Heading to Brazil for a face-lift or India for a hip replacement? You’re not alone. About 750,000 medical tourists embarked from the United States in 2007 because they needed (or wanted) pricey surgery, infertility treatments, or dental work, which can cost 90% less in other countries.
And that number is expected to rapidly climb to well over a million annually in the next few years.
Now a company is taking advantage of that growing trend and offering, for the first time anywhere, an insurance policy that covers unexpected costs associated with medical tourism.
The company, Seven Corners, says its policy will cover trip cancellations, medical coverage for the patient and a companion if they become ill or injured on the trip (unrelated to the treatment), emergency medical evacuation and repatriation for any medical condition, and coverage for the treatment of complications that result from the offshore surgery or treatment.
I was of two minds when I first heard of this. Part of me thought: If I had to have a hip replacement, and I couldn’t afford it in the United States, I’d want to know that there’s some insurance policy that would cover me if it all goes hideously wrong outside the U.S.
But the other half of me worried that this insurance could give people a false sense of security and encourage more to take the risky plunge into long-distance surgical procedures.
For example, in a thread on Lonely Planet, a woman is talking about her efforts to get some help after a botched face-lift.
How would Seven Corners handle her case? “Would it cover the cost of a repeat procedure?” I asked Jim Krampen, cofounder and executive officer of the company. Turns out you can’t be covered for botched surgery.
“If you go in for breast augmentation surgery, but one is pointing up and one is pointing down, but you’re healthy, wealthy, and wise, we don’t pay for it,” he tells me. “We only pay if you become ill or injured because of it.”
The company would pay up if you had an infection or injury caused by the treatment, or if you needed a procedure redone for medical reasons (an improperly placed dental implant that resulted in infection, for example). You’d also be covered if you had a stroke or heart attack during the procedure, or ended up with a blood clot from a long flight after surgery.
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