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Medical tourism: the ultimate outsourcing.

Article Excerpt
For more than a generation, the United States has capitalized on the benefits of low-cost labor in Southeast Asia as a source of inexpensive merchandise. During the past decade, US industry discovered India, Philippines, and Asia Pacific countries as sources of low-cost technical and call center support. Today, some professional service organizations, such as accounting and consulting firms, outsource work to India to minimize labor costs. The global economy is forcing US business to seek new efficiencies relentlessly to remain competitive. The high cost of healthcare is a prime target for savings.

The US healthcare system is the most costly in the world. Indeed, the high costs of US medicine have put many US businesses at a competitive disadvantage with foreign firms. The US automotive industry is the poster child for the dilemma posed by high employee medical costs: GM, Ford, and Chrysler's medical costs amount to $1,000 to $1,500 per sold car, which greatly exceeds the medical costs for Japanese, Korean, and European competitors. Simply put, countries such as India, Thailand, Mexico, and Costa Rica can provide healthcare treatment at much lower prices than here in the United States. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery, for instance, can range from $6,500 to $10,000 in India, whereas the amounts paid by US health plans to domestic medical centers can exceed $50,000. In today's cutthroat global economy, savings of 50 percent or more for costly procedures will get the attention of most C-suite staff.

All US industries carry the burden of high medical costs. Given the unrivaled cost of medical care in the United States and our history of outsourcing to the Asia Pacific, it should not be surprising that hospitals in Asia Pacific are appealing to the US public as low-cost medical providers that offer quality care at unparalleled fees. The temptation to pursue such treatment avenues is great, driven by the huge cost differential. Mexico's medical providers have attracted some US citizens who have ready access to the border. Mexican hospitals are not viewed as primary targets for US patients needing complex, noncosmetic surgeries and are not discussed in this article.

Although it comes with the highest price tag in the world, quality medical treatment is among the US population's most esteemed benefits. Can plan sponsors save sufficient money by substituting medical services in India or Thailand for those delivered in US medical...

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