Medical Travel And Medical Tourism

 

 Medical Tourism......Get comfortable, take care of your health, and save your money.

Medical travel or medical tourism is traveling to another country to have a medical procedure performed at a lower cost. Even if you figure in the travel costs, you would still be saving a considerable amount of money. Medical travel or medical tourism has become a humongous industry and it is expected to grow significantly, more due to rising health care costs primarily in the united states.

medical tourism is one of the quickest growing industries in the world. It has been rapidly increasing because international patients are finding out that there is quality and affordable health care from hospitals abroad. Medical tourists come from many different countries. The hospitals abroad have responded to this demand by building first-class hospitals with highly qualified doctors and staff, new up-to-date medical equipment, and affordable health care.

There are several different reasons that people choose medical travel and/or medical tourism as opposed to the hospitals in their country. One of the biggest motivations that cause people to choose this option is because of insurance purposes, but the primary issue that forces some people to resort to medical traveling is the extremely low cost. All of the medical procedures are affordable and cost a fraction of the price that they would in the united states. The costs of the medical procedures are low because the cost of electricity, salaries for the employees, and basically everything is much lower abroad.

Some people still believe that the cost is so low because it is not quality health care and that is not true. Just the same as many doctors in the united states have undergone training, foreign doctors have been board certified in the united states. Several hospitals are on the 9001:2000 iso or j.c.i. lists which mean, that they were inspected and certified for quality and have been able to provide an excellent record for the list of surgeries that they have done. Not all hospitals and clinics are good and trustworthy; so it is a good idea to do a thorough check of them before making a final decision.

When you are deciding the location that you should choose for your surgery remember that there are certain places that are better suited than others depending upon what type of procedure is looking for. Some of the better and more popular foreign countries that provide surgical services are listed below in no particular order. Brazil has several j.c.i. accredited hospitals and clinics. Their specialty is cosmetic surgery. Costa Rica is known to have a few very good clinics. The United Arab Emirates and Dubai have been working alongside Harvard's medical school and surgical prices are much less than typical united states hospitals even though they are still higher-priced than Thailand and India. Turkey offers very affordable services and specializes mainly in infertility, cosmetic and dental care and they also boast several j.c.i. hospitals. Thailand can offer you a very large amount of medical specialties and although are one of the cheapest places that provide medical travel they have extremely low-cost medical care that is some of the highest quality. South Africa is one of the more popular destinations for cosmetic surgery although the prices can be a little higher they offer a very large amount of specialties. Singapore is very well known for treating very rare diseases they have affiliated with the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins even though they are a little bit more expensive they are still cheaper than mainline clinics and hospitals. The Philippines will offer you two j.c.i. accredited hospitals. Mexico has only been performing basic health checks, cosmetic surgery, and dental, but in the future, they are expected to expand. Hungary is well-liked because of its very low costs and the specialization of general medical practices and dental. India is almost the number one foreign surgical hospital. It is a hospital of first-class and many organizations cannot stand up to its experience, low-cost and huge amount of procedures that can be performed. Most hospitals in Malaysia are of top quality and offer first-rate care. This is just a guide, not all hospitals in these countries will offer the same care and the same costs, research each country and doctor before making a choice that could possibly affect your life.

It is necessary for you to find out which hospital is best for which ailment that you have; some hospitals have medical specialties such as orthopedics, neurology or cardiology, etc. Medical tourism is quite popular because the numbers of surgeries performed are innumerable. Hip and knee replacements are almost the number one surgical procedure that is being done abroad. Medical tourism in Thailand, India, and Singapore are developing and using highly sophisticated surgical techniques. Even though stem cell research was restricted to the united states, other foreign countries have developed the research even further. There are also many alternative medical procedures that can be done abroad that are probably not available in your local hospital such as, osteopathy and acupuncture.

It is important for medical travelers to decide if they would like to plan their own trip or hire a medical travel agent. The medical travel agents or medical tourism agents can be helpful because they most likely have been in collaboration with clinics and hospitals for many years, and have probably have built a good reputation with doctors. The advantage to hiring a medical travel agent is, the agent can be a good connection for getting you the best medical care available for the money that you are going to spend. If your decision is to hire an agent ask to see other customer references and have them show you proof of how much experience the company has as medical travel agents. Since the agent will be planning your entire package it is necessary for you to research the doctor that they have set up for you. Most importantly before you sign, anything read your contractual agreement and check the fee structure. In your research, you can see if it is possible for you to plan the trip on your own, and this way you will save a few more dollars. The most significant piece of information is to do a lot of research before making any kind of decision about medical tourism.

medical travel and medical tourism Series

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