Medical tourism

In the spring, I had a post about the increasing numbers of Americans who were traveling abroad for surgeries that are often unaffordable at home.  That same topic is in the news again, in the wake of a recent report by the ABC News program Nightline.

Overseas medical travel has been popular for a long time for those patients seeking more minor procedures, like cosmetic surgery, but now everything from hip to heart to brain surgeries are available overseas at a fraction of the price.

Rick Wade, spokesman for the American Hospital Association, said the hospitals in his network aren’t concerned yet. But he admits that this is a sign of how broken some parts of the American medical system are.

Nightline spotlighted the firm PlanetHospital, which bills itself as a medical tourism company.  The ABC report prompted a spate of other coverage, such as this editorial in the Arizona Daily Star.

ABC’s “Nightline” program Thursday reported about PlanetHospital, an online medical-tourism firm that works like a concierge service. The California-based company connects U.S. patients who are unable to afford surgeries at home with doctors and hospitals in six countries.

Rudy Rupak Acharya, who runs the 1-year-old company with his wife, told us that the firm has helped more than 200 U.S. patients travel overseas for surgeries.

Rupak said business is good. His company contracts with about five Americans a week, charging a $295 fee. Patients pay for travel to those countries and for their medical care.  In almost all cases, it’s a bargain.

Is this trend symbolic of the weakness of the American health care system, or of the benefits of globalization?  Or both?

Related posts:

1. More medical tourism ...
2. The other side of medical tourism ...
3. Medical tourism highlights disparities in heath care ...