Boutique Medicine – American style or New Zealand?
Apart from the cost one of the major differences between the majority of US healthcare and medical tourism destinations appears to be the personalized service one receives.
For example, the private healthcare offered in places such as New Zealand is the boutique option. You can choose your hospital, doctor and the day of treatment but you have to pay. In contrast, the public healthcare system in New Zealand is government funded and hence there is no charge for its use by individuals. Indeed the same doctors work in both systems. The real difference is in the waiting time, and choice of doctors.
Contrasting this with the US health system where a recent article cites an example of the same medical clinic having two entrances: one for the insured clients and one for the self- pay. The self pay got the boutique service; to see a doctor and the higher charge. The insured patient got the diagnostic test but very little more and their insurance paid (a reduced rate).
It appears more and more Americans are walking away from insurance and wanting to make their own decisions with added benefits that feel to them that they are receiving fair value for their own non-insured, self pay health dollar. In this environment of consumer driven healthcare, medical travel must be an option.
Americans now have a boutique option of medical care in their own country where increasingly the customer not the insurer pays. Since the customer can not negotiate substantial discounts, (like the insurers) they pay … a lot.
Hence to travel overseas for easy access to the same level of service, a single invoice (if not more personalized), for 25% the cost of the boutique service in the US, with no bureaucratic minefield or unexpected bills starts to sound attractive.
Related posts:
Source: The Medical Traveller
Related posts: