Health costs force many to seek care overseas

PORTLAND, Ore. - It’s been called “medical tourism” and many Americans are turning to it as the cost of health care in the United States skyrockets and forces more and more of them to get medical treatment outside the country.

In one estimate six million people will go overseas by the end of the year to save money. But one Portland man says he’s going because he thinks he’ll get better treatment and thinks his insurance will pay for it.

Doug Carneau is a truck driver for Safeway and a former amateur bodybuilder. He doesn’t know why he began suffering from debilitating back and hip pain but he decided to travel to India to have what’s called hip resurfacing surgery.

Hip resurfacing is not as radical of a procedure as traditional hip-replacement surgery, but it’s only been allowed in the United States since 2006. According to an Oregon Health and Science University video, the procedure involves separating the femur from the hip socket, removing the damaged area, and attaching a metal ball to the reshaped femur.

Carneau says he thinks his physician in India, Dr. Sanjiv K S Marya will do a better job than American doctors because he’s been doing the procedure longer.

“I feel comfortable that they’re up to speed on it,” says Carneau. “They do them all the time, and I’ll get a really good job over there.”

A year ago KATU News detailed the down side of medical tourism. Victoria Rice tried in vain to get compensation from a clinic in Mexico after weight-loss surgery went wrong. Doctors at OHSU said they had to correct a life-threatening mistake.

Rice healed but until KATU News started asking questions she was stuck with a $30,000 bill, several times larger than her original cost-saving trip to Tijuana.

“American doctors and hospitals are some of the best in the world if you can afford it,” says Rudy Rupak of Planet Hospital. “And those who can’t afford it are going to the next available option.”

Rupak is the CEO of the company that arranged Carneau’s overseas surgery.

Planet Hospital is one of several medical tourism organizations that broker surgeries for obesity, dental work, cancer, heart procedures, and sex changes.

Rupak says overseas hospitals have improved so much that some insurance companies are now willing to cover international procedures.

“We’ve been approached by insurance companies that want to put medical tourism as a planned design, but it’s a slow-moving process,” he says.

Carneau says his insurance company, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon told him it will cover his overseas surgery but wouldn’t put it in writing.

The company said in a written statement by Samantha Meese: “Claims for international services are not pre-authorized. Coverage … would be subject to … medical necessity. … A coverage determination would not be made until after the member received the service and the bill was submitted for review.”

“I’m not going to say for anyone who has insurance out there that their insurance is going to roll out the red carpet and have you go, because that’s not true,” Carneau says.

Still Carneau says for him the risk is worth the trip to India and the chance to feel right again.

Carneau just returned home from India and he reports that he is doing well and was impressed with his care in India and with the facilities.

For anyone considering care in another country, the Medical Tourism Association recommends overseas clinics accredited by the same organization that checks out American hospitals. It is Joint Commission International.