More Employers Discover Medical Tourism
Starting in January, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will offer employees and dependents heart, spine and transplant surgeries at no cost at six major hospital systems across the nation, with free travel and lodging. See our previous report. Others are doing the same:
This year, grocery giant Kroger Co. has flown nearly two dozen workers to Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine and several other hospitals across the U.S. for hip, knee or spinal-fusion surgeries in an effort to save money and improve care…
At Kroger, employees may pay 10% out of pocket if they choose one of the company’s 19 select hospitals, compared to 25% to 50% out of pocket for other nearby medical centers…
BridgeHealth Medical Inc. in Denver is one of a handful of firms that assists employers, insurers and patients with the logistics of surgery shopping. Earlier efforts to persuade employers to send patients to India and other overseas destinations for cheaper care never took off. So BridgeHealth now has negotiated fixed rates with about 45 U.S. hospitals.
Very interesting. I hope this leads to better outcomes.
I like this idea.
This is good if it cuts the cost of health care in half. Otherwise, it may not be good.
It baffles me that employers have even allowed workers to merely go to any doctor, radiology clinic or laboratory without considering price. This is changing, but the fact that it ever occurred is testament to how dysfunctional our health care system is.
Good! Now that large employers are focusing on efficiency though medical tourism, I’d like to see insurance companies put this to use.