The Increase in Travel to International Medical Destinations
The Increase in Travel to International Medical Destinations
Rising healthcare costs, uncertainty regarding Health Care reforms, and long wait times as well as limited options when it comes to techniques, methods and procedures to treat a wide variety of medical are prompting individuals from around the world to travel abroad for their health care needs.
Where Are They Going?
Expatriates from Japan, Thailand, Korea, and China are traveling to world-class facilities in South Korea, Japan and China while Albanians, Russians, Armenians, Georgians and those from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan are traveling to facilities in Croatia, Hungary and Turkey. Latin American citizens in the United States are traveling south to Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, and south American destinations such as Brazil and Argentina in ever increasing numbers to receive affordable and quality cosmetic and plastic surgeon procedures, weight loss treatments, obesity and bariatric surgery treatments and dental care.
Citizens from France, England, Germany, Norway and Sweden are traveling to central European countries such as Poland, and Hungary for affordable medical care while South Africans increasingly travel to destinations such as India, Malaysia and Singapore for superlative, available, effective and affordable medical treatment.
This growing trend in International Medical Care, promoted by the Medical Tourism Board and Ministries of Health as well as growing information medical and medical resource portals offer international patients a true choice in their healthcare options. Affordability, availability, quality, and effective care are available in medical fields from stem cell research and development to the latest in cardiac surgical procedures.
Why Are They Going?
The Institute Of Medicine's "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial And Ethnic Disparities And Healthcare" study determined that racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. don't have the same access to healthcare and often receive for quality healthcare and experienced higher ratios of premature death, injury and illness than others. According to the Institute of Medicine study, nearly six in 10 Latinos in the United States are uninsured. The United States Department of Health And Human Services and Congress has introduced legislation to help reduce those numbers, but such health disparities are not only a problem the United States, but around the world.
Things aren't much better in other locations either. Western European minorities and expats often find that long wait times, expensive treatments and limited options await them in Britain's medical health care system, as well as in Germany and France. Many indigenous natives of poorer, third world countries fare even worse.
Nigerians and other South African countries citizens increasingly venture to international destinations such as the United States, India, and Singapore to meet their healthcare needs. Latin Americans continually venture south into Mexico and Central American countries such as Costa Rica and Panama, as well as further south into South America to receive affordable yet quality surgical care and treatment in fields such as obesity and bariatric surgical procedures, cosmetic and plastic surgical procedures, dental and vision care, as well as affordable fertility treatments and stem cell therapies.
In countries where health insurance and medical care is limited, expatriates are going home to take care of their medical needs. American Asians are returning to facilities in South Korea, while Latin Americans are venturing south of the border for stem cell treatments in such facilities. Europeans are flocking to destinations in the Ukraine, Turkey and Croatia for the latest in stem cell technology, physical therapy, and drug detoxification.
Bottom Line
The truth is, until affordable and quality health care is available to every citizen of every country, international medical travel will continue to grow as people demand higher quality, state of the art technology and procedures, and affordable health care regardless of need, culture, or socioeconomic status. Whether individuals are eastern Europeans traveling to Hungary, Poland or Croatia, or Latin Americans traveling home to Mexico or Argentina, or Asians returning to Singapore, India, Japan or South Korea, expatriates and their families are flocking to their homelands for the best and choices and affordability and will continue to do so until medical care and quality stabilizes in leading countries around the world.
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