Why Is Medical Tourism So Popular?
While traveling to get medical treatment is nothing new, medical tourism has seen an explosion in popularity over the past few years. Why are so many people traveling miles from home to get medical treatment? There are many reasons. But the simple answer is that it's actually a better deal for many people. If planned carefully, medical tourism has many benefits to patients and because of that more and more people are willing to travel abroad to get treatments they could get at home.
Perhaps one of the greatest factors in the popularity of medical tourism is cost. Treatment in many countries has reached outrageous levels due to bureaucracy and the cost of medical malpractice insurance amidst a sue-happy population. Even those with medical insurance can find themselves shouldering a hefty burden for medical costs that aren't covered by their plan. Medical tourism offers a solution for many, since costs of treatment in many of other countries are as little as a tenth to a quarter of what they are in the United States. In some cases, even when insurance does cover treatment, traveling abroad to get it is encouraged, especially for plans through employers who stand to benefit from the cheap treatment as well.
Medical tourism has also seen a boom in popularity due to longer and longer waits for treatments because of overburdened health systems. Many patients simply cannot wait months to get the operations they need. Leaving the country allows them to fit in the treatment more quickly or more conveniently into their schedule and despite the risks of travel can actually be better for their health.
Patients coming from smaller countries or those with rare or specific medical conditions may be forced to travel because the kind of care and specialty they need simply isn't available back home. For these cases, quick turnaround and cost savings are simply the icing on the cake.
Sometimes it isn't even that the kind of care a patient needs isn't available in their home country, but that they can simply afford better care somewhere else where costs are less. In many countries where medical tourism is a big industry the government has poured money into the medical facilities available and also to making sure that doctors and nurses are highly trained. This investment can amount to a higher quality of care for patients and state of the art facilities and research centers for doctors.
Medical tourism is also popular simply for the tourism aspect. Getting away from the stresses of home and work can be a much better and more relaxing way to recover from an operation. Many people find it more convenient to combine these two, and companies specializing in medical tourism packages have made it easier than ever to do so.
For many, medical tourism is simply a better option than staying in their home country to get treatment. Lower costs, quicker treatment, and the possibility of recovering on a beach have helped to make medical tourism a growing international phenomenon. Some popular medical tourist destinations include Argentina, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and Thailand.
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