Insurance for health tourists

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Patients that seek dental treatment abroad can now buy insurance to cover any potential mishaps.
Dentistry.co.uk reports that PJ Hayman, travel insurer, is now offering a policy that covers costs of complications caused by cosmetic surgery which has taken place abroad.
The insurance company, which is part of AXA, said the policy, dubbed ‘Free Spirit Travel for Treatment’, will not cover people for botched medical jobs performed by dodgy backstreet quacks and made clear that it will only protect treatments performed in officially registered hospitals.
It is suggested that around 100,000 Britons are currently seeking treatment abroad where waiting lists are shorter and costs are reduced. Now the European Parliament is considering certain directives that may enable patients to bypass NHS trusts and receive ‘sponsored’ surgery abroad.
 
Peter Hayman, managing director of PJ Hayman, claimed that originally AXA weren’t happy with the Free Spirrit policy but people needed cover as ordinary travel insurance only protects people against medical emergencies not consequences of medical treatments they have chosen to undertake.
Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, has raised concerns about health tourism saying that many UK patients are not fully aware of the risks of travelling abroad for treatment. 
He added that some foreign dentists were not as highly trained as UK dentists and said that cost-cutting hassle-free dental holidays were anything but if things go wrong.
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