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Insurance, Taxes and Medical Tourism |
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Insurance is one of the main concerns of tourists while taking treatment away from their native country. Initially, medical tourism was popular for elective procedures only that aren’t normally covered under standard policies. These included face-lifts, breast augmentations, and other types of plastic surgery. But now, tourists go abroad for critical and life saving procedures too, such as kidney transplants, arterial bypasses, knee replacement, etc. Quite naturally, insurance is becoming a major concern in the medical tourism world, and it is important that you understand what options are available to you. |
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Sum up your current Insurance plans |
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It is always advisable to first look around your health insurance plan, whether you are covered or not? Many times it is possible that someone else purchases a heath plan for you and you are not aware of the procedure you are opting as actually partially or fully covered. Now the question is that where should you look for this hidden policy. Here are some clues that you can work out. |
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May be your son, daughter, husband, or wife has some policy that covers full family, you can take the benefit of that. |
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May be your employer is having some health plan for you that covers your current procedure. |
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Go through all the existing insurance plans carefully. Many times we take a plan without bothering what is covered and what is not. |
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Are you covered? |
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Confirm your Insurance plan covers you? |
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The health insurance for medical tourism is not that common and not available easily. But in view of the significant savings potential, some experts believe that health insurance plans covering medical tourism will eventually become available and revolutionize healthcare delivery. “The globalization of healthcare is expected to have a significant impact on the strategy of health insurance companies. Private insurance companies cannot keep themselves away from huge saving and earning potential from medical tourism |
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Recheck your insurance policies and restrictions |
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Before going abroad for medical procedures, recheck relevant policy again. If you have any medical or travel policy, confirm that it covers the following |
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Check your policy covers you, out of your native country. May be there is some restriction or some specific condition that may create problem while making a claim of policy. |
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Check whether your policy covers the specific medical procedure as well as emergency care, and other specialized services in case of accident and other medical complications. |
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Is there any traveling restriction or is there any specific restriction for the country where you are going? |
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Is your policy covers the expenses of the person, he/she, may be your attendant, family member or friend, if traveling with you. |
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It would always suggest that you could take the services of professional legal adviser by showing your policies before leaving the country. Though it would increase your expenses, but it gives you 100% assurance when you are out of your country and peace of mind too.
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Your insurance plane covers the procedure you are opting? |
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First you need to check your Insurance Company covers the specific procedure you are undergoing. Check whether this procedure is covered in your home country or not. Many of the cosmetic procedures are not covered by insurance companies, neither out of country nor in your home country. If your procedure is covered under your policy, then you need to check is this covered globally, is any hospital network comes under your policy provider. Some insurance companies from USA and other countries added Wockhardt Hospital from India in their network list.
If your company covers you, before going through procedure, check the following and get confirmation in written from your policy provider company. Do not believe on phones. |
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Term of payment |
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Schedule of payments |
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Liabilities |
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Post-operative care and expenses policy of company. |
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Your policy covers traveling, accommodation, and other related expenses. |
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What to do if you are not covered? |
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There may be 100s of reasons why you are not covered |
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It may be you did not have any health policy. |
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If you have health policy may be the procedure you required is not covered under that policy. |
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May be your insurance provider do not have any tie-up with health care unit in the country you are visiting. |
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There may be a possibility that your insurance has lapsed due to non-payment of premium for a long time. |
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Don’t get upset if any or all the above points are true in your case, just give a few more tries. Check the numerous expat and travel insurance firms out there. Call the hospital you want to opt for medical procedure and ask what insurance companies they have partnered with, etc., may be you get some extended procedure Insurance etc. |
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Analyze the cost and make budget for Medical Procedure |
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As compare to domestic health care services medical tourism is any time economical. But you must keep in mind all the hidden relevant expenses attached with the medical tourism other than the cost of medical procedure. |
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Passports, visas, and supplementary paperwork |
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International flights and fees |
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Immigration and emigration fees |
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Airport pickup and travel within your medical tourism destination |
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Accommodations |
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Food |
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Internet usage and phone cards |
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Medical equipment (wheelchairs, crutches, bandages, etc.) |
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Medication |
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Travelers insurance |
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Post-operative treatment and recovery |
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Extra expenses towards the person traveling with you. |
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