Fast Company recently featured this story titled: Why Americans are Going Abroad for Health Care. Over half a million Americans flew overseas last year to save up to 90% off of US rates on major surgeries. And yes, they paid out-of-network rates and still saved that much! This isn’t that farfetched though, as many major insurers are looking into adding these international sites as in-network providers. Who’d have thought- globalization of medical care! I see this as a beautiful opportunity for markets to work their magic and begin to slow down the out-of-control medical costs. Another fun fact from the article- McKinsey roughly estimates that 10-20% of America’s 39 million hospital patients last year would have been good candidates for overseas treatment. How long do you think it will be before we’re seeing advertisements for Bangkok hospitals encouraging us to “check in” for a relaxing week of healing?
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