Medical tourism is the process of traveling to other nations to receive high-quality and affordable health services. It’s also known as global health or health tourism. It is also known as medical travel. The term “medical tourism” was coined by the travel industry and media to promote this type of practice. Nowadays medical tourism has grown into an industry that is now a legal one across more than 50 countries.

What is the reason why Medical Tourism So Popular?

What exactly are the advantages of medical tourism? Why are people traveling abroad to get simple medical procedures that are not too complicated? The most important reason that drives medical travel is definitely the cost of medical services in developed nations like that of the United States. The majority of medical tourism destinations provide surgeries for just one-third of the cost of countries that are developed.Duhnen Ferienwohnung This can mean a greater savings for those who have to undergo a complicated procedure such as an organ transplant or to undergo cosmetic surgery.

The other reason may be due to the cost that medical insurance is incurred in Western countries that have resulted in a lot of people not utilizing any health insurance plans. The high rates of unemployment in the U.S and in other European countries is a major reason. As of today, because of the increasing unemployment rate, many people are unable to more afford health insurance. Therefore, anyone who is not insured by health insurance has limited options, other than seeking lower-cost treatment elsewhere. This is why health insurance has gained a lot of acceptance and acceptance in just a few years.

Medical Tourism Costs Comparison

Here are some interesting cost comparisons that prove why there exists a medical tourism business. The cost of a liver transplant within the U.S will cost $350,000, while someone who decides in traveling to Taiwan will pay less than $90,000. This is a savings of 70. In the same way, replacing a heart valve costs approximately $10,000 in India while it is approximately $200,000 in United States. Women who are planning to undergo a complex cosmetic procedure are required to pay a substantial sum on the U.S. In this instance the cost of a facelift that is complete within South Africa would cost just approximately $1250 as compared to $20k for a facelift in the United States. These price savings are the primary factor behind the rapid increase in the medical tourism sector

Pros as well as Cons Medical Tourism

Medical travel isn’t only sought-after because of the cost savings. There are other advantages as well. For instance, wait periods of medical procedure in U.K are lengthy and inconvenient. In contrast when it comes to medical tourism, the entire process of a patient is scheduled and planned ahead of time. When the patient has arrived in the country where they are staying there is virtually wait time. Here’s another illustration to demonstrate this point. In Canada in 2005 over 750,000 Canadians had to wait approximately 9.5 weeks before getting their medical procedures completed. Canada also sets long-waiting standards ranging from 16 and 26 weeks to get non-urgent medical procedures such as cataract or hip joint replacement.

Although the medical travel business has its merits, however, it has its fair own set of disadvantages and worries. For instance, a health traveler is vulnerable to numerous illnesses in the country of their destination in which high standards of cleanliness may not be present. The person who is who is from America United States may have low to no immunity to these illnesses. These conditions can hinder or worsen existing health issues. The diseases which can hinder or delay the healing process of a person are amoebic dysentery as well as typhoid and tuberculosis. There are also health issues that can arise from travel because of tight seats in airlines as well as long-distance flights.

The hospitals that are accredited in nations such as India are not able to comply with the proper complaint registering procedures. This is the reason for a large percentage of patients not being completely satisfied with the care they receive. There are also a lot of ethical and legal concerns with organ transplantation within India as well as China. This is mainly because of the widespread illegal purchases of organs and tissues within these nations. In spite of these flaws medical travel appears to be the future unless countries such as that of the United States can manage to reduce medical expenses dramatically or even start offering medical insurance for tourists.

Popular Medical Tourism Destinations

Many are searching for simple and more complicated procedures such as heart surgery, hip and knee replacements, dentistry, and cosmetic surgery. The most well-known medical places comprise of India, Argentina, Cuba, Hungary, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, The Philippines, Ukraine, Lithuania, and South Korea. Cosmetic surgery of the highest quality with affordable costs is offered in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Turkey and Colombia. In the past few months, South American countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia are now a hot destination for top plastic surgeries. These countries have skilled and skilled cosmetic surgeons of well-known. The majority of medical tourists are from countries such as Canada, the United States, Canada, the U.K and Japan.

The implications for healthcare Industry

Medical travel has had implications in the countries where they come from. In 2007 the number of 750,000 Americans were seeking healthcare outside of the country , and over 1.5 million are predicted to seek out offshore healthcare in the year 2008. This has led to that the United States health care industry losing billions of dollars, and is likely to lose more in the near future. According to an Deloitte Consulting report of 2008 Medical tourist visits to the United States could most likely rise by more than 10 times in the coming decade. This is alarming and cannot be overlooked by the healthcare industry. While this could cause problems for the insurance industry that covers healthcare but it could also serve as a reason that the industry of healthcare to reduce its prices to remain competitive. This shift to the medical field has opened possibility of medical tourism insurance. At present, only a handful of medical insurers offer coverage for medical tourism. There is however an increasing need for insurance for medical tourism and soon we could have major health insurance companies giving people the chance to travel internationally. This is definitely an important step towards making healthcare accessible to all.

Monitoring Industry Good Practices

To ensure better standards for healthcare quality, increasing numbers of accreditation agencies for international healthcare are currently certifying international hospitals. The accreditation is in accordance with the standard of care and the standard of medical procedures that are offered. Since 1999 since 1999, the Joint Commission International (JCI) an organization that is non-profit and located within the has been authorized to accredit and certify medical centers and hospitals located outside of the country. Medical tourism services in numerous countries are looking for accreditation to stay in line with the latest healthcare best practices and to gain the trust of patients and gain their confidence.