Some experts say as many as half a million Americans traveled out of the country last year for procedures ranging from dental work to heart surgery.
BOOMING BUSINESS
Medical tourism isn't new. U.S. citizens for decades have been traveling abroad for cosmetic surgery and crossing into Mexico for dental work. But in the past few years, says Josef Woodman, author of Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Tourism, high-end hospitals in India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Costa Rica and elsewhere have been aggressively marketing their services, tempting Americans with cheaper medical care and a degree of pampering virtually unknown in this country.
BY JANET FULLWOOD
Next time you grumble over talking to someone in India about your flight from Dallas to Des Moines, consider that the next thing to be outsourced just might be your health care.
As the national debate over America's medical insurance system rages on, a quiet revolution is taking place behind the scenes. In growing numbers, the nation's 61 million uninsured and underinsured citizens are giving up on a system that doesn't meet their needs and are seeking medical treatment abroad.
Estimates vary -- no government agency or organization keeps track -- but some medical experts believe as many as half a million Americans traveled out of the country last year for procedures ranging from dental work and cosmetic repairs to orthopedic and cardiac surgery.
The motivation: savings of 50 percent to 80 percent on procedures performed by doctors often trained in the United States, at hospitals that meet the strictest standards for patient care and safety.
CASE STUDY
Wayne King is a believer in a phenomenon that has been dubbed ``medical tourism.''
When his doctors recommended two-level disk replacement to resolve the pain he suffered from a pair of collapsed lumbar disks, the 35-year-old Sacramento man first tried to arrange the operation at U.C. San Francisco Medical Center.
He had medical coverage through his employer. But his PPO refused to cover the $105,000 procedure, saying it was still experimental and not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The two-level fusion surgery the PPO would have covered was highly discouraged by King's doctors.
King, who works as an insurance claims representative, says he persevered through a series of appeals, but to no avail. Frustrated, he changed jobs and tried again through his new company's carrier.
Initially, he says, the procedure was approved. ''But two weeks prior to surgery they asked the doctor for clarification on the procedure and pulled coverage,'' he says.
At the end of his rope, he decided to outsource his health care.
A segment on Dateline led him to research the medical tourism phenomenon. After a couple of false starts, King hooked up with Chicago-based MedRetreat, one of an estimated 200 agencies that have sprung up to facilitate the complex arrangements international medical travel entails.
In January, accompanied by his partner, Austin Birdsall, he flew to Penang, Malaysia, where Dr. K Parameshwaran, an orthopedic and spinal surgeon trained in Malaysia and Scotland, performed the surgery at Gleneagles Medical Centre, a private acute-care hospital with international accreditation.
In the hospital just four days, King was up and walking by the second day after surgery.
Total cost, including travel expenses, surgery, hospital stay and two weeks in a five-star hotel: $27,000.
Back home, King's doctors were on standby to provide follow-up care, including physical therapy. He was back at work in six weeks.
''The outcome was fantastic, just life-changing,'' King says. ``I used to not be able to stand more than 25 minutes at a time, which obviously limited my social ability. Now I'm able to stand and walk and get out on the bike again.''
