Medical Tourism - Savings, Shorter Waits, Quality and Relaxing Recovery Are Making It Popular

MedicalTourismGuide.org says that in 2005 over 500,000 Americans went outside of the country for medical procedures. Procedures from cardiac surgeries to orthopedic surgeries cost a fraction of the price that people pay in the United States. For patients who have pre-existing conditions that prevent them from getting medical insurance coverage, medical tourism offers a way out of a situation that can seem hopeless. Twelve reasons why medical tourism is popular are described at the MedicalTourismGuide.org website and you can order a guide on it.

The benefits and risks are explained, and there is a list of the most popular destinations with links to informative websites for each country. The benefits include savings, shorter waits for surgeries, quality and a more relaxing recovery time in the hospital (while here in the U.S. you'll usually have a much shorter recovery time available in the hospital) and luxurious hospital accommodations for both yourself and your companion. The risks include the issue that if something goes wrong you won't have the same situation regarding malpractice suits that you have in the U.S.

It's important to do in-depth research, and if possible get referrals to others who have had similar operations at a facility that you are considering, so you can see if they recommend it. Knowing someone else's experiences in advance can help you plan and prepare.

Checking the hospital's accreditation and the doctor's background can also help you to make an informed decision. You can check with the JointCommissionInternational.org to see which overseas hospitals are accredited.

The savings are so substantial, over paying for surgeries in the United States, that even after paying for the airline flight the savings are still large.

Uninsured? WorldMedAssist.com, Healthbase.com, and MedRetreat.com Provide Medical Tourism Info

Board certified physicians trained in the United States are available overseas at a fraction of U.S. prices at places such as Anadola Medical Center, India. Anadola is associated with Johns Hopkins (voted best hospital in the United States by U.S. News and World Report for the past 16 years.) At JointCommissionInternational.org you can read about international accreditation for hospitals outside the U.S. In the United States surgery for a heart valve is estimated at $100,000 at the WorldMedAssist.com website, but abroad it's estimated at only $12,000. A spinal surgery for total disk replacement in the U.S. is listed at $120,000 but overseas at $12,000.

At the many websites for medical tourism you can get information about the hospitals, procedures, prices, process of traveling for medical care, accreditations, and passport information. You can go to WorldMedAssist.com, healthbase.com, medretreat.com, or one of the other sites listed when you search for medical tourism to learn more.

The differences in prices between the U.S. and other countries are available. I found the following figures at WorldMedAssist.com.


knee replacement - U.S. $35,000, outside U.S. $7,000
hip replacement, $60,000, $7,000
rotator cuff surgery $35,000 $5,000
heart bypass $80,000 $8,500
angioplasty $60,000 $8,500
spine fusion $100,000 $7,000

Medical tourism hospitals often have large private rooms to accommodate the patient and a traveling companion. After surgery the patient has a longer period of time available to recover in the hospital and can stay in a nearby international level hotel for follow up and physical therapy before returning home.