Februari 17, 2017
>> cris: on this edition of the best times we examine medical tourism. why would anyone travel overseas for medical care? you'll meet memphis' own theatrical impresario, jackie nichols. and we'll tell you if an annuity
is right for your retirement. >> instrumental music ♪♪♪ >> funding for "the best times" is provided by .. since 1988 the h. w. durham foundation has been focused on aging issues -- providing grants to programs
like "the best times" to enrich and improve the quality of life for our older citizens. the best times is the only monthly news magazine exclusively for the age 50 plus reader. your copy is free at over 200 locations, with important
stories and news you don't want to miss. the best times is always the best. trezevant, a lifecare community, a celebration of life. the responsible decision for your well-being now and in the long-term.
and being responsible has never been such a hoot. trezevant manor dot org. hello, i'm cris hardaway. welcome to "the best times", a series that looks at life after fifty. this program is about something we're all doing -- getting
older. by the year 2030 one in five americans will be over 65. and that will present a unique set of challenges and opportunities. on this series you'll meet people who are facing those challenges and seizing their
opportunities to make the years ahead "the best times." our cover story tonight focuses on one individual who faced a medical dilemma, and the choices he made to solve his problem may surprise you. >> this is willy bearden. on his left forearm, below a
long scar, there's a tattoo. next to a cryptic phrase is the date january 17, 2011. that's the day willy had triple coronary bypass surgery -- in india. willy bearden is an independent filmmaker, writer and musician. you may have seen his work on
wkno's popular "memphis memoirs" series. in 2010 willy found out he needed bypass surgery. but he didn't have health insurance. >> bearden: i could see my future if i had a heart attack here in memphis and they had to
take me to a hospital and they would do emergency surgery on me and hand me a bill for $275,000. all of the sudden, you know at 60 years old, that i'm bankrupt. and you know, they take my house and my building or whatever and i thought, "you know, this is unacceptable.
i don't know what i'm going to do but i'm not going to do that." >> cris: willy put his research skills as a documentary filmmaker to work investigating medical tourism. his explorations led him to fortis hospital in bangalore,
india -- half a world away from home, family and friends. stuck between a rock and a hard place, willy took a leap of faith. >> bearden: there's no doubt about it. there's a huge leap of faith to get on that airplane and to fly
12,000 miles around the -- to the other side of the world, you know, to get the surgery done. people i had never seen before. people that i had only talked to, you know, via e-mail. you know, and a lot of people said, "you know, you're crazy for doing that."
you know, i just looked at my choices and i thought, you know, weighing all of these choices i have -- and they were all choices, my choice -- you know, what seems best for me. and i just had this feeling that it was going to be okay. >> cris: four days after
arriving in bangalore willy underwent triple bypass surgery. from his own photos you can see his arm, where the physician harvested the graft material -- and the long scar on his chest. within two days after the surgery willy was up and walking, feeling better than he
had in years. >> bearden: a couple of days after that, i was just, you know -- i put my blue jeans on again and i thought, "okay, i'm alive and good. i'm okay here. and i'm so thankful to be in a
place where people seem to care about me and where people are really, really taking good care of me." i've been in hospitals here in the u.s. and i would say that the care i got in india was the best care i've ever gotten anywhere.
>> cris: willy spent 21 days in bangalore. after his release from the hospital he took plenty of vacation pictures. so how much did this medical vacation cost? all totaled -- surgery, hospital stay, airfare, and hotel -- cost
willy $12,000. >> bearden: about a twentieth i would say of what it would have cost here. and would have surely put me in bankruptcy. >> cris: medical tourism has been around for ten to fifteen years.
organizations like the medical tourism association promote its benefits through its website and videos. it's estimated that just under one million americans will seek treatment overseas this year, with projected growth rates of around 30% over the next decade.
dr. manoj jain is a local epidemiologist whose interest in medical tourism began when his father had a toothache. >> dr. jain: he needed a crown and a root canal. and the estimate was it could cost him $2,000. and he could afford it.
it wasn't that he couldn't afford it. he could afford it. but he was going to india in the next month or two and he decided to wait. and he went to india and had the same procedure done for $200. >> cris: saving money is the
chief motivating factor behind the decision to travel overseas for medical care. for example, a knee replacement that costs between $30-53,000 in the u.s. costs just $9,600 in singapore. a spinal fusion in america is $41,000, but if you travel to
india it's just $9,500. a facelift can cost up to $16,000 in the us -- in thailand it's just $5,000. and if you need dentures it will set you back $5,000 here in the states, but if you take a vacation to costa rica it's just $1,600.
these figures don't include travel costs, but taking a medical vacation can cost between 30% and 90% less than getting treatment here at home. it's outsourcing your medical care. >> bearden: i was looking at $250,000 here or $9,000 here.
and so there was really no choice. i mean, i had the $9,000. i could do it. it wouldn't be a big set back to me. so yeah, its -- i mean, its free enterprise at its best.
>> cris: there are 28 countries on four continents that cater to medical tourists and each one focuses on specific medical procedures. for orthopaedics or cardiology, go to india. need dental work? -- try mexico or hungary.
how about a facelift in brazil or south africa. need multiple procedures performed? -- go to thailand where bumrungrad international hospital treats over 25,000 americans every year. but how are these hospitals able to offer surgical procedures and
medical treatments at prices up to 90% less than facilities in the us? >> dr. jain: at multiple factors. one is obvious that labor is cheaper overseas. also, they've made surgery very process oriented and they will
do in bulk. and so that has reduced the cost, as well. they don't have to deal with third party insurance. malpractice in the way that many people have to deal with here. now so that overhead of administration that costs a lot
of money here doesn't happen. and here, its also cherry picking only those procedures which will be profitable for overseas hospitals. >> cris: low cost is one thing, but how about the quality of care? let' s face it, in some of these
countries you're told not to drink the water, so can you trust the quality of medical care delivered in india, or malaysia or brazil? >> dr. jain: i have gone to many of these hospitals and i'm quite impressed. the level of quality is very
high and these hospitals are certified by the same organization that certifies hospitals here. >> cris: so, the price is right and, as a medical tourist and a cash paying customer, you'll get vip treatment. but there' s still a cultural
and emotional hurdle to overcome. are you prepared to travel far from home and family to a country where english may not be the first language? >> dr. jain: there's a cultural barrier. there's certainly different
people, different cultures, different religions. all of that comes in to play. >> bearden: yeah, i think had the country not been an english speaking country, it would of -- i would have been a bit concerned with that. >> dr. jain: i believe the
greatest barrier is not having your family there if you're not with family. and that can be a scary experience. especially if you're undergoing a huge surgery like by-passage. >> cris: there are other legal and medical considerations for
the potential medical tourist to consider. the american medical association has published this list of nine guidelines to help patients determine if they should travel overseas for medical treatment. don' t be shy to discuss this topic with your personal
physicians. you may be surprised at their level of knowledge and cooperation. but as dr. jain and willy bearden will attest, there's no substitute for doing your homework. >> dr. jain: you've got to
definitely do your homework. talk to the physician over there. talk to the administrators and call up the -- there's a medical tourism association and make sure that that hospital's appropriate. >> cris: willy's story is just
one example of thousands of middle class americans who fall through the cracks in our healthcare system. people between age 50 and 64, who find themselves without insurance or under-insured and are faced with a medical crisis. >> bearden: and they're just
praying that they don't get sick. they're praying that they don't have an accident. they're praying that something, you know, doesn't happen to their family -- you know, catastrophic illness. because you're just at the mercy
of the system when that happens. and you talk about falling through the cracks -- when you fall through that crack, that's the big crack. you splat on the sidewalk when you fall through that crack. >> dr. jain: what we see is those individuals between the
age of 50 and 64, before they can get medicare. lack of insurance leads to about 15-80,000 deaths every year. if willy, for example, decided not to get bypass surgery, his chance of survival would have been significantly lower than with bypass surgery.
and imagine if there are many willys out there and those are the ones who die. and that's where our system breaks down, for those who don't have insurance. >> cris: the politics of healthcare and medical reality are often two divergent branches
of the same tree. medical tourism, whether it's voluntary or, as in willy's case, a matter of life and death, is still a limited phenomenon. but some insurance companies in america are beginning to offer their clients overseas options.
even they can't ignore the financial incentives. dr. jain sees lessons for our healthcare system that can be learned from the value-based systems in these foreign countries. >> dr. jain: we can learn how other countries and other
hospitals and institutions are able to decrease their costs, maintain the quality, and provide that value healthcare. and that's what motivates me to be looking at these other institutions is to say," how can i make healthcare better in america because i can see that
there are other institutions doing the same." >> cris: and for willy bearden, too, there's a lesson learned. >> bearden: yeah, i think you have to be creative in your thinking. and you know, you have to be open enough to understand that
there are good people all around this world that we live in -- good human beings -- who will treat you right and who will help you out if you need some help. >> cris: you may be surprised to learn that medical tourism is a two-way street.
by some estimates, 400,000 foreigners come to the us every year for medical treatment. they're not bargain hunters -- they're coming here for our cutting-edge medical technology that may not exist in their corner of the world. remember that tattoo on willy
bearden's forearm? just below his scar, next to the date of his surgery, are two words written in hindi -- spare parts. >> if you're a patron of the theatre in memphis then you probably know the name jackie he's a theatrical impresario who
has staged hundreds of productions in his long career and entertained hundreds of thousands of audience members whose tastes range from neil simon to william shakespeare. i'd like you to meet jackie nichols. >> it's opening night at
playhouse on the square for the first regional theater production of the hit broadway musical, "legally blonde". as the crowd mills in the lobby before the show, jackie nichols, executive director and founder of playhouse, makes the rounds. he's done this for over 750
opening nights in a career that's spanned over forty years. >> nichols: yeah, i'm, i guess, one of the few folks that was born here, lived here. i love memphis. it's been a community that's provided a lot of opportunities. anyone that's got an
entrepreneurial spirit or mind can really make things happen. and i've had the opportunity to do that. >> cris: at a young age jackie was bitten by the acting bug. >> nichols: yeah, i remember doing shows when i was in elementary school.
i think the thing that was the most instrumental was martha scott school of dancing where i was a tap dancer. in the theatre performance venue i was doing every show i could at my high school and martha scott school of dancing and other private girls' school
around town because at a girls' school they need guys that are in musicals. and so it was kind of a no brainer that i was going to do "oklahoma" here and "threepenny opera" there. and they would -- if i was doing too many shows
they would rework their schedule when they were doing shows so that i could go and do these plays because not many guys were doing shows. but, you know, that's where all the cute girls where. i use that line a lot but its true.
>> cris: even though performing was in his blood, jackie didn't try for stardom in new york or la. his goals were very different. >> nichols: i quit performing because i realized pretty early that i was just kind of okay. i could sing and dance pretty
good and act a little bit. but there was a lot of people. there was a lot of actors. no body wanted to make it happen. i get my enjoyment out of making it happen, out of making it successful, out of bringing new interesting work to the
community and by giving the artists in the community a home -- an artistic home where they can do their work. >> cris: in 1963 jackie teamed up with a fellow student at overton high school to form circuit players, a traveling troupe of actors, giving
summertime performances at rented or borrowed venues throughout the city. then in 1969 circuit players became circuit playhouse. >> nichols: there were about a dozen people that were part of the collective that got this thing started.
and we all kind of pitched in money to pay the first month's rent. we hoped that we'd bring in enough money to pay the next month's rent and utility bill and the phone bill. because no one was paid and very little was used on sets and
costumes. whatever we could buy, find, scrounge, steal, or borrow to do the shows that we were doing. >> cris: the shows that circuit mounted were not your ordinary community theater fare. jackie and his colleagues did shows that pushed the envelope,
edgy productions like the antiwar drama "we bombed in new haven" or controversial plays like "marat/sade", which contained the first nude scene performed on a memphis stage. >> nichols: the kinds of shows that we were doing, we were all, you know, in our twenties then
and it was like our way of protesting what was happening on our country. whether it was in vietnam or whether it had to do with civil rights issues, we were doing these shows. the theatre was our voice. >> cris: in 1975 the owners of
overton square noted the success of circuit playhouse and began the renovation of the old lafayette's music hall into a live theater venue. >> nichols: based on our specifications, they spent $30 -40,000 at that time, which would be $350-400,000 today, to
renovate it and turned it over to us. and said, "all we want you to do is to bring those kind of folks into the square here for your shows. so we had a show that was more name recognition and would actually support paying people
to perform. >> cris: with the birth of the original playhouse on the square, professional theater returned to memphis. in the ensuing years additional theaters were opened, and today circuit playhouse incorporated operates four stages, all in
midtown. jackie's crowning achievement is the new playhouse on the square, a $13.5 million dollar facility modeled after the steppenwolf theater in chicago, that is state-of-the-art. >> nichols: there's pride in that.
i feel good that we've done something for the community. >> cris: jackie's vision has taken him a long way from that first building on walker avenue, but he's not done yet. establishing an endowment fund for the theater and increasing salaries are his goals for the
future. at age 65 he may not be thinking about retirement yet, but his legacy in the arts in memphis is firmly established. >> nichols: we hopefully had made people just stop and think about all of the issues that we deal with in our lives on a
daily basis and how we treat other people. i mean, theatre's a human people go in and see themselves on stage and in those characters. they see how hard those people work and then they get something out of that.
you know, something out of the story that's being told in that state. and that story is told as a comedy, as a drama, as a musical. (applause) >> cris: deciding which investments are right for your
retirement savings can be a tricky task. annuities have been a popular form of investment for years, but are they right for you? let's take a class in annuities 101. >> bolton: well an annuity in it's most basic definition is
really a contract between an insurance company and an individual or an entity. now the terms and conditions of a contract, they can vary greatly and its so important that, you know, the person buying the contract or the entity buying it really
understand those terms because the variances of the contracts depend on the benefits that are being designed for that particular client. so no annuity is the same. >> bolton: there's fixed annuities. there are variable annuities.
and there are index annuities. there's equity index, fixed index, and then there's immediate annuities and that's what a lot of people think about where they're getting an income stream right away. and in many cases if you do that, then you have no access to
your principles. so you have to be careful and understand really which type of those annuities you're buying. >> bolton: one of the greatest benefits that we're finding retirees are loving inside annuities is that guaranteed stream of income that they
cannot outlive or they and their spouse cannot outlive. the other feature that some annuity companies provide is a guarantee or a protection of the principle. i cannot lose my initial so you put in $10,000, you know that you will never get less
back than that $10,000. so that's a feature that's great. so many annuity companies offer guaranteed death benefits. so that's what's important to the client. but this guaranteed stream of income and this guaranteed
potential return of principle or guaranteed death benefits are the features that have become so attractive for retirees and its making the popularity of annuities just rise rapidly. >> bolton: so you have to look and see "what age am i" and is there going to be illiquidity
associated with this contract, meaning have i just signed that i promise to leave my money in for a year, five years, ten years, and if i come out, what are the penalties and fees associated with coming out early. the other disadvantage sometimes
for some people is the lack of investment choices. there are limited investment choices. different annuities offer different investment choices. the other thing are the costs. if you buy a plain investment like a mutual fund and then you
buy that same mutual fund inside an annuity, its going to cost you more because the annuity has fees and charges. >> bolton: annuities do not have fdic insurance, government protected guarantees -- government provided guarantees. that is not the kind of
guarantees. and when we talk about it being insured its an insurance company who's insuring that the insurance company. so the guarantee -- different annuity offer guarantees but those guarantees are being backed by the
financial stability of the company. >> bolton: i have had clients that are very young purchase annuities and i have had clients that are older purchase a retired person may just want to supplement an existing pension -- supplement social
security. they may want to make sure that they can't lose their principle. so if all ages, married, single it really just depends, once again, on what somebody's looking for. and they're not for everyone but they are fabulous, fabulous
investment vehicles if they're used properly. >> cris: for more information about annuities and other money topics visit the website of the securities and exchange commission. i hope you'll join me next week for more of "the best times."
until then please visit our website at "wkno dot org slash besttimes." and while you're online click over to next avenue, pbs's website where grown-ups keep growing. thanks for watching -- i'm cris hardaway.
goodnight. funding for "the best times" is provided by ..
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