Could Medical Tourism Spark Competition Among U.S. Providers?
Few employers are eager to discuss their actual health travel plans, especially after the Blue Ridge Paper Products incident three years ago. “For their own reasons, they want to be under the radar,” says Woodman, the Patients Beyond Borders author. Hannaford Supermarkets, however, was willing to talk. Last year, the Portland, Me.-based supermarket chain gave its 27,000 employees the option to travel to Singapore’s National University Hospital for hip and knee replacements. No deductible or co-pay and free travel for a companion was the deal. Since the program launched in January 2008, however, nobody has taken Hannaford up on its offer, says spokesman Michael Norton. The reason? After all the press the company received, a couple of domestic providers stepped forward and lowered their prices to compete with Singapore. “You can sort of see the dynamic,” says Norton. “It will probably be less likely that we get any traffic on the overseas option.” Going forward, there are several factors
