"Bill of Health"-Going Global For Healthcare
Thursday, July 13, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: American companies have long outsourced their high-cost U.S. operations to low-cost foreign countries. Now, some American consumers are doing the same for their major medical care. As Jeff Yastine reports in tonight`s "bill of health", the growing medical tourism industry could spell big changes for U.S. insurers and healthcare providers.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: For years, Americans have traveled to the Caribbean and other luxury destinations for cosmetic surgery. But now they`re traveling as far as India and the Philippines for major operations like heart surgery, dental implants, and knee and hip replacements. The cost is usually half or even less of what a U.S. healthcare provider would charge. Madeline del Sol, a Miami-based realtor, never thought of traveling overseas for medical treatment. Then her U.S. dentist told her she need $17,000 worth of dental work to fix long-standing problems, but she didn`t have dental insurance. So with the guidance of a friend, she wound up seeing a dentist in Bogota, Colombia instead.
MADELINE DEL SOL, MEDICAL TOURIST: Over there, basically what they did is they changed 13 fillings into white. They did two root canals, three crowns, and a bone implant. All of that ended up being about $1,600.
YASTINE: $1,600?
DEL SOL: $1,600, two weeks worth of work. Literally I was in the dentist`s office like almost every other day.
YASTINE: The number of Americans heading overseas for medical treatment isn`t known, but India last year saw a half million foreign visitors to its best hospitals. 250,000 visited Singapore for medical treatment. Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand is internationally accredited, with U.S. and London-trained doctors. Those credentials are helping drive Thailand`s medical tourism, with the hospital treating 55,000 foreign visitors last year. Experts say results like that have countries around the globe taking notice.
MILICA BOOKMAN, ECONOMIST, SAINT JOSEPH`S UNIVERSITY: Within the governments, there`s a cooperation now between the ministries of health, the ministries of transportation and the ministries of tourism. Because medical tourism is essentially splicing medicine, which is a high-growth sector in most developing countries and in the world, and also tourism, which is one of the fastest growing industries.
YASTINE: Bookman and her husband, Dr. Richard Bookman, vice-provost for research at the University of Miami`s medical school, have studied the trend in-depth and say it could have a big impact on the U.S. healthcare scene, potentially robbing U.S. hospitals of the high-margin, high-profit surgeries they depend on.
DR. RICHARD BOOKMAN, VICE PROVOST FOR RESEARCH, UM SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Sometimes, the profits from an elective surgical procedure are the thing that makes it possible for that community physician to actually make a reasonable living and spend 10 hours a day in the community clinic. So the core of the strategy from the third-world country`s perspective, absolutely brilliant, go for the high-margin procedures. The impact of that on the U.S. healthcare market is one that U.S. policymakers need to be particularly mindful of.
YASTINE: Bookman says even U.S. health insurers could eventually encourage patients to head overseas for cheaper care. He says Britain`s National Health Service has already started doing just that. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for "Bill of Health."
