For three years now the World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress (WMT & GHC) has been partially integrated with the Employer Healthcare & Benefits Congress (EHBC). This integration has allowed networking between the two industries. Now in its 5th year of the WMT & GHC, there will be full integration with the EHBC. With the recent passing of the healthcare reform law, more U.S. employers, insurers, consultants and other EHBC attendees are looking to overseas healthcare options to maintain and lower their costs, and with the full integration of these events they will be able to network with top international hospitals, Ministers of Health, government officials and medical tourism companies from the WMT & GHC that could possibly offer them the partnership they are looking for.
This year, with the full integration attendees will be able to share the exhibit hall, networking cocktail receptions and other special events. Another noteworthy change is that the networking software for the conferences will be one for all attendees; they are now able to request one to one meetings with each other.
The EHBC is made up of the following 4 integrated conferences: Corporate Wellness, Voluntary Benefits, Self Funding and Healthcare Reform. Each of these conferences will bring attendees from the following industries:
- U.S. Employers (Human Resources/Benefits Executives, Wellness Managers)
- Multinational Employers (Global Benefits Directors, Global Wellness Managers)
- Agents, Brokers, Consultants
- Global Benefits Providers
- TPA’s MGU’s and PBM’s
- Health and Wellness Providers
- Voluntary Benefits Providers
- U.S. and International Health Insurance Companies
- U.S. Health Insurance Administrator
- Technology/Software Companies
- Marketing Organizations
- Consulting Companies
One of the main challenges that organizations face when trying to develop new business relationships is identifying the real decision-makers and knowing how and where to reach them. With the integrated conferences there will be multiple opportunities for your organization to reach its target audience. One of the opportunities will be the executive summits which will bring in ministers of health, tourism and economy, government officials and senior executives all from different countries and different industries.
The executive summits at the conference will be:
- 3rd Ministerial Summit – Ministers of health, tourism, economic development and government officials, which are looking to outsource healthcare overseas, will discuss common challenges and share best practices.
- Caribbean & Island Minister of Health Summit- Ministers from the Caribbean will discuss healthcare and other regional issues.
- Medical Director Summit- A collaborative platform for medical directors from the top U.S. and international hospitals and insurance companies.
How does each industry from the EHBC fit into medical tourism?
Healthcare reform
Health insurance companies and employers put their medical tourism plans on hold once the healthcare reform law was enacted in 2010. They’ve been waiting for a final decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) before moving forward with alternative healthcare options. Over the past six months, insurers and employers began getting more comfortable with the PPACA, and now that it’s been officially upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the medical tourism industry will become an attractive option for employers and insurers looking for innovative ways to lower their healthcare costs.
“This should have a very positive impact on employers and insurers moving forward with implementing medical tourism, now that they understand that healthcare reform law has been upheld by the Supreme Court…the burden is now on insurers and employers, since the law does not truly address the issue of rising healthcare and insurance costs,” said Jonathan Edelheit, CEO of the Medical Tourism Association® and editor-in-chief of Healthcare Reform Magazine.
This conference will provide the opportunity to become an expert in the reformed strategies to manage healthcare for your clients and employees. The integration of conferences will allow international attendees of the WMT&GHC to network with about 1,000 U.S. employers and insurance companies from the EHBC, to devise future collaborations as a way to offset costs (in the U.S.) and increase healthcare revenues (globally).
Corporate wellness
Nowadays, work for many has become their second home – a home where employees often undergo stress and pressure. Corporate wellness is a strategy that has been adopted by many businesses as a way to cater to an employee’s health needs with facilities, programs and lifestyle initiatives that aim to create a healthier employee who will in turn be a better performer – a mutual benefit for the individual and the company.
Many companies offer executive physicals to their major executives and these programs are expanding and are being implemented into corporate wellness programs. These physicals will educate the patient on every detail of their health, and in many cases point out a health problem or potential health problem they never knew existed. Companies offer this because it will cost a lot less for this physical than it would to have a CEO out of the office for months because of a health issue that could have been prevented.
Part of the corporate wellness initiative is ensuring employees and their families receive the best treatment possible, which will increase the chance of employees returning to work sooner. Domestic Medical Tourism fits under the Corporate Wellness Model. Two public examples of domestic medical travel are the partnerships between Lowe’s Companies and Cleveland Clinic and PepsiCo and John’s Hopkins. PepsiCo’s self-funded medical plan will now waive deductibles and coinsurance for employees and dependents that elect to have cardiac or complex joint replacement surgery performed at John’s Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, and in turn the hospital is offering a bundled rate to patients, which saves PepsiCo money . With this deal the employees get treatment from a top rated hospital, the employer saves money in the long run, and the patient recovers faster with less complications. It’s a win-win for everyone.
The MTA has launched a joint initiative in Executive Wellness and Domestic Medical Travel with the Corporate Health and Wellness Association. This initiative will bring together employers, insurers and hospitals to form joint partnerships and collaborate in these areas.
Voluntary benefits
Voluntary employee benefits – insurance products that an employee may choose to purchase through their companies at rates that are lower than they could get on their own – are slowly starting to see the benefit of packaging them with medical tourism. Currently, as a result of the U.S. economic crisis, the switch from core benefits to voluntary benefits is a growing trend that is helping employers to save money by shifting costs to employees and allowing employees to pay for certain benefits, such as cancer plans, critical illness, dental, vision, and limited medical plans. Many of these plans are complementary to medical tourism as they are not comprehensive. Critical illness and cancer plans are a perfect fit, paying out specified cash benefits upon the diagnosis of, for example, 10 critical illnesses or upon diagnosis of cancer. Many of these plans can pay out $10,000 or $20,000. In U.S., Canada and similarly developed countries this payment will only cover a fraction of the benefit, but if you allow the patient to take the benefit overseas it could cover the entire condition.
Self-funding
Self-funded corporate medical plans, where the employer assumes the financial risk for providing healthcare benefits to its employees are growing and are expected to have significant growth under healthcare reform. Self-funding means that instead of obtaining company medical coverage from an insurance carrier an employer chooses a plan of benefits and then claims liability in the risk of medical claims up to a certain level, which is when a reinsurance or stop loss insurance carrier assumes the responsibility. Usually managed by a third party administrator (TPA), reinsurance or stop loss insurance (also known as specific or individual excess risk insurance) kicks in when the cost of a claim reaches a specific deductible.
So, where does medical tourism fit into this picture? If a person within the health plan needs a medical procedure, perhaps a coronary bypass that could cost USD $100,000, under a self-funded medical plan if the employee travels for the procedure the employer saves $90,000. Even with incentives that have been offered by employers as early as 2004, such as waiving deductibles, coinsurance, percent of savings and other incentives, employers would still potentially save 60 to 70 percent.
Since self- funded plans have more liberalities and fewer restrictions than fully insured plans under healthcare reform, we will see these grow, and as they grow, we will see more implement medical tourism, as employers can see the direct savings immediately. Already, most employers and insurance agents/brokers are aware of medical tourism in the U.S. and each year, more and more implement them. The challenge for this market segment is the proper education of employees and raising consumer awareness and confidence in the international healthcare options. Many U.S. corporations simply are not investing enough in educating and building trust and confidence in the international options with their employees.