By Kristen Montez, Director of Legal & Regulatory Services, Satori World Medical

Often a companion will accompany our patients on their journey to receive medical treatment at one of our International Centers of Excellence. Companions not only offer comfort, peace of mind and a familiar face, but they typically provide medical assistance to the patients before and after the procedure.

As a patient receiving medical treatment abroad, you may incur additional expense, in the form of airfare, ground transportation, or hotel, if you bring a companion. However, depending on your situation, these expenses could be tax deductible for you.

The IRS allows a deduction for expenses stemming from “nursing services”, i.e. assistance with wheel-chair, luggage, driving, help with medication. If your companion helps you with these nursing services, the companion’s transportation (plane ticket, taxi rides) and lodging expenses (up to $50 per night for a hotel stay) may be deductible. Your companion does not need to have a specific medical license.

Be sure to consult with your accountant or tax advisor on whether the transportation or hotel expenses are deductible.

The content provided herein is for informational purposes and reflects the opinions of Satori World Medical, Inc. and should not be relied on as legal advice. In accordance with IRS Circular 230, the information set forth is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used as or considered a “covered opinion” or other written tax advice and should not be relied upon for the purpose of avoiding tax-related penalties under the Internal Revenue Code; promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or tax-related matter(s) addressed herein; for IRS audit, tax dispute or other purposes. Satori World Medical, Inc. disclaims any responsibility for any particular matter that effects your specific situation.

By Kristen Montez, Director of Legal & Regulatory Services, Satori World Medical

When you choose Satori World Medical to facilitate your medical travel experience, you gain access to top-notch medical facilities on a global level. I have studied medical travel from the legal perspective since 2007. My studies have bestowed upon me a medical travel mantra: “Quality of care must never compromised.” This why I chose to work for Satori World Medical. Satori World Medical lives by this mantra. All of Satori World Medical’s contracted acute care hospitals are accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) and meet or exceed established U.S. standards of excellence. However, JCI accreditation is simply a gating quality standard for Satori—which means we go above and beyond JCI standards, essentially picking the best from the best.

Look at Satori World Medical’s website and pursue the photo book of our contracted facilities. http://www.satoriworldmedical.com/hospital.php Go ahead. Click on one of the country links which will bring you to a page where one of our contracted facilities is located. Then click “details” to get more information on the actual facilities. You’ll see if there are any chickens, they’re laying golden eggs.

To read all of my legal blog posts, click here.

By Kristen Montez, Director of Legal & Regulatory Services, Satori World Medical

A health plan typically chooses a medical travel benefit for 1) the exceptional quality of care accessible overseas 2) and the financial savings.

But “what if there is a complication, or the patient needs additional medical treatment abroad?”, a common question asked by our health plan clients. Will the anticipated savings be absorbed by the additional treatment? The typical lawyer answer “it depends” is incorrect. Depending on the medical travel facilitator, most likely the savings will not be eaten by the costs incurred for the additional treatment.

Satori World Medical offers all its self-insured health plan clients a stop loss insurance policy. This policy provides significant financial protection for the client in the event that the patient requires additional medical treatment stemming from the medical procedure they received when abroad. This type of coverage does not cover a patient’s decision to receive voluntary additional treatment in another country; it only will cover additional treatment that is medically necessary. The amount of stop loss coverage available depends upon the specific policy, but regardless of what you use, your goal to limit the employer’s financial responsibility is achieved.

For example, a medical travel facilitator’s stop loss policy may limit a client’s maximum responsibility to $50,000 in total medical travel expenses. Total medical travel expenses include:

1. The initial approved medical procedure and travel expenses for the patient and companion
2. Any additional required medical treatment and the expenses for the modified travel arrangements for the companion and patient.

In this scenario, once the total medical travel expenses exceed $50,000, the stop loss insurance that the facilitator provides will kick in for the next $100,000 worth of expenses. Therefore, the client will potentially be responsible for a maximum of $50,000 in total medical travel expenses — still far less than the average U.S. cost of $75,000 for a lumbar laminectomy with fusion alone, without additional medical treatment.

To read all of my legal blog posts, click here.

By Kristen Montez, Director of Legal & Regulatory Services, Satori World Medical

A misconception about medical travel is what I call the “doc won’t touch me myth”. Some U.S. patients seeking medical treatment abroad are concerned their U.S.-based providers won’t see them for post-op care upon their return. I am not sure why this myth exists but I can easily dispel it.

As a former medical malpractice defense attorney, many providers are more than willing to treat patients who are injured, weak and sick as the result of another provider’s negligence. The negligent providers practiced right here in the U.S. and their patients that filed suit sustained significant injury. However, many of these patients sought care by other providers after the negligence occurred. They simply had to in order to heal. Based on my review of the medical records when defending the cases, these providers treated the injured patients without hesitance and often improved their quality of life exceeding the original dismal prognoses.

If these providers are willing to treat a victim of medical negligence, your U.S.-based provider will most likely treat you after you return from receiving treatment abroad. To alleviate any concern about receiving treated when you return, Satori World Medical always schedules your follow-up appointment with your U.S.-based provider—before you even board the plane to receive treatment abroad. So you can be rest assured you will receive the follow-up care you require from a more than willing U.S.-based provider.

To read all my legal perspective blog posts, click here.