Personal Finance Guides: Medical Tourism: An Option for Keeping the Cost of Uninsured Medical Bills Down

Some day, if I ever get comfortable talking about it, I will write in detail about the reason for this post. For now though, let me just put some information out there for those of you who are fighting with medical conditions that are either not sufficiently covered through insurance or the wait time at your local medical facility is far too long.

What is medical tourism?
Simply put, it is a combination of tourism and medical treatment. In earlier days, people from developing countries (who could afford it) would travel to developed countries seeking state-of-the-art medical treatment. However, in more recent years, due to the increase in health care costs and the long wait for some specialized procedures in developed countries combined with the availability of sophisticated medical treatment in developing countries, the trend seems to have reversed. People now go from countries like USA, Canada, Japan, UK etc, to developing countries like India, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Columbia etc. where same level of medical attention can be obtained for a fraction of the cost. According to this article medical tourism is poised to be a multi-billion dollar industry and studies estimate that medical tourism could bring between $1 billion and $2 billion USD into India alone by 2012.

What are the medical conditions for which one may opt for medical tourism?
In general, medical tourism is an option to consider for elective procedures which may not be covered by insurance or requires a long wait in the native country. Examples include cardiac surgery, joint replacement, dental procedures, plastic/cosmetic surgery, infertility treatment, lasik eye surgery etc. In addition, medical tourism has attracted patients seeking alternative medicines when modern science fails and for recuperative medical spas.

Which countries offer medical tourism options?
Here is a map that was originally published in this article that shows the different countries that offer medical tourism options.

What are the advantages of seeking medical help abroad?
The first and foremost is of course the significantly reduced cost of treatment. According to Wikipedia, - "A heart-valve replacement that would cost US$200,000 or more in the U.S., for example, goes for $10,000 in the Philippines and India—and that includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package." Treatment for other medical conditions can also cost anywhere from 1/3rd to 1/10th the cost in US, UK or Canada offering significant savings.

In addition, many of the facilities in developed countries have long wait periods for surgeries that may not be life-threatening. Countries that cater to medical tourism offer patients quick treatment options thus helping prevent long painful waiting periods for treatment.

For those that like the exotic, medical tourism offers packaged travel deals with luxury accommodation and special attention while still keeping the cost less than that of just the surgery in the home country.

Contrary to common stereotype image of the developing countries, the facilities that offer medical tourism provide quality state-of-the-art medical treatment by professionals trained in the best medical facilities around the world and are leaders in their field.

What are the things to be aware of while considering medical help abroad?
One of the biggest concerns with medical tourism is that the countries that offer medical tourism may not have stringent malpractice laws as the US, UK or Canada. That means that if something were to go wrong, there will be little option for recourse.

Since you will likely return back to the home country within a few days/weeks after the medical procedure, there is very little scope for follow-up care and the patients must look to the local facilities in the native country if any post-procedure follow-up is required.

In some cases where the treatment stretches for months, it may be required to stay in the foreign country for long. While this may be viable financially, attention must be paid to emotional and psychological comfort of the person going through the difficult times in a foreign land.

Finally, there is the ethical question that many of the facilities ignore the local patients in their eagerness to please the patients from developed countries with fatter wallets.

Where can I find more information?
A simple Google search for the term “medical tourism” yields a lot of information. Here are some of resources I found helpful