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Tourism and Health Care
An article pubished by “The News Observer”, May 23, 2007, tells about the personal experience of an individual who felt sick while in Bumrungrad. He was taken to “Bumrungrad International” hospital where he was taken care of by nurses and doctors. After doctors gave him an array of medication for his pain and a program for his recovery, he went to the cashier and, to his surprise, paid less than US$ 100 for the admittance to the emergency room, a consultation, a room and bags of medications.
Americans know they can obtain less-costly health care abroad and travel to Mexico for small surgeries or Canada for prescription drugs. But now recognize foreing hospitals can deliver not only low-cost but high-quality medical tourism even for serious health problems.
Insurers still worry about quality control and liability risk at foreign hospitals but smaller employers and individual Americans without insurance are looking at overseas care as an alternative for expensive treatments, even for complex procedures like heart
surgery and those excluded from coverage in USA. Already, more than 150,000 people travel to other countries for health care each year.
Some insurance companies now offer plans that reimburse some overseas care in India and Mexico.
Travel companies are starting to bring Americans to foreign hospitals and sometimes combine treatment with a short vacation or recovery period, like an African safari or a recovery weekend at a Thai beach.
Source: www.newsobserver.com/105/story/576010.html
