Medical Tourism; Maybe Your PPO Network IS Too Small Afterall

Suppose you are a business owner with 220 employees. Like the majority of medium sized to larger businesses, you partially self-fund your health plan. By that I mean, you have 'stop loss' insurance but only after - let's say - the first $75,000 of claims per covered life come out of your pocket. Despite your best efforts at promoting wellness, every year one or two people in your group have a very expensive episode of care. Wouldn't you jump at the chance to reduce the cost of those 'shock loss' claims by 50 to 75% or more?!

I've been reading about "medical tourism" for a couple of years now. What is that? Well, check out this link for a prime example. Take the Bumrungrad International Hospital 'virtual' tour that can be easily accessed on their Home page (upper right). After just three minutes, I wonder if - like me - you'll be thinking what I'm thinking; why isn't this facility in my PPO Network?

Perhaps it's (past) time to demand that your insurer or self funded TPA (Third Party Administrator) credential and add facilities like these to our networks of providers.