You find out if you need the surgery at all
A written opinion from two or three independent specialists. Some people discover they do not need the operation, and save an operation, a long flight and a great deal of money for a few hundred dollars.
How we are different
One question explains almost every difference.
Who pays for the advice you are given? Ask any company in this market that question, and most of what follows becomes predictable.
Some medical travel companies are paid a commission by the hospital they send you to. Where that is how a company is paid, its service may be free to you. It also means the company earns nothing if you decide not to travel, and nothing if the right answer is that you do not need the operation.
We are paid by you and by nobody else. That single structural difference is the whole company. Compare us on that, rather than on anything either of us says about ourselves.
Side by side
The commission funded model, and ours.
This compares two business models, not two named companies. Commission is one arrangement in this market. It is not the only one, and we have not audited anybody's books.
| The question worth asking | A commission funded facilitator | Your Care Promise |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays for the advice you are given? | The hospital you end up being sent to. That is why it feels free. | You do, and only you. No hospital, surgeon or clinic pays us anything, ever. |
| What do they earn if you decide not to travel? | Nothing at all. | The same fee. It is agreed in writing before any work starts. |
| Can they tell you not to have the surgery? | They can, and it costs them the case every time they do. | Yes, in writing. It is the second of our four promises and it is budgeted for. |
| Who reviews whether you need the treatment at all? | Often nobody. You get quotes from hospitals that would perform it. | Two or three independent specialists, paid a flat fee that does not change with their conclusion. |
| What price do you actually see? | A package figure. You cannot see what sits inside it or what was added. | The net hospital price, plus our fee on its own visible line. Never blended. |
| What happens the day you fly home? | The arrangement is complete. They have been paid. | Ninety days of care coordination starts, and it is included rather than sold to you later. |
| Who talks to your own doctor? | Usually nobody. You arrive home holding a folder. | We build the handover before you fly, while the surgical team still remembers your case. |
| What does it cost you upfront? | Nothing. Free is genuinely easier to say yes to. | $149 to $349. This is the one row where they beat us, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. |
Referral fees
can be paid to a medical travel facilitator by the hospital abroad, and a review of the research on facilitators, published in 2012, says patients may not know how much, or in what manner, a facilitator is paid
Attributed account, not established fact
A review of earlier research, read as the authors’ manuscript. It says some facilitators are paid by their clients and others by facilities or physicians abroad, gives no proportion and no rate, and says there is little evidence on whether such payments influence recommendations. We found no readable source that gives a commission percentage, so we do not print one. The book is dated 2012 and the university repository record 2013. A consultant’s account of price padding shown elsewhere on the site is hers, attributed to her, and not a rate we have verified. Commission is one model in this market, not the only one, and we never say every company works this way.
What you get
Six things you take away from working with us.
The comparison above is about structure. This is about what that structure buys you in practice.
You see the whole cost before you commit
Net hospital price, diagnostics, flights, stay, a companion, extra recovery days, and our fee on its own line. Not a package figure you cannot see inside.
The right surgeon, chosen on the right criteria
Selected on how many of your specific procedure they perform and whether their subspecialty fits your problem. Not on who pays a commission, because nobody pays us one.
Your own doctor gets what they need
A written handover built before you fly, while the surgical team still remembers your case. This is the single most common reason a doctor at home refuses to take over your care.
Ninety days where you are not on your own
Scheduled calls with your operating surgeon, medicines mapped to what your pharmacy stocks, and a named person you can reach. Included, not sold to you afterwards.
Someone who will tell you to stay home
We earn nothing extra when you travel, so the honest answer is available to us in a way it is not available to a company paid per case.
Being fair about it
Where the other model genuinely beats us.
Free is easier to say yes to. That is not a small thing and we are not going to talk around it. At the moment you are choosing who to speak to, a company that costs you nothing upfront has a real advantage over one asking for $149 to $349.
They are also often larger, with more staff, longer hours and years of case history behind them. We are two people who started recently. If you want a company with a twenty four hour international call centre, that is not us.
What you are buying from us is not more service. It is advice from someone whose income does not depend on your answer.
Use this on anyone
Five questions to ask any medical travel company.
Including us. How readily they answer tells you more than any brochure.
Ask them
- Who pays you, and how much?
- What do you earn if I decide not to travel?
- Is your fee shown separately from the hospital bill?
- Who reviews whether I need this treatment at all, and how are they paid?
- What exactly happens after I fly home, and is it included?
What a good answer sounds like
Specific and immediate. A company that is clear about how it makes money will tell you in one sentence, because it has nothing to manage.
A vague answer to question one, or an answer that changes when you press, tells you what you need to know. So does a refusal to put the fee in writing before you commit.
Questions
What people ask about the difference.
Are commission-funded companies doing something wrong?
Not necessarily, and we are careful about this. Many are staffed by people who work hard for their patients, and commission is an arrangement some companies use rather than a scandal. The problem is structural rather than moral. When the adviser is paid by the provider, you are carrying a conflict of interest you did not choose and cannot see from where you are sitting.
Does paying you get me a cheaper hospital price?
Sometimes, and we will not promise a fixed saving we cannot evidence. We ask for a net price on the basis that no commission is built in for us. Whether that beats what you could negotiate alone depends on the hospital and the case.
The saving that is more reliable is the one from not having an operation you did not need, or not travelling when travelling made no sense.
Could I just use a free company and get a second opinion separately?
Yes, and for some people that is a sensible route. If you do, get the opinion first, from someone with no connection to the hospital you would be sent to, and make sure the aftercare handover is agreed in writing before you travel. Those are the two pieces that usually go missing.
How do I check that you really take no commission?
Ask us for it in writing, and ask the hospital directly whether they pay us anything. Both answers should be no. Our terms make it a contractual commitment with a full refund if it is ever breached, and that wording is being drafted with a lawyer rather than by a copywriter.
Ask us the five questions yourself.
Thirty minutes, free. Bring your scepticism, it is the right instinct here.