If your summer vacation is over, you may be thinking of your next trip to a sunny clime. There's a new way to get it for free. Become friends with a Hartford city employee, preferably one in need of a medical procedure.

The city this summer began offering employees medical holidays in Puerto Rico. It's entered into an agreement with Satori World Medical to provide travel and medical benefits to city employees for a host of medical procedures at two hospitals on the Caribbean island.

According to promotional material for 1,500 eligible Hartford employees, "the benefit includes all your hospital and physician costs, you and your companion's airfare, hotel, ground transportation and personal accident insurance."


Wait, there's more. You get a "$250 debit card for incidentals." No deductibles or co-pays. It's all in the hands of Satori, which won the competitive bid for the Hartford contract. Satori president Steven Lash has a wide array of experience. He was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison in 2004 and ordered to pay $36 million in restitution for his role in a $60 million fraud prosecution involving a physician network management company, according newspaper reports. This is omitted from his extensive online company profile.

After executing a pump and dump stock scheme, Lash will not fear employees' Connecticut primary care physicians who cavil at patients flying to San Juan for sophisticated treatment. "Satori's RN Nurse Patient Advocates have experience in surgical services. Their focus is to act as a liaison between you and your physician and will address any concerns your doctor expresses." That ought to provoke some lively conversations.

Reference:http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-medical-tourism-0814-20110814,0,3426117.column?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Courant%2FOpEd+%28courant.com+-+OPED%29