The number of Germans quitting the country for healthcare tourism is likely to rise dramatically, as statutory healthcare insurers increasingly licence facilities outside the country.

Indeed, the number of outbound German healthcare tourists is already much higher than expected.

Germans are much more likely to go abroad for healthcare than was previously thought, according to Dr. Caroline Wagner at the insurer Techniker Krankenkasse, which is pioneering insurance packages enabling its members to seek treatment abroad.

Last year a TK survey found that around 1% of its members had been abroad for care in 2007, of whom 40% went for previously scheduled healthcare, rather than for acute and emergency care.

Extrapolated, this means that at least 680,000 Germans received treatment abroad, and that some 272,000 booked ahead. This figure excludes spa visits – a popular pastime for German tourists of a certain age.

This year TK will survey patients to find out precisely what care they are seeking. 

Wagner says that the figure is partly explained by the strong historic links East Germans had forged before the fall of the wall with healthcare systems in Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Those going abroad tend to be relatively poor and relatively elderly. She says that they claim that healthcare levels outside Germany are better than those in the country.

Meanwhile, TK has led the way in Germany in signing up foreign hospitals for its members.

Dr. Wagner says this is “a nice differentiator”. It includes a special programme to use spas outside Germany - spa treatment is included in the list of benefits provided by statutory funds in the event of illness.

Here, the survey found that, if ill, 33% of TK members surveyed said they would decisively take a service allowing them to use foreign spas, and a further 33% would probably make use of it.

Our Analysis: It has long been a matter of faith that Germans are so proud of their health system that they will not go abroad, so these figures are startling.

If insurers like TK start to actively promote healthcare tourism, then these numbers could really explode. 

Note, for instance, that dental treatment in Hungary, including hotel accomodation, is less than half the price of similar treatment in Germany.

TK adds that dental treatment is up to 80% cheaper in Eastern Europe. 

There is also clearly a lot of pent up demand for foreign spas; we hadn't previously appreciated  just how powerful a driver this is likely to be over the next few years.