Tourists from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, and the Middle East are already taking advantage of medical tourism opportunities. Also known as wellness or health tourism, medical tourism has given people from developed countries the opportunity to combine travel with health treatments at much lesser costs. However, exactly what is medical tourism? How does it work? Ultimately, how will a tourist like you benefit from it?
Broader answers to the question “what is medical tourism” state that it presents cost-effective private medical care opportunities for patients needing specialized treatment or surgery combined with vacationing feats. Medical tourism is operated by groups of companies, men and women, whose combined leadership and experience in healthcare management and administration, travel and marketing envision their country to become the premier destination of medical tourists or travelers.
Medical tourism may be new to you but it has long existed. The idea of going to other countries to seek cheaper and more appropriate treatment for various health complaints and conditions is nothing new. The exorbitant costs of healthcare in most developed countries actually led to the boom of medical tourism. Taking advantage of the affordability of international travel, improving standards in medical care, facilities and equipment, and favorable exchange rates also led to the popularity of medical tourism.
While insurers try their hardest to cut back on people’s medical coverage, people are left underinsured dealing with out-of-pocket expenses just to seek medical treatment. With medical tourism, traveling patients can cut 50 to 80 percent off from the usual cost of undergoing various medical treatments or surgery. For instance, private heart surgery costs around $50,000 in the United States. You can get the same medical procedure from the finest and state-of-the-art hospital in India or Singapore at $10,000 USD. You may undergo a $250,000-worth bone marrow surgery in the states while you can get it at $25,000 in India.
You may have already experienced vacationing for a week at some of the world’s exotic beaches. Taking note of your total vacationing expenses, you get to pay the same amount and get more with medical tourism packages. Each package gives you the opportunity to undergo cosmetic or corrective treatment and surgery along with round-the-clock nurse aide, boarding and lodging, plus a guided tour on your selected destination before or after your medical treatment or procedure – all in one package. The huge price disparity between your usual vacationing and medical should be enough to fuel your interest to take advantage of medical tourism opportunities.
Perhaps the primary concern about what is medical tourism is the safety and quality of medical service that your chosen country may offer. In truth, the difference in cost does not speak of low standards of medical facilities. You may be surprised to know that the fine doctors in third world countries have studied in the same universities and trained alongside the highly accomplished doctors and surgeons in developed countries. The people managing the medical tourism in their country maintain close coordination with many of the reputed hospitals in the world to ensure first-rate facilities.
Thailand, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, Costa Rica, and Eastern Europe are few of the countries that have successfully established excellent reputations in medical tourism. These countries continue to aggressively court and invite patients from UK, United States, Canada, and Europe their superior yet low-cost dental, medical and cosmetic care and exciting vacationing and travel opportunities. Learn more about “what is medical tourism” by visiting the medical tourism websites of these countries.