(Press release written by Richard Jordan, PR Coordinator at DentaRica, LLC)
Clemmons, NC — Businesses (large and small) in the U.S. are paying enormous sums on medical. Some more than others. Some expenses are due to workplace injuries, some are parts of benefit packages. A business owner can send themselves, or select employees, or injured employees, or all their employees, to Costa Rica, where prices are low but quality is high. Companies can even elect to add dental to their employee benefit plan through discount rates pre-negotiated by DentaRica Travel, with dentists in Costa Rica.
Even after adjusting for the costs of travel (including airfare, hotels, etc.), the savings to the employer can be tremendous. The airfare round-trip can be as low as $200 from Florida. Once in Costa Rica, a procedure than costs $12,000 in the U.S. might be as low as $2,000.
That's a $10,000 savings to the business per patient. And if a business has many such needs, those savings can make a huge difference to a company. Also, if there is any co-pay arrangement, the co-pay is also lower, making this design work in that case also. Some companies offer a "reverse co-pay" to employees, such that they are receiving an incentive to travel and save money for their employer.
Many Costa Rican hospitals accept USA insurance, and NC Medical Travel will make sure that our client businesses only have employees sent to such a hospital.
They are not going to be sending their employees on a "free vacation." For many medical or dental procedures, the patient is far too medicated or sore to enjoy true tourism. When necessary, the employee goes to a recovery center with 24 hour nurse staff, and DentaRica staff are monitoring the care the employee is receiving in order to be sure the employee returns to work as soon as medically possible.
The length of time is not an issue the way many people think it is. Costa Rica is only a 2.5 hour flight from Florida. Once in the country, the airport is quite near the best hospitals in a capital city of San Jose, and the appointment is often made for that day. If a procedure does not require recovery, the whole process can be done in 3 days (one extended weekend) with the employee back to the job.
One might ask, why then would an employee wish to go to Costa Rica for treatment? The flawed perception of Costa Rica as Third World medicine is the biggest hurdle, followed by a reluctance for the hassle of travel.
There are simple answers. First, money savings in the thousands of dollars is a huge motivator (if a co-pay is involved), or perhaps an employer would find it in their interest to offer a bonus to employees who save their employer money via travel (if the employer is saved $12,000 a bonus of even $1,000 is a small sacrifice).
Second, Costa Rica offers safer healthcare. That surprises many people who have the notion that Costa Rica is a so-called Third World country. For instance, the normal healthcare in Costa Rican hospitals includes an excellent nurse-to-patient ratio. It requires no convincing that more nurses per patient, more attention per patient, is a very good thing. Recently, DentaRica (locally known as NC Medical Travel) had an interview with Dr. Luis Wachong of Unibe Hospital (Clinica Unibe) in Costa Rica. When asked about this ratio, Dr. Wachong replied: "For surgical patient two nurse for one patient. In terms of hospitalization 1/1, in terms of observation 0.6 nurse for patient."
Third, many people simply love to travel. Even if the patient is medicated and sore from their recent hospitalization, many USA residents are likely to find the experience an adventure. True tourism is not possible for most recovering patients, and tourism is not why they are there. However, as the saying goes "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" and going to beautiful Costa Rica can relieve some of the stress and anxiety that an employee has, and speed their recovery.
There is one last piece to this puzzle, and that is NC Medical Travel. As a US-based company, staffed by people born in the USA as English-speakers, hesitant employees will feel more at ease. Their Help Desk will answer the many questions that are sure to arise, from cultural differences to airline booking problems to suggesting good restaurants in San Jose. Perhaps most important, NC Medical Travel has made business relationships with trustworthy doctors and hospitals in Costa Rica. This ensures that any patient sent to Costa Rica has good healthcare. Bad healthcare carries a large liability to the employer, especially if further medical care is needed as a consequence.
Bad or poor healthcare is a risk in any city in any country, unless you know who the good doctors are and where to find the best hospitals. NC Medical Travel makes sure their patients are only sent to the best and most professional healthcare providers.
About NC Medical Travel:
NC Medical Travel (known internationally a DentaRica) is a USA-based company with an open-to-the-public office in Clemmons, NC. They make medical travel convenient and much safer than unaided medical tourism through various means, including finding trustworthy Costa Rican partners, performing background checks on these partners, setting up appointments, answering questions from USA residents, and when needed guiding their guests personally.
Their website is www.ncmedicaltravel.com/
About Unibe Hospital:
Clinica Unibe is a hospital located in sunny Costa Rica, in the capital city, San Jose. Their facility has all the required Costa Rican Ministry of Health permits, plus they have had the AAAASF accreditation since 2010. Unibe Hospital was the first such facility in Costa Rica to receive the honor of AAAASF accreditation.
Their website is www.clinicaunibe.net/
Company Name: NC Medical Travel
Contact Person: Kathryn Jordan
Email:Send Email
Phone: 336-608-5636
Address:3540 Clemmons Rd
City: Clemmons
State: NC
Country: United States
Website: www.ncmedicaltravel.com
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