Like many other companies, Philadelphia-based Cardone Industries Inc. was struggling with the cost of its workers' healthcare.
Many of its 4,000 employees lacked primary-care doctors. Rather than deal with problems early, they'd wait until they were really sick, then head for emergency rooms. In addition, a small but growing number of workers was turning down the company's health insurance plan because it was too expensive. To help, Cardone and Holy Redeemer Health System broke ground on a 2,500-square-foot health center for Cardone employees and their families that will be staffed by Holy Redeemer doctors. Workers who use the center will have a lower insurance co-payment and, those who sign up for Cardone's new Exclusive Provider Organization will pay less for their insurance.
At WellPoint, the nation's largest health insurer, Chief Executive Angela Braly is attempting to raise premiums enough to placate investors but not so much as to send customers fleeing elsewhere. WellPoint began boosting premiums after a profit warning in March. In the first six months of the year, WellPoint lost 189,000 members in the plans that it insures and the company projects an additional overall 150,000-member decline by December. The problem of how to reassure investors that profit will be maintained without losing business is confronting the entire health-insurance industry.
Power outages caused by Hurricane Gustav have forced Louisiana officials to transport patients from hospitals and other medical facilities for fear they couldn't survive long without air conditioning. Louisiana officials estimated that almost 700 patients in a dozen Louisiana hospitals may have to be evacuated over the next three days because the facilities do not have air conditioning.
Medtral New Zealand, a healthcare organization based in New Zealand that coordinates medical travel packages to this destination, is offering contingency insurance to cover the risk of major surgical complications for patients traveling from overseas. Medtral's contingency insurance allows patients who experience a major complication to receive 60 days prolonged hospitalization in New Zealand, medical and surgical treatment to help them recuperate, and, if deemed necessary by the treating physician, medical evacuation to the patients home country with an attending physician or nurse.
The Philippines could tap a gold mine in the next frontier in tourism-medical services, says Tony Lopez in a commentary published in The Manila Times. Medical tourism could actually be more lucrative than ordinary travel for leisure tourism: "The fees are high, the clients are predisposed to spend oodles of money, and the facilities, world class, are already here in the Philippines, at a price just a third to half of the U.S. rates," Lopez says. But a study conducted by Deloitte does not even mention the Philippines as among the destinations for medical tourism in Asia or Southeast Asia, Lopez notes.
German health officials are visiting Israel to learn about the opportunities and health benefits available at the Dead Sea, while Israel's tourism industry hopes to promote medical tourism from Germany. A delegation of representatives from Germany's Health Ministry and health funds arrived in Israel for a three day visit at the initiative of the Tourism Ministry, the Dead Sea Hotels Association, and the Tamar Regional Council. The objective of the visit is to present the medical benefits of the Dead Sea and remove any obstacles for German tourists who are interested in receiving medical care in Israel.