Travelling abroad for private medical care is becoming increasingly popular, with over one million people worldwide now opting to make the most of state of the art facilities overseas. With the freedom of cash plan medical insurance policies, patients can receive their treatment wherever they like, whether via their local hospital, or in brand new clinics in places such as Thailand, Hong Kong or across Europe. Despite the many benefits of making a trip across the border, the prospect of being in a strange country at a time when you may need reassurance can be daunting and a number of questions may spring to mind.

How safe is it?
There are risks attached to any kind of medical treatment, whether carried out in UK, or abroad, but you could visit some of the world’s best clinics, by taking advantage of just one of the benefits of private medical insurance and going abroad. There are bodies that accredit health centres so it is worth investigating the checks they carry out, before stepping on a plane, but with success rates as high as 98.5 percent in some areas of Asia, for complicated cardiac procedures, there should be no need to worry.

Does quality drop alongside cost?
It’s true that the cost of private medical care abroad is much cheaper, however this does not necessarily affect the quality of treatment. Lower wages for doctors, more modest living standards and less expensive costs of private health care are the dominant factors.

What happens if complications arise?
Normally, patients will stay in the country for long enough that staff can ensure that the treatment was successful and that any follow up care and therapies are being undertaken correctly. This means it is very unlikely that complications will occur in the first place. However, on the off chance that something unexpected should happen, a private medical insurance policy should help to cover any further care whether you chose to have it at home or in the original clinic.

A new top of the range private health centre is due to open at the beginning of 2009 at the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel in China. The facility will offer many services to those wishing to take advantage of their private medical insurance policy, including surgical procedures like cardiology, dermatology and cosmetic treatments. With access to brand new, state of the art equipment such as MRI scanners, and ophthalmologic laser and digital mammography technology, it is no wonder that patients and its 50 strong medical staff will be travelling from all over the world to use the clinic.

The centre is based in the city of Macau, which already attracts many tourists to its fine array of hotels, restaurants and casinos. The opening of the new Malo clinic will undoubtedly bring medical tourists to the area as well. Medical tourism has become a booming industry in the past few years, with private health insurance customers flocking all over the globe to hotspots like Thailand, Malaysia, India and Hong King. Cash plan medical insurance policies, like those offered by Freedom Healthnet give customers the choice as to where they receive their treatment, be it in a private hospital here in the UK or abroad, or even in an NHS centre if they wish. This type of private health cover gives policy holders a lump sum to put towards the cost of treatment, rather than paying for it directly. Freedom Healthnet customers could be the first in the queue at the new Malo Centre to receive their medical care in luxury when it opens next year.

Increasing numbers of people are deciding to take advantage of the freedom of their health insurance policies and travel abroad to receive their treatment: to destinations such as Hungary, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. India is the latest country to have success in this market with the combination of a very high quality medical service and low cost treatments. An average heart bypass operation would cost around £10,000 in the UK, over three times as much as the same treatment in India. Similarly, a £45,000 heart valve replacement operation in the UK is over 11 times higher than the £4,000 Indian cost.

A Planning Commission report published in India at the end of March claims that over 150,000 people travelled to the country in 2002 alone, bringing in around £151 million for the health industry. Since then, that number has gone up around 25% each year meaning that around £1 billion of earnings is expected by 2012. The report, prepared by member Anwarul Hoda, says: "The hospitals established by private corporate players are world class. They not only have the latest medical technologies, but also the services of Indian doctors and nurses with high degree of proficiency. The hospitals are completely equipped, upmarket and proficient and can measure up or even outshine any hospital in the West."

Some private health insurers, like Freedom Medical Insurance, offer their customers the choice of whether they would like to receive their treatment in a NHS or private hospital as well the option to travel abroad. So with the quality of foreign facilities rivalling health centres here in the UK, it is likely that more health insurance providers will follow suit to give people access to the many advantages of receiving treatment overseas. The Indian Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss told the Times of India, “India boasts of the best private-owned hospitals. When it comes to becoming a doctor, India also has some of the stringest criteria. Language is another plus factor — English is widely spoken and most importantly, there are no waiting lists."

Unlike the growing trend of British citizens travelling abroad for medical treatment which they pay for privately or via their health insurance policies, a confidential internal report estimates the cost of treating patients from outside the European Union amounts to at least £62 million a year, according to The Times.
This figure is “bound to be an underestimate” as new rules that are supposed to prevent foreign patients abusing the NHS are being ignored, according to the report.
The NHS is obligated to treat anyone who requires urgent medical care. Patients from outside the EU are supposed to prove that they can pay for medical treatment in advance.
But a survey has discovered that NHS managers aren’t guaranteeing that patients prove their eligibility for free health care. The survey also suggests that only around half the debts are being chased, costing UK taxpayers more than £30 million a year. Only part of the £62 million is paid back by the patients.
The problem persists, despite the Government promising a crack-down on unpaid bills in 2004. Hospitals were told to make patients pay for their treatment if they were not residents in Britain or from countries with reciprocal arrangements. The Health Minister at the time, John Hutton, said in April 2004: “I expect trusts to make enforcement of the regulations part of their core business.”
Ministers have repeatedly said that statistics are not collected on the amount of patients being treated who are not entitled to free care and have frequently refused to state how much health tourism costs the NHS.
An internal investigation estimated the scale of the abuse after the new regulations were introduced. In September the Department of Health lost an 18-month struggle to stifle the findings of an internal report when they were revealed to Conservative MP Ben Wallace under the Freedom of Information Act.
As well as the first official estimates, the document also revealed that maternity and HIV services were being demanded the most. “Maternity . . . was frequently mentioned as an issue,” the report states. At the time, officials even suggested that the Government should contact air-lines to ask them to stop heavily pregnant women from Nigeria, India and Pakistan flying in to the UK.
According to the Telegraph, the largest single unsettled bill was for the treatment of a newborn baby, between December 2005 and March this year, at University Hospitals of Leicester. The care given to the child, which included four months in intensive care, cost the taxpayer £208,259.
Treatment for HIV was also “widely recognised to be a problem area” as many health workers were “hostile” to the idea of making foreign patients pay for their treatment. In one hospital, Department of Health officials discovered that the person responsible for checking patient’s eligibility “was not welcome” in the HIV ward.
In September, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said that it refused to accept the conclusions of its own report, according to the Times. She claimed that the investigation was based on a sample of just 12 trusts. She added that the “situation is much better than it was three years ago” but admitted that figures could not be produced to prove it.
She also said: “We are in the middle of a review with the Home Office, which is looking at tightening up enforcement of the regulations.”
MP Ben Wallace, who exposed the report, told The Times: “This Government is conniving at a ‘Don’t ask, don’t charge and don’t chase’ policy that is leaving the NHS wide open to abuse.”

Freedom Healthnet is appearing in the inflight FlyBe magazine this month. In an article discussing The Health Tourist, FlyBe reviews how increasing numbers are going abroad for medical treatment.
Citing the fact that many people are concerned about UK hospital waiting lists, the article notes that the numbers of people visiting foreign countries for operations and treatment. With long NHS waiting lists and the cost of private healthcare going up every year, the appeal of affordable and superior treatment outside the UK is becoming increasingly attractive, the article states. The piece then goes on to point out how Freedom Health Insurance offers 'an appreciably simplistic approach to healthcare-protection plans'. It discusses how Freedom pays you money upon approval of inpatient claims and how you can then choose where to have your treatment. The FlyBe magazine article then indicates how there are no restrictions on treatment location and no limited list of hospitals, unlike other private healthcare providers. With Freedom you can have your medical treatment abroad. It indicates that often medical tourists will then have a holiday in the location of their treatment afterwards, as a way to enjoy the region and the sunshine and just relax.

The article points out the choices with Freedom Health Insurance:

• selecting to undergo treatment anywhere in the world
• seeking treatment at a private hospital in the UK as a self pay patient
• having your treatment at an NHS hospital in the UK
• the plan is sutiable for persons 18-75 years old
• current medical conditions are excluded and will be subject to underwriting (as with any policy)