Video Testimonial of Mr. Adolfo Garcia, from Houston, TX. Adolfo came to Monterrey for an Affordable Face Lift procedure with Dr. Rodolfo Flores and guided by Travel For Care, Local Health Travel Specialists.
Posts Tagged ‘health travel’
Travel For Care and Antonian Health Concierge Seal Medical Travel Promotion Agreement
June 4, 2010
As globalization is having an impact on almost every aspect of life, Healthcare had until very recently been overlooked by this 21st century trend. However, shortened distances, faster travel, and better telecommunications have made previously unthought-of actions like having a second opinion from a doctor far away, or traveling abroad for a less expensive surgery much easier and common. As citizens now have more options to get diagnosed and treated far from home, the only issue becomes information, coordination, and who to count on as a guide in this process.
Medical Travel is now embraced by more than one hundred thousand people around the world. A large part of this number travels from developing countries to the United States or Europe in the search for the highest quality of care. Another important figure,
probably around fifty thousand, travel from the US, Canada, and the UK to other neighboring countries in the look for more affordable elective and non-elective care. The former group consists of wealthy individuals that can find their way to a specialist, but have –until recently- the unmet need of guidance in the complex process of receiving healthcare in the US. The latter group faces the task of overcoming their fears of going abroad for a delicate surgery, choosing among an almost infinite number of
surgeons and hospitals, and actually getting to a foreign place, having it done, and coming back safely. Luckily for them, a whole industry catering to Medical Tourists, or Medical Travelers, as they’re also called, has sprung to life around the world. These firms have specialized in a certain healthcare procedure, or a certain destination, and help the foreign patient have a smooth and seamless process when he or she needs it most.
Travel For Care is one of such medical travel specialists. Based in Monterrey, Mexico’s nicest metropolis, a prime destination for medical travelers since the 1980’s, it caters to Americans and Canadians in need of affordable, high-quality healthcare, and has so far established itself as one of Mexico’s best regarded facilitators. Helping to assist the opposite flow of patients made up of Mexicans in the look for a second opinion or for a specific surgeon that has become famous for operating with a certain technique, Antonian Health Concierge has opened its doors in San Antonio, TX, a city with a healthcare infrastructure that easily rivals Houston’s. Antonian also bridges that huge gap between a patient willing to travel to the US for consultations, tests, or
surgery, but who has no idea with whom to go, or what the process is, or how to make things happen for an ideal outcome in difficult times.
As of May, 2010, Travel For Care and Antonian health Concierge have joined forces to cross promote their services in both countries and to complement their reach. As Dr. Andres Ibarra, MD, Director at Antonian states: “With this agreement we’ll not
only be able to market Mexican healthcare in Texas, but also better serve our Mexican patients once they return home. A fundamental part of our service is aftercare, and Travel For Care will be on our side offering their concierge, information, and liaison services for our patients over there in Mexico when they return”. Likewise, this is a great step for Travel For Care. As Gabriel Senior, CEO of the firm says: “Antonian is exactly the partner we were looking for. We have found a great firm that can provide our San Antonio and Austin patients with a second opinion before traveling to have surgery with our network in Mexico, as well as to count with aftercare once they return home. There’s nothing better than to count on a local partner in those premium
markets for us.” So whether you’re from Latin America and are looking for the highest quality healthcare in the world, or you’re an American wanting to access top-notch healthcare at a fraction of the US price, these companies have you covered. An agreement and cooperation like this is a great step for the Medical Travel industry.
Travel For Care is an innovative Medical Travel start-up firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, marketing Medical Solutions to American patients looking for elective and non-elective procedures. For more information, please visit http://www.travelforcare.com
Antonian Health Concierge is a medical concierge service headquartered in San Antonio, TX, delivering high quality end-to-end services for patients coming to San Antonio for healthcare. For more information, please visit http://www.antonianhealth.com
Contact:
Heather Wicklow
Manager
Travel For Care
Heather@travelforcare.com
Toll Free: (800)571-0640
Medical Travel, Helping You Lose Weight Permanently, Safely, Quickly, and in Line with Your Budget
May 18, 2010Monterrey, May 18th, 2010
As globalization takes hold of every aspect in our lives, very few realize the impact that it has on healthcare and on thousands of lives. Weight Loss Surgery is a very effective way to combat a person’s obesity. It is quick, safe, effective, but it has a major drawback for the millions of Americans that could benefit from it, its cost. Nevertheless, Medical Travel has risen as the answer to the huge costs of healthcare in the US, and as the great opportunity that this population was waiting for.
Even if Weight Loss Surgery numbers are small in comparison to other healthcare areas such as Plastic Surgery or Orthopedics, more than 220 thousand Americans undergo these surgeries every year, or what is the equivalent of almost one family member in every household of a mid-sized American city every year. Also interesting is the close to 10% growth that this category has sustained for the last few years. Although these figures seem enormous, the overall market is believed to be severely limited by the huge prices charged by US providers. With Gastric Bands and Sleeves above $15 thousand and Gastric Bypasses above $25 thousand, only those lucky enough to get their insurance to pay for this are in the game. This is where Medical Travel has come in to create another completely different ballpark.
As Heather Wicklow, Manager at Travel For Care states: “We just had a patient from Indiana, who came to Monterrey to have a Gastric Bypass with Dr. Horacio Guajardo, MD at Hospital San Jose TEC de Monterrey, and she has been constantly in touch with us to show off her progress. She even stated that she had lost over 25 pounds in the first 25 days. I am very confident that she’ll lose all her excess weight in the next 12 to 18 months, getting her a wonderful life back.” This patient paid $11 thousand to get it done with one of Mexico’s most reputed doctors and in what is probably the country’s best hospital. Factoring in travel expenditures and lodging, she still saved over $15 thousand, or the equivalent of a mid-size sedan.
With prices that range between $4,500 and $6,500 for the Gastric band, between $5,500 and $11,000 for the Gastric Sleeve, and between $7,500 and $12,000 for the Gastric Bypass, Mexico’s healthcare industry is competing for the US Weight Loss Surgery patient market with all its might. After all, the more than 10 thousand people that come south every year for this can’t be wrong.
Travel For Care is an innovative Medical Travel start-up firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, marketing Medical Solutions to American patients looking for elective and non-elective procedures. For more information, please visit www.travelforcare.com
Dr. Horacio Guajardo is one of Monterrey’s top weight loss surgeons. He works in private practice and operates in fine hospitals like Hospital San José TEC de Monterrey, and CIMA Santa Engracia, both JCI accredited.
Contact:
Heather Wicklow
Manager
Travel For Care
Toll Free: (800)571-0640
LOCAL ENTREPRENEUR AIMS TO CAPTURE US MEDICAL TRAVEL MARKET
May 10, 2010
Palmira Gonzalez – EL NORTE – Monterrey, Mexico, May 10th, 2010
Gabriel Senior launches Travel For Care, a Medical Travel facilitator company for U.S. and Canadian patients and doctors and hospitals in Tijuana and Monterrey By Palmira Gonzalez Although recent news and uncertainty is slowing the flow of foreign patients into Monterrey, the medical tourism market is still attractive to entrepreneurs. In Mexico, cosmetic surgery has a cost between 65 and 80 percent less than in the United States and at least 1.5 Million people in that country seek these procedures every year, said Gabriel Senior, founder of Travel for Care, an intermediary company between U.S. and Canadian patients and doctors and hospitals in Tijuana and Monterrey. Studies by Senior estimate that to date some 50 000 Americans travel to another country for medical treatment every year. “Of those, about 35 000 travel to Mexico. The remaining 15 000 are to destinations in Central America and Asia. Of the 35 000 people who come to Mexico, a large proportion are Hispanic that come naturally to the country on business or visiting family, said Senior. The attractive market, he added, are those 15 to 20 thousand people are non-Hispanic Americans, middle-income because they’re just the niche that could trigger medical tourism in Mexico.
“On the other hand, in the United States, there are 46 million uninsured. Of these, about 12 million could go abroad to seek medical procedures because they have the necessary income and the mentality to do so. Of those 12 million, 300 000 require surgeries, Senior explained. Mexico is an attractive destination for patients because of differences in prices for elective surgeries are between 60 and 75 percent. For example, a gastric bypass can cost $ 28,000 in the U.S. and in Mexico is around $ 12,000. A year into his business, Senior serves about eight patients per month and expects in a year to be serving above 20 per month. Travel Care has a network for three to four physicians for each of the seven specialties offered. They work with hospitals San Jose del Tec de Monterrey, CIMA, Hospital Angeles in Tijuana and outpatient surgery facilities in which the costs can be 20 to 30 percent lower. To date, its operations are divided in the same proportion in Tijuana and Monterrey. Also has a network in Reynosa for customers who prefer lower prices. Senior estimates an annual growth of 25-30 percent for the medical tourism market, the number of Americans who are embracing this trend.
“The commitment to medical tourism is big, because, apart from traditional patients, there is also potential to attract corporate customers, i.e. companies that insure their employees and packages that may be offered elective in Mexico at a lower cost.” “The mayor challenge here is to increase the promotion at a national level, remember we have competitors such as India and Thailand, which have active campaigns to attract medical tourism, and in Mexico, we do not even make a tenth of the noise they make,” said Senior.
American Patient Gets the Best Out Of Her Medical Travel Experience By Having Two Different Surgeries Done
April 8, 2010Monterrey, April 8th, 2009
The medical travel trend is catching up quickly with Americans and Canadians more commonly seen walking the aisles of Latin American hospitals and clinics. The region’s healthcare hubs are attracting thousands of medical travelers, and some even choose to use their trip wisely and get more than one procedure done.
Danielle, from New York, recently came all the way to Monterrey, Mexico’s nicest metropolis for what was initially only an affordable Breast Augmentation surgery. Her two pregnancies, plus weight changes and time were taking a toll on her otherwise young body and she knew that the time had come to give her body some tender loving care. Having seen price tags in local plastic surgery clinics range from $7,000 to over $10,000, she decided to look for options elsewhere, including slightly less expensive prices in Florida, and then several even lower priced surgeons in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her choice finally favored Dr. Rodolfo Flores in Monterrey, who has been in private practice for more than a decade and who charged her $3,120 for the exact same procedure and using top-notch implants.
However, her savings did not end there. She had already saved (factoring in airfare, hotels and other expenses) more than $4,000, but she wanted to use her recuperation time even more wisely. Having suffered from a light myopia since a child, Danielle chose to have a quick diagnostic and consultation with Dr. Isle Backhoff, one of the city’s most renown eye surgeons, who has had training in both the US and Israel. After briefly talking to Dr. Backhoff about her results, she was scheduled for a PRK surgery (vision correction) that would give her perfect eyesight back, to be done that same afternoon. The price for this, a mere $990.
In her own words and speaking about her experience in a letter written to Travel For Care, the medical travel specialist that assisted her all the way: “I just wanted to express you so many thanks for an exceptional experience. I just wanted to let you know everything went really well. Your service was way more than anticipated. The hotel was fabulous. Honestly your website does not express enough the level of class you both exude.” It is easy to tell that the combination of having a nice week-long trip to a beautiful city, being in the hands of professionals to guide her through having surgeries abroad, and having spent a total (all costs, travel, and incidentals) of less than $5,500 for a breast augmentation surgery plus vision correction on both eyes had her extremely happy. Patients like Danielle are everyday more common be it combining a main procedure with vision or dental work, medical tourism (also called medical travel) is benefitting hundreds of thousands.
Travel For Care is an innovative Medical Travel start-up firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, marketing Medical Solutions to American patients looking for elective and non-elective procedures. For more information, please visit www.travelforcare.com
Dr. Rodolfo Flores is one of Monterrey’s top plastic and cosmetic surgeons. He works in private practice and operates in fine hospitals like Clinica Vitro, Ginequito, Christus Muguerza, and Hospital San José.
Dr. Ilse Backhoff is one of the finest eye surgeons in Mexico. She’s part of the Centro de Oftalmología San José, founded by vision surgery pioneer Dr. Jesus Vidaurri. She specializes in both vision corrective surgeries as well as cataract removal and other complex procedures.
Contact:
Heather Wicklow
Manager
Travel For Care
Toll Free: (800)571-0640
Dental Tourism, The Valuable, Yet Sometimes Overlooked Part of Medical Travel
April 8, 2010“Well, the entire procedure will cost approximately $36,000,” the dentist said while Sheila stared shocked at the sheet in front of her. Sheila had suffered from an unattended periodontal disease for years and was now in need of a full mouth restoration, which included four implants and two sets of locking dentures in order to have her smile again. It is not difficult to relate to Sheila’s case, since leaving dentist appointments in which you’re surprised with a shockingly high price for a budgeted treatment is common. Millions of Americans see this happen to them every year and are forced to decide between either foregoing treatment, or spending heavily. This is where medical travel can save the day.
Sheila was fortunate enough to have a friend living in Monterrey, Mexico who told her about how much more affordable healthcare is South of the border. Two trips from upstate New York and $16,000 worth of treatment later, and she had managed to save upwards of $14,000 from her local dentist’s estimate. Sheila is more than happy, but is not the only example of someone going abroad for healthcare reasons. Every year tens of thousands of Americans travel overseas on the look for affordable, yet high quality care.
The Dental Tourism trend is not new at all, but as healthcare costs in the US have being growing at higher rates than overall inflation, the market is calling for the help of globalization. Few Americans realize that Mexico offers great options both in border towns, as well as in main cities that are at-par with the quality of their hometown dentist, and are literally half price. “People like Sheila find a way to rebuild their smiles and not bust the bank. Coming all the way from New York to Monterrey was not an obstacle for her when she realized the great value at stake” says Gabriel Senior, founder of Travel For Care, a leading Medical Travel Facilitator based in Monterrey, Mexico. As Americans start to realize that they can save upwards of 50 % in a country known so far for its beaches and spring breaks, both consumers and providers of this healthcare service are set to benefit. Medical travel is in full swing.
Travel For Care is an innovative Medical Travel start-up firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, marketing Medical Solutions to American patients looking for elective and non-elective procedures. For more information, please visit www.travelforcare.com
Affordable Health Care, Found in a Place You Hadn’t Thought Of
March 24, 2010A flag announcing an incoming e-mail flashed ¨inexpensive hip replacement.¨ The usual urge to take care immediately of all inquires has the responsible people opening it right away. We read: “Gabriel, let me thank you for the gracious hospitality offered by you and Travel For Care. My wife has decided to have her surgery in Oregon. This is her wish and I must see to it. You have offered a very attractive alternative to this incredibly expensive and, no doubt, equal quality service. I shall contact you in the future for any of my needs. Thank you, Will”
Will’s wife would travel all the way from Alaska, and pay upwards of $45,000 for a total hip replacement. These prices would have been anywhere between 60% and 80% lower for a similar procedure of the same quality in Monterrey, Mexico that went from $6,000 to $14,500 depending on how renown the chosen doctor and hospital is. So if healthcare in Monterrey is of the same quality than in the United States, then why is it not as affordable? There are three main reasons why healthcare in the United States is significantly more expensive.
First. No other country has a legal system where lawsuits are so common and so drastic than the U.S. This has led American healthcare practitioners and institutions to pay malpractice insurance premiums. These premiums can easily exceed one hundred thousand dollars/year per Doctor, Nurse, Technician, and many times that for Hospitals. Although foreign doctors and clinics have medical malpractice insurance as well, their costs are but fraction of that amount.
Second. The cost of labor, construction, supplies, drugs, energy, taxes, and almost everything other than high technology equipment which is permanently bought and paid for at the same price, is generally higher in the U.S.
Third. Administrative aspects like paperwork, insurance collections, receivables, bad debt, and compliance are a larger cost burden for U.S. healthcare providers.-
And why of the same quality?
It is extremely important to point out, that even if a medical tourist might be looking for value, it can easily reach out to the very top doctors and institutions. The best doctors in Monterrey typically speak English, most have studied, trained and worked in the US or Europe, and some are even U.S.-board certified. The best hospitals typically have world top-class facilities, the latest technology, and procedures that have made them earn local and international certifications such as the Joint Commission International Gold Seal.
Plans for this purpose are offered at prices that are mostly less than half those in the U.S., and normally comprise travel, lodging, and medical treatment. Providing first rate Medical Care Solutions to patients in need of elective and non-elective medical procedures of the highest standards.
Gabriel Senior, CEO of (Travel for Care) a medical travel specialty firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico states: “There is a substantive lack of knowledge by U.S. private citizens, about high quality, low cost, nearby, possible alternatives for receiving health care. Will’s wife’s wishes had to be accommodated by him, and in turn, they had to cover much larger expenses. She never got to believe, due to false preconceptions, that Monterrey stands today by itself with a few others, at the top of world class medicine, and it has become a practical solution that offers American private citizens a close, simple, all-encompassing approach to their medical needs, with low cost plans, and the same quality, service, treatments, and procedures, that one would expect at a top hospital in the U.S. We are sure everything will be well for them, and we’ll be here for them any time they need us”. As globalization is shrinking this world, medical travel, also called medical tourism, is becoming a very important trend that is benefitting both people in need, such as Will and his wife, who are uninsured and cover these kind of expenses out-of-pocket, as well as the top healthcare providers in countries like Mexico.
“Travel For Care” is an innovative Medical Travel firm headquartered in Monterrey Mexico, marketing Medical Solutions to American and Canadian patients looking for affordable elective and non-elective procedures of the highest standards. For more information, please visit www.travelforcare.com
Travel For Care CEO Gabriel Senior Comments on Chrissie Long’s Article on Rush Limbaugh
March 15, 2010Gabriel Senior’s (Founder of Travel For Care) comments on Chrissie Long’s article “Why Rush Limbaugh would go to Costa Rica if Obama’s health care plan passes” published in the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, and later reproduced in http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/286856.
I have heard Rush Limbaugh’s words in several occasions and have gone over some of his books, and my understanding of his recent comments is different than those of Chrissie Long’s. What I think he truly meant based not only on his comments, but also on his long and persistent opposition to President Obama’s health plan, is that he tries to convey that what the American health system badly needs is not a lot of additional regulation, and the takeover of the system by the usually inefficient and proven expensive government, but a good bit of fixing its reality by setting limits to tort law in what is referred to malpractice in medicine, and bringing up competition in the market as the natural regulator of prices.
In my opinion, Rush Limbaugh’s comments intend to convey that the need to travel out of the U.S. for medical care in the future will keep rising for Americans, as the effectiveness of a National Health System -if approved- is very much in doubt. That ineffectiveness in the National Health Services is suffered by Canadians, the English, and Costa Ricans alike. They all admit it too, but they all put up to the problems and inefficiencies of their systems in their own belief that theirs is the only way to have a General Health System. Why does America have to push for more government intervention and regulation to solve its problem instead of continuing to pursue its immensely successful free market ideals? Why not attack this problem by addressing one of the main drivers of high healthcare costs directly?
Let’s remember the main reasons why healthcare in the United States is significantly more expensive than abroad
-First, no other country has a legal system where lawsuits are so common and so drastic than the U.S. This has led American healthcare practitioners and institutions to pay malpractice insurance premiums which can easily exceed one hundred thousand and much more dollars/year per Doctor, Nurse, Technician, and many times that for Hospitals. Although foreign doctors and clinics have medical malpractice insurance as well, their costs are a tiny fraction of that amount.
-Second, the cost of labor, construction, supplies, drugs, energy, taxes, and almost everything other than high technology equipment which is permanently bought and paid for is generally higher in the U.S.
-Third, administrative aspects like paperwork, insurance collections, receivables, bad debt, and compliance are a larger cost burden for U.S. healthcare providers.
Why not do something about the first reason above? Why are any actions against it being ruled out? More than $10 Billion per year spent in litigation and compensations in malpractice suits that over-inflate the costs of everything related to healthcare? This would diminish the enormous cost of insurance for doctors, nurses, technicians and hospitals nationwide, and could therefore also reduce the very expensive and usual practice of defensive medicine, that implies the use of additional, excessive, and bothersome diagnostic exams requested to the patients that cost many other billions, but are requested only mostly as means of obtaining today, an allegeable defense in a possible future malpractice trial.
If this is not done, I believe that not much will be achieved after years of debates in Washington, and the millions of uninsured and under-insured citizens will still be there waiting for an answer. Unfortunately for US healthcare providers, while fortunately for patients, Medical Travel will always be an option. In her article, Chrissie Long wrote about the big difference in price of private medical services provided in other countries comparing them with the cost of similar procedures in the US. Let me assure you that it is true and astounding. In the city of Monterrey, Mexico just two hours driving from Laredo, TX, you have four first rate hospitals with The Joint Commission’s International Gold Seal of Approval, which shows their quality to be at par with the top hospitals in the U.S. and prices are still 50%-75% lower than up north. As recent examples or ours, Brian from New York came for a Facelift with one of Mexico’s leading cosmetic surgeons and paid half the $10,000 he had been quoted; and the more serious case of Chris from Denver, who had a robotic prostatectomy surgery to remove his prostate cancer with the latest surgical technology involving the DaVinci surgery robot, while his insurance company paid him 100% of a $25,000 bill which would have been $60,000 back home, and would have made him pay for at least $12,000 in copayments. It is important to point out that these savings might be achieved without compromising quality. Even if a medical tourist is looking for value, it can easily reach out for doctors and institutions similar to America’s best. The best doctors in Monterrey typically speak English, most have studied, received training, or worked in the US or Europe, and some are even U.S. board certified. The best hospitals in Monterrey have world top-class facilities, the latest technology and equipment, and even innovative procedures that have made them earn local and international acclaims.
American healthcare is indeed in need of a change, but unless its problems are adequately addressed and unearthed from their roots, nothing positive will be achieved, and us in the medical travel industry will continue to see increasing numbers of Americans going abroad as an escape valve.
Gabriel Senior is the CEO of Travel For Care, an innovative Medical Travel firm headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, marketing medical solutions to American and Canadian patients looking for high quality elective and non-elective procedures. For more information, please visit www.travelforcare.com
