Meet Boomers Who’ve Traveled

At 58, Nancy Kuhlman faced mitral valve replacement without insurance. She also needed repair of a hole in her heart from birth. She was quoted $200,000 in Albuquerque and given one valve choice, a mechanical valve requiring blood thinner the rest of her life. After investigating alternatives, she chose Delhi India where the cost was under $20,000. She received a bioprosthetic valve requiring no blood thinner.

The leading orthopedics group in Grand Rapids, Michigan turned away 54 year old Kathy Roberts, offering no solution for her ten years of increasing hip pain and sleepless nights. None of its doctors did hip resurfacing, which Kathy considered the perfect solution to her dilemma. Her Cigna PPO insurance would reimburse the cost of BHR advised our experts. She marveled at the fact she had full rotation the day after surgery, something she hadn’t had in ten years. Pain free, the research chemist and musician has resumed her active life style.

When Henry deKoning’s brother discouraged surgery abroad, saying God will take care of your bum hip, Henry’s reply was he hasn’t for almost ten years. The 58-year old Teamster truck driver from rural Nebraska journeyed to India for hip resurfacing instead of a trip to Wichita for the old fashioned total hip replacement.  Maybe a higher power was responsible for giving Henry the ability to reason, accept 21st century medical technology and chose a World Class resurf surgeon. Hallelujah!.

"Unbelievable!" That’s what 68-year old Gerard Drouot, a dual American-French citizen living in Philadelphia exclaimed about his Total Knee Replacement experience at Medanta. "I won’t stop congratulating myself for selecting your organization." We excel in medical travel planning. Our preferred providers excel in delivering exceptional medical care. In Gerard’s view, "it’s a matter of integrity" with the Indian doctors he met. It’s a matter of integrity for Boomer Health Travel as well.

Our youngest health travel patient is a 35-year old CPA from Western Massachusetts, Ms. Billie Jo. After two kids she desired a lift here, a tuck there and a tweak to an already cute nose. What would have been $35,000 in the US was less than $10,000 in Delhi where her surgeon had returned after 11-years at Mass General in Boston. Billie Jo described him as “down to earth, fantastic and great to talk to.” She’s enjoying her new look and the $25,000 savings in her bank account.

Chiropractor Jim Padgett, 56, faced risky spine tumor removal surgery in Sacramento without insurance. The estimated costs would be over $200,000 with no guarantee of outcome. After researching the World, he chose a neurosurgeon in New Delhi who removed five tumors. Jim’s comment after surgery: “We hit the trifecta. They got all of the tumors, they were benign and they kept the hardware store away from my spine (no screws or rods).” His all inclusive hospital package was less than $10,000 USD.

Painting contractor Tim Keltner, 61, had suffered a broken hip several years ago repaired surgically with screws. Deterioration of his femoral neck and ball required Total Hip Replacement. Rather than settle for hardware with a plastic insert that would wear out in 15 years, Tim received a metal on metal implant, not available in the US, BHR deep stem, which may last the rest of his life. He journeyed to Chennai India. Home in Lake Tahoe he was on a ladder painting a house seven weeks post surgery.

Free spirit Steve Senn, an outdoor biking enthusiast was in need of both a knee and a hip replacement at age 51. California surgeons weren’t sure which to replace first. After research and opinions from surgeons outside the US, Steve chose to have his hip resurfaced first.. The hip was causing some referral pain toward his knee which has subsided considerably. He’ll return to India when the time comes for Total Knee Replacement.

Harry Hewell enjoys an “encore career” as an inner-city teacher after earlier careers as an attorney and developer in Texas. At 75, he’s not technically a “boomer” and not too old to appreciate a lovely Indian dentist, Dr.Anjana, and her team. A mouth full of dental work in Delhi was less than $5,000 instead of the $30,000 quote in L-A!  Harry feels like he received $50,000 worth of dental.  Maybe he did.

World traveler Tom Anderson waited 15-years from onset of osteoarthritis for a hip job. His Minneapolis ortho surgeon had done only 12-resurfacings, not enough to make the 62-year old Federal retiree confident. His Blue Cross health insurance picked up the medical charges, but not the travel and lodging expense to Chennai India where his surgeon has done over 1,300 resurfacings since 2000 and is one of the top resurf surgeons in the World today.

Small business owner Donna Hartwig, 53, had enough of the pain in her hip that awakened her routinely. As many patients do, she went to the internet for her solution in the middle of the night. The next morning we phoned her and before you know it she traveled from California to Chennai for hip resurfacing. No more pain from the hip or to her bank account. Once home, a neighbor who had bilateral hip replacement related his insurance company received bills for $220,000. Donna paid under $8,000. We could arrange 22 hip jobs for those American charges, all with excellent outcomes.

Medical technologist Robin Clemmons, 57, suffered severe osteoarthritis in both knees. She knew the cost of bilateral knee replacement with no insurance would exceed $85,000 in Texas with no insurance. Our package price of $20,000 for the latest Oxinium implants from Smith and Nephew represented quality and value she couldn’t hope for in the US. She opted for the best available in the World today from India’s top knee surgeon with seven nights hospital and ten post discharge physiotherapy visits before flying home to Texas.

When you randomly run into old acquaintances, by coincidence, half way around the world, you know Medical Travel has arrived! Dr. Jim Padgett shared a guesthouse dining table with a patient of his former wife having hip resurfacing. As Steve Senn was preparing to return home, he encountered a friend from Ukiah, California just arriving at the hotel for hip resurfacing. The Medical Travel phenomenon is growing each month because of cost prohibitive US healthcare and the quality combined with affordability in safe, select destinations abroad.