been a six-figure procedure came in for just under $5,000.


This happened to a US citizen in Croatia. She didn't have health insurance so was contemplating having her leg amputated because she thought that the price of the surgery in Croatia would be about the same it would be in the US.


[edit on 24/10/06 by Keyhole]




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