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Posted: 6:00 a.m. Monday, Dec. 10, 2012

Medical tourism takes root at home

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Fed up with the high cost of health care, some companies are giving incentives to employees to travel across town or across the country to get the surgeries they need.

The Los Angeles Times  reports that smaller newspaper publisher Stephens Media and mega-employers like Kroger and Wal-Mart either are now or will soon offer airfare and a waiver of out-of-pocket expenses for their employees to travel to medical centers around the U.S. In some cases, they're even paying for your family to stay in a hotel wherever you are as you're going in for your surgery.

Not very long ago, it seemed people were fleeing our borders looking for cheaper health care in Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, or Hungary, among other places. The savings can be extraordinary -- up to 75 percent. The big question was, "What kind of care do you get overseas?"

The answer turned out to be very good care, but that was still not enough to make most of us take the chance on medical tourism. But this latest trend The Los Angeles Times is noting repatriates medical care from offshoring and gives hope that you can save a buck without having to leave the country.

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