WHAT IS MEDICAL TOURISM?
Medical tourism, or travel undertaken for the purpose of obtaining cost effective health care, has emerged in recent years as a major new trend in the global health care industry. Some reasons for this trend are:
- The exorbitant costs of healthcare in industrialized nations
- Favorable currency exchange rate towards industrialized nations
- The ease and affordability of international travel
- Cutting-edge health care services in a range of non-Western countries across the globe
- Long waiting periods in many countries especially in Canada and the UK
WHO USES MEDICAL TOURISM?
Medical tourism is a safe and affordable alternative for the millions of Americans that are uninsured, uninsurable or underinsured that otherwise would face crushing medical debts or would be forced to forego medical procedures. Many countries, especially Canada and the UK, participate in medical tourism because of the long waiting times in overextended state-run medical systems.
IS IT SAFE?
Medical tourism is not completely new. For some time, savvy travelers have gone abroad for medical, dental, and cosmetic surgery procedures finding significant cost savings without sacrificing quality of care. Many non-Western countries have facilities and services based on the Western model. Couple these facilities with an increasing number of Western-trained physicians from developing countries that are returning to their country of origin, and the result is a high quality medical alternative with significant cost savings.
WHAT SERVICES ARE OFFERED?
In addition to dental and cosmetic surgery, there are many other services offered, these include:
- Hip Resurfacing Surgery
- Hip Replacement
- Shoulder Joint Replacement
- Minimally invasive slip disc surgery
- Gastric Banding
- Cardiac Bypass Surgery
Top health tour destinations include
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