Foreign travel for health care might be a tough sell for brokers, but it does hold the promise of considerable savings for plan sponsors and employees. (Illustration: Ivan Canu)
Medical tourism, or medical travel, historically appealed to either wealthy travelers or those unable to access experimental treatment in the U.S. Now, more brokers with self-funded clients are exploring medical travel as a benefits package option. It isn’t for everyone, but in the instances where it does fit, employers and employees can both realize consideration savings without settling for lower quality care.
Medical travel for plan sponsors falls into three basic buckets: domestic, foreign and pharmaceutical. All represent opportunities for substantial cost savings. If a broker is aligned with a plan sponsor seeking innovative answers to plan design, all three options could be exercised, depending upon the risk profile of sponsor and plan members.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
