Outsourcing Your Heart

People forced to pay their own health-care costs tend to hunt for bargains. As a result, medical tourism is booming, with patients in the US, Canada and UK scheduling flights to obtain surgery in India, Thailand, and other countries with trained physicians and procedures that cost 25 percent or less than those based in the US. Uninsured or underinsured patients in particular arrange for plastic, heart, joint and other surgeries overseas. Self-insured businesses that provide health-care benefits for employees also expect medical outsourcing to save money. By 2015, 20 percent of the US GDP will be devoted to health care, while 25 percent of workers will be uninsured. The US system, with third-party payers such as insurers or government, gives neither health-care providers nor consumers much incentive to save money. The total number of patients seeking health care abroad is small, but more entrepreneurs – acting as middlemen to arrange travel, insurance and follow-up care – envision profits and tout the new trend in health plans. – YaleGlobal