Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress
Worldwide healthcare travel revenue predicted to hit US$100 billion by 2012
Rising healthcare standards together with the growing demand for more affordable treatment will keep the Asian market for medical tourism buoyant, according to experts speaking at the Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress today at Fairmont Hotel, Singapore. Worldwide gross medical tourism revenue is projected to grow from US$56 billion to reach US$100 billion by 2012, with Asia as a major driver of this growth.
"Buoyed by the success stories of earlier waves of medical tourists, consumers [and] insurance companies, as well [as] businesses fully recognize the reliability and affordability of going overseas for medical procedures. Patients who choose to undergo treatments in Asia can pay just 10 percent of the cost of comparable treatment conducted in developed countries like the United States or United Kingdom. This differential cost, coupled with today's sophisticated travel industry, provides an excellent catalyst to the growth of medical tourism," said Mr. Andrew Keable, divisional director, Informa Life Sciences.
Asia is well-placed to grow in medical tourism as healthcare standards and technology adoption continue to improve. Hospitals in Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and Singapore have made it a point to implement state-of-the- art medical technologies to improve patient care.
Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress 2009 is Asia's premier event focusing on two of the world's largest industries: healthcare and tourism. The event brings together professionals, government officials, and decision makers from the healthcare and travel industries, giving them the opportunity to network and share best practices, insights, and knowledge to further develop Asia's thriving healthcare travel market.
Leading-edge technology is on display at the exhibition portion of the event, where close to 30 exhibitors including leading medical suppliers, healthcare travel facilitators, medical spas, and hospitals are showcasing their innovations and services. Governments, too, have begun to recognize the economic potential and are responding by actively participating in the promotion of their respective countries as attractive healthcare destinations.
The conference themes at the congress portion of the event include:
- June 29-30: The global healthcare travel outlook, new challenges and opportunities in healthcare travel, payment and accreditation standards
- June 29-30: Healthcare insurance trends in Asia, best practices, and emerging partnerships
- June 29: Travel Business Day co-organized with Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) covering medical tourist requirements, business cases, misconceptions, and the healthcare travel ecosystem
- July 1: Minimizing legal liabilities in global healthcare travel
- July 1: Health insurance risk management for new markets
"We have an impressive line-up of industry leaders and luminaries who will be sharing key topics specifically designed for the medical tourism industry. The exclusive congress segment ensures the unique position of Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress as Asia's leading medical tourism event", said Ms. Rebecca Wolfe, divisional director, Informa Life Sciences.
Healthcare Travel Exhibition & Congress is sponsored by Singapore Medicine, CKMP-Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion, and National Healthcare Group. The event is also supported by International Enterprise Singapore, International Medical Travel Association (IMTA), Life Insurance Association, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Spa and Wellness Association Singapore, Thai Spa Association, and Spa Association Singapore.
For more information, please visit http://www.healthcaretravel-singapore.com/.
Comments
Bartvickars
The US is fast becoming a 3rd world country when it comes to health care. Not that the heathcare is bad...it's the access to healthcare because of the cost that's the killer.
My wife and I are in our early 60's and self employed.
We pay for health insurance out of our own pockets. We do not receive any employer contributions to our healthcare like most Americans who get a paycheck nor do we get taxpayer subsidized healthcare like our dear Congressmen McClintock who is lucky enough to be federal employees and enjoy wonderful heath benefits.
At our age, our health insurance company , Blue Shield would be charging us $2500+ a month for average coverage...if we could afford that.
Since we can't ....we opted for the cheapest option available to us at our age....a catastrophic healthcare option with a $8,000 deductible...premiums $900 per month. So in essence we pay for all our own doctor visits, prescriptions, dental cleanings...up to $8,000 per person per year. Only after we've paid out $8,000 will our insurance companys benefits start to kick in.
I would call a health care insurance plan like that...pretty crummy.
So what have we been doing to get health care we can afford??
We'll for the last 4 years we've been hoping on a flight to Thailand where we take care of all our aches and pains, dental work and physicals....for 1/10th the cost of what we would pay for the same medical services in the good old USA.
That's right. $2500 worth of physicals...ultra sounds, blood tests, ekg's, stress tests, bone density scans, mammograms...for $300. An $2500 operation for dysphasia...for $100. $100 Dental cleanings... for.$20. And in hospitals that put many American hospitals to shame.
That's because Thailand and many other countries are taking advantage of the heath care affordability gap in countries like the US. They know they can deliver as good or better care for a fraction of the cost...and bring in US dollars at the same time. For them, America's loss is their gain.
The flight to Bangkok does take 14 hours and costs $900 roundtrip ...but the savings are so huge that even after the airfare...we come out way ahead.
The US healthcare system is broken. But Americans need not become victims.
Foreign countries offer excellent medical care for a fraction of the cost.
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