Medical Travel Overview

Over the past ten years, patients willing to undergo medical travel in order to achieve their goals have risen dramatically. There are numerous reasons that potential patients will engage in medical travel. Some of the most popular reasons for medical travel are as follows:

Cost savings – for the millions of Americans without health coverage, medical travel is a very viable option. Cost savings including all travel, hotel and medical expenses range from 50 to 75 % of the same costs in the US.

Elective surgery – Most of these procedures are not covered by insurance. These procedures include breast enlargement or reduction, facelift, rhinoplasty, laser/hair removal, tattoo removal etc. Over the last several years, facilities in Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe are encouraging medical travel by offering procedures at greatly discounted prices.

Time is of the essence – Many countries that offer national health insurance have long waiting lists for certain procedures like knee and hip replacement. Rather than wait two or three years or longer, patients prefer to engage in medical travel as an alternate choice to waiting. These patients generally opt to go to Eastern Europe or Asia for their medical travel, depending on the procedure required.

Combining vacations with medical travel is another factor in encouraging patients to engage in medical travel. The exotic locations combined with the required recuperative period lend many patients to choose Asian resorts in combination with medical travel to Thailand, Philippines, China and India.

Dentistry – this is a huge motivator for patients undergoing expensive treatments. Major dental surgery can run into the tens of thousands of dollars and very rarely would this kind of treatment be covered by even the best insurance. As a result, more and more patients are opting for medical travel as a reasonable cost solution for this kind of issue. Countries like Costa Rica, Mexico, Poland, Hungary and the Ukraine have targeted medical travelers with their low cost dental facilities.

Privacy and confidentiality – many medical travelers are interested in procedures that they would prefer remain confidential. These procedures include gender reassignment, weight loss surgery, cosmetic procedures and drug and alcohol treatment. Medical travel to distant locations is an excellent way to ensure that this surgery remains confidential.

In addition to the popular and accepted medical travel to countries abroad, there is a new trend emerging in the United States that is worth mentioning. With the economy under pressure the last year or two, many domestic clinics, hospitals, treatment centers and doctors are presenting themselves as a low cost alternative to medical travel abroad. They are soliciting patients from within the USA and creating an alternative to medical travel – travel a few hundred miles to an American facility and save the cost and extra time of medical travel abroad. Since some of the facilities are offering procedures and rooms in their down time, they are viewing these additional patients as “found money” that adds to their bottom line. Expect this trend to continue as increased economic pressure encourage more and more patients to consider medical travel, both domestic and international.

In summary, medical travel is a growing phenomenon that could be viewed as an extension of the globalization of business and world economies. Once the barriers which are comprised mainly of cultural uncertainty and quality considerations are overcome, experts expect medical travel to explode to millions of travelers annually from the developed countries to the developing.