Health Insurance Costs and Medical Tourism
With the rising cost of health insurance, more employers are encouraging employees to seek expensive medical procedures overseas.
According to CNN Money, more than one million Americans will travel to foreign countries for surgery this year, and insurers and employers are increasingly paying a portion of the cost.
Steve Chavez, for example, president of Integrated Control Systems, a construction firm with 180 employees, now encourages employees who need major medical procedures to travel to Costa Rica, India or Singapore for treatment.
Chavez watched health insurance premiums go up 32% last year, adding 12% to Integrated Control Systems' overhead. He predicts that medical tourism will cut medical costs by 10% and will help avoid another rise in premiums.
Surgery overseas can cost 30-80% less than in the U.S. For example, a coronary bypass can cost about $75,000 in the US, but is only $11,400 in India (including airfare).
Not everyone is in favor of medical tourism. Last year, the United Steelworkers union intervened when Blue Ridge Paper Products was set to send an employee to India for surgery. Letters of protest were sent to Congress and Blue Ridge cancelled its plans.
But for some employers, medical tourism may mean the difference between being able to afford small business health insurance or not offering any insurance at all.
According to CNN Money, more than one million Americans will travel to foreign countries for surgery this year, and insurers and employers are increasingly paying a portion of the cost.
Steve Chavez, for example, president of Integrated Control Systems, a construction firm with 180 employees, now encourages employees who need major medical procedures to travel to Costa Rica, India or Singapore for treatment.
Chavez watched health insurance premiums go up 32% last year, adding 12% to Integrated Control Systems' overhead. He predicts that medical tourism will cut medical costs by 10% and will help avoid another rise in premiums.
Surgery overseas can cost 30-80% less than in the U.S. For example, a coronary bypass can cost about $75,000 in the US, but is only $11,400 in India (including airfare).
Not everyone is in favor of medical tourism. Last year, the United Steelworkers union intervened when Blue Ridge Paper Products was set to send an employee to India for surgery. Letters of protest were sent to Congress and Blue Ridge cancelled its plans.
But for some employers, medical tourism may mean the difference between being able to afford small business health insurance or not offering any insurance at all.
