Travel Agencies Tap Into Medical Tourism
AUGUST 23, 2006. GlobalChoice Healthcare is signing an exclusive partnerships with two key regional travel agencies to provide medical travel services to consumers seeking medical care overseas.
The first agreement is with Rio Grande Travel, an Albuquerque-based agency with 11 offices in the Southwest and three in Illinois, including more than 300 corporate clients and a large individual client base. The second agreement is with Solimar Travel Experience, a boutique travel agency based in Washington, D.C. that specializes in Costa Rican tourism.
"Understandably, individuals considering medical travel often inquire first with a travel agency," says Kenneth J. Erickson, Jr., chief executive officer of GlobalChoice Healthcare. "But, traveling overseas for medical care shouldn't be taken lightly, and it should be coordinated by a company focused on medicine. By joining forces with these leading travel agencies, we can assist prospective clients in streamlining their search for affordable, high-quality health care."
Under the terms of the agreement, any Rio Grande or Solimar clients requesting medical travel will be referred to GlobalChoice to provide all medical travel-related services. These services include scheduling clients' procedures, transferring medical records, arranging travel and accommodations, and providing access to on-the-ground local assistance for the duration of clients' stay.
GlobalChoice works with a network of world-class hospitals in Singapore, Costa Rica, and India, and provides access to more than 100 medical procedures, including certain orthopedic, cardiovascular, cosmetic and dental surgeries.
With the ranks of the uninsured climbing to 45 million, and health care costs increasing by an average of 10 percent per year, medical care is out-of-reach for many Americans. This year alone, upwards of 500,000 Americans are expected to travel overseas for medical care where, in many countries, costs can average 50 to 70 percent less than in the U.S. According to David Hancock, author of The Complete Medical Tourist, global medical tourism is expected to be a $40 billion-a-year industry by 2010.
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