Medical Tourism Blog

Today, we bring to you an interview with Jonathan Edelheit, Vice President of United Group Programs Inc., a Boca Raton, Florida based company. Founded in 1968, UGP started off with self-funding medical, dental, and short-term disability to companies, resulting in significant savings to employers. Today, UGP has four corporate offices and specializes in providing employers with very successful alternatives to control the increasingly high cost of providing health care benefits to their employees.

That last line is what piqued my interest, so I harassed Jonathan Edelheit for some on the record comments about medical tourists, overseas health insurance and about how to being the aforementioned two together. He was gracious enough to take some time for the interview, even though he was 'racing around in 50 different directions at the same time' ( his own words ) .

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Question : Are there any legal issues, or red tape or union issues, that insurers have to sort out before they can send patients abroad?
Edelheit : There are many issues that are involved. The first being sending patients to quality hospitals with quality providers. This is a step in the process many will make a mistake on that will come back to haunt them. Most insurers are going to wait a few years before they heavily get involved in Medical Tourism. Many are waiting to see what happens. They do expose themselves to tremendous liability by sending patients to poor hospitals, surgeries that could go wrong, and partnering with Medical Tourism Companies that are more concerned with profits than quality of care. Having said that, we are finalizing an amazing turnkey model for employers, TPAs and insurers for them to seamlessly role out a medical tourism package to their insureds and members and minimize their liability. We are focusing on developing a network of the top hospitals and providers. If you work with the best you limit the legal issues that would arise, which mainly will come from medical malpractice.

Question : Health care costs reaching unfeasible levels, while the system gets more and more dysfunctional. Sick people are left to deal with the situation themselves. Who do you think is responsible for the current problems in healthcare? Is there any solution to this, in the near future? Do you see any changes, legislation, reduced prices, etc. which might help the healthcare system get back on track?
Edelheit : Everyone is responsible for the Health Care Problem in America. Our Congress is responsible because their campaign donations are from Health Care and Rx companies and so they take no action that would financially hurt these companies and help the average american. It is a very sad system we have. Their are simple actions that can be taken to help Americans, but the only thing that matters is who is paying who off in our government. Also, medical malpractice is out of control and doctors can no longer afford to practice medicine. When a doctor has to pay $2 million a year for medical malpractice insurance he is not going to be able to provide affordable care. Our Congress, which is made up significantly of attorneys has no plans to change the medical malpractice laws. The average american is responsible because they haven't stood up for their rights and fought for change. And if no one is standing up for their rights, the american health care system is not going to get better and is going to continue to get worse.

Question : Getting back to medical tourism, I take it you offer group plans to employers with the option of sending employees overseas for treatment. How many employers have actually signed up with you for this? Any names? And how many of their employees, all put togeter, have actually been abroad for treatment? Related question - How do you go about convincing these employees, who may not have ever been outside Florida, let alone out of the country. Do you meet the employees to explain how it works, or do you leave that to the employer?
Edelheit : We have had many employers sign up for it. none of them allow us to use their names as they are concerned of public perception of this new emerging industry. As of right now, we are the only company in this industry offering medical tourism to employers who know what we are doing. So, we are going to have to say we can't answer the last question as we don't want to give away our secrets. I will say, that the communication and information given to employees is critical and what makes it work.

Question : How much savings can an employer expect, or more accurately, how much reduction in expenditure on employee health insurance payments can the employer expect annually? How about self funded plans which include medical tourism? How much savings does that work out to, on average, for a healthy person?
Edelheit : An employer can see savings up to 80%, which is amazing. Reductions in employers expenses vary based upon demographics, age, gender, location, industry, etc. In reality an employer if fully implemented could see savings ranging from 10% - 50% of their health plan. And that means reduced to no rate increases in future years. Employers can actually take control of their health care costs for the first time.

Question : Any thing else that we should know about any of your plans which include medical tourism? Any additional benefits, preconditions, etc.?
Edelheit : No

Question : You are also involved in the launch of the 'Medical Tourism Association'. You want to tell us more about the stated goals and the people involved?
Edelheit : The goals of the association is to help grow the industry in a positive fashion and to eventually provide a credentially process for Medical Tourism Companies and Hospitals. We have some amazing leaders who are on the advisory board from Mr. Krone who heads Harvard Medical International, to John Bridges, a Johns Hopkins Professor, to top hospitals like Parkway in Singapore. We are working on a magazine for the industry and a documentary we are going to film in multiple countries. We will also be launching a comprehensive medical tourism portal on our website http://www.medicaltravelauthority.com/ where people can get unbiased information about doctors and hospitals worldwide, and where they can watch medical tourism videos and read articles on the industry. The association is also going out and visiting hospitals and performing due diligence. Two of our advisory board members are flying to Korea in September to view all of Korea's hospitals. Korea is making a huge push to make itself seen as a destination for Medical Tourism. South Korea that is :)

With the support of the industry we can make the Medical Tourism Association a major force in the world, and use it to really help educate people about the opportunity of overseas surgery and help this industry grow amazingly large and strong, but of course in a stable and positive way.

Question : You work closely with both care providers and patients. You understand both sides of the argument. Is medical tourism good for the United States? And what do you think about the future of medical tourism? What changes, if any, do you think are likely in this sector?
Edelheit : I feel Medical Tourism is a real solution to the American Health Care Crisis. It is the only thin in America that can be implemented to show real cost savings. Also, I personally believe we have already outsourced our health care in america. If you walk into any american hospital you will see foreign doctors and nurses and hospitals that are not modern and some that are simply not clean. It is shocking that Americans can go overseas to other countries and receive Health Care like Americans could only dream of and at a fraction of the price. It will take time for this industry to grow and it is important that it grows in a positive and stable way. This is why we are one of the founding members of the Medical Tourism Association, http://www.medicaltravelauthority.com/

The only thing that will slow down this industry is possible people entering this industry that do not have strong ethics and do not carry about the patient but only lining their pockets.

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That was Jonathan Edelheit, VP, United Group Programs Inc. , who is bridging the gap between uninsured medical tourism and a properly regulated, safe and insured trip abroad for medical treatment. Like he says, most insurers are sitting on the fence, waiting to see what happens. And employers are not even willing to come forward and talk about it. Only a few insurers are taking the lead in offering health plans which include overseas treatment options. Jonathan Edelheit is working hard to unlock the potential of medical tourism, and I hope insurers and employers across the nation wake up to this reality soon.