Medical Tourism: Vacation in Another Country to Get Cheaper or Better Medical Care

How familiar are you with the concept of medical tourism? In a nutshell, medical tourism is a phrase coined to describe the decision by persons of one country to travel to another country specifically for the purpose of getting either cheaper or better (and it is to be hoped both) medical care. Medical tourism is quite popular because sometimes the cost of health care treatment in other countries can be a mere tenth the cost of the same in the US. And many countries-especially in South America and Africa-are actually embracing medical tourism as a promotional gimmick. But are those who might benefit the most-at least financially-among the top medical tourists in the world? Are Americans among the world's biggest medical tourists?

Most Americans sincerely believe that their US offers the best medical treatment in the world. At the same time, many US citizens cannot afford the insurance to pay for some of the more expensive treatments. The monkey wrench thrown into this complicated dichotomy is the fact that Americans also love to find a bargain. (Which goes a long way toward explaining how for every job Walmart produces in a community, it takes away 1.5 jobs due to specialty stores that compete with Walmart's vaunted low prices are forced out of business.) Medical tourism is quickly becoming a hot trend among residents of developed countries with high health care costs, but Americans are not as likely to seek out certain types of procedures as residents of other countries, despite the availability of a bargain.

When it comes to medical treatment that is related to high risk surgery such as those involving significant organs like the brain or heart, Americans tend to be suspicious and unwilling to take the risk of traveling for treatment to another country. Because the American health care system is generally held in such high esteem-and because anecdotal horror stories and urban legends have cast a pall over foreign countries where the treatment would be inexpensive enough to warrant the trip-the trade-off of saving money just isn't viewed as being worth it.