Welcome to the brave new world of global healthcare.

Most financial planners concern themselves more with making money for clients than with saving them money. But the impact of a potentially catastrophic medical expense on a family's finances cannot be ignored. Indeed, one study from Harvard found that of the 1.5 million American families that filed for bankruptcy in a recent year, about half cited medical causes. In fact, three-quarters of all those bankrupted Americans had health insurance, although obviously not enough.

Polls consistently show that many Americans are running scared from the rising cost of healthcare. A recent survey from public opinion research firm Lake Research Partners found that rising healthcare costs are now voters' top economic concern. Another poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that having to pay for healthcare and health insurance is now the top fear in America--more terrifying than losing a job, watching the stock market tank or even becoming victim of a terrorist attack.

One solution to the healthcare cost dilemma is going global--what some are calling "medical tourism." Most financial advisors seem unaware that traveling abroad for medical care can often save a patient 80% or even 90% off the U.S. sticker price. Once alerted, however, they tend to take sharp notice.

If one of his clients were faced with a major medical outlay, Jeffrey Bogue of Bogue Asset Management, a fee-only shop in Wells, Maine, says, "I would consider it my fiduciary duty to say to the client, You may be able to get this procedure done abroad for far less ... But please know that I'm addressing this strictly from a financial standpoint. The quality of care is outside of my realm of knowledge, and I would urge you to talk to a medical professional.'"

Christopher Jones, principal of Keystone Financial Planning in Macungie, Pa., mulls over what he would do if a client of his were facing huge hospital costs. "I would feel compelled to let him or her know that there are potentially large savings by having surgery abroad. But I would stress the importance of doing due diligence to find the right provider so as not to compromise quality of care."

Healthcare economists give numerous reasons for the deep discounts abroad, including less bureaucracy, lower salaries and a lower general cost of living. (A financial planner living and working in Mumbai might earn $200 a week, for instance.)

FELLOW TRAVELERS

Traveling abroad for medical care has become the option of choice for Americans from a wide spectrum of socio-economic groups. Consider family-law attorney Betsy Burton, 51, of Winnsboro, S.C. Faced with "agonizing" pain in her arthritic right hip, Burton was told by two orthopedic surgeons that she was a candidate for surgery. "One surgeon wanted to do a complete hip replacement, and the other--probably because my husband and I are both lawyers--said that although I needed surgery, he wouldn't do it," Burton says. She did some research on the Internet and discovered that a procedure newly approved by the FDA called hip resurfacing was being done regularly and successfully abroad.

"One of the best doctors in the world, I discovered, was in India, and the cost of the procedure would be a fraction of what it would be here," Burton says. So this past summer, Burton, along with her 75-year-old mother, took a three-week excursion to Chennai, India. Including five days of hospitalization, airfare, hotel, driver and a week recuperating at a seaside resort, the entire trip cost Burton and her mother about $13,500.

"In the United States, after my 20% insurance copay, I probably would have wound up spending about the same," Burton says. "Instead, I got first-class medical care, got to see a part of the world I've never been to, bring my mother along and now I'm pain-free and walking around like a 20-year-old," she says. "It was a good experience."

George Germain, 45, of Burnsville, Minn., had the same hip resurfacing operation at the same hospital as Burton. Germain, who runs his own trucking business, flew to Chennai only after meeting with the "financial facilitator" of his local hospital who told Germain that if he couldn't come up with the $40,000 for his operation, he could always sell his business and his home. In contrast, he says he was treated in India with the utmost respect and care. "It was a civilized, even pleasant experience," he says. The procedure cost him $6,500.

Gary Konkol's hip was also ruining his life. "I had to take off a lot of work, and weekends I'd just lie on the couch," says the 55-year-old self-employed plumber. "I was miserable." Doctors in and around his Milwaukee home told him that he would need hip-replacement surgery, which would cost somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000. But Konkol only had about $12,000 in savings, and his insurer, BlueCross BlueShield of Wisconsin, citing a preexisting condition, wasn't going to cough up a dime.