Want Better Health Care? Go Abroad

I've written a bit about how medical tourism is a growing way many Americans are combating the high cost of medical care. But whenever I bring up the topic, I get questions about the safety associated with getting medical procedures done outside the U.S. such as "Is it safe?," "What if something goes wrong?," and the like.

Well, Kiplinger's personal finance magazine says that it's not only safe, but you can often get BETTER medical attention by traveling abroad:

The truth is that foreign hospitals often rival or surpass those found in the U.S. Jonathan Edelheit, vice-president of insurance group OptiMed Health/United Group Programs, draws an analogy between five-star hotels and Motel 6 -- with U.S. hospitals more like Motel 6. "Overseas hospitals are often nicer than ours, and their equipment is as good or better, as are their doctors, many of whom trained in the States before going overseas," he says. "The average American has the impression that we have the world's best health care. But it's possible to find better care over there than you would get here."

Yep, I think it's time to realize that the U.S. isn't tops on the chart when it comes to medical care. And with costs of foreign procedures being half to one-third of what they cost in the States, more and more people are going to be considering medical tourism to save them a ton of money on good medical care.

Hey, maybe the solution to our health care problems is to let India take over the system. ;-)

Comments

[Don Wood]

Hi, I'm Don Wood, Director of America's Medical Solutions here in Mumbai, India. I was surprised to see the admission above that, "Hey, maybe the solution to our health care problems is to let India take over the system." Actually, that's not a bad idea. Patients of Indian medicine say they would crawl back to India if it were necessary to have further procedures done. Having been a patient in both US and Indian hospitals myself, I quite understand the sentiment.

[Giorgi Kochua]

“The soul is longing for freedom, just like a wounded dear need the fresh water”. I was born in Soviet Georgia, in the last years of Soviet Georgia, in the times, which were extremely hard for my country; the internal situation was very intense, which was a main hurtle for people to live up to their dreams.
In this case, I wasn’t an exception either. I only had one thing to do, to study at school and walking in the street of Zugdidi over and over again, I was obviously lacking emotions and new events. I didn’t have enough relationships, which is definitely crucial for a human.
I’ve been outside of borders of Georgia only once, I went to Turkey for 8 days. It has been 2 year since that and those impressions and emotional experiences are still with me.
I’m motivated to be happy to see foreign countries, to experience new, positive emotions, to get to know new friends, which will give me the strength to come back and continue my life.
I have no money, bat I want abroad! :(

[William Lala]

This example is purely anecdotal, but raises questions in my mind about the validity of your claims. My wife is a Nurse at UF and Shands in Jacksonville, FL. Her boss is a doctor from Pakistan, and many of the other doctors she works with are from India, Lebanon, and various other places around the Middle East. If the care in those countries is comparable quality wise with the care in the US, why do they all fly their family members into the US for treatment for things like cancer and heart disease? I doubt their insurance plans cover their parents living in foreign countries.

[FMF]

William --

First of all, why don't you ask them? Maybe they have special circumstances that call for work over here? Maybe they all get free medical treatment because their relative is a doctor? Who knows?

Second of all, just because some places overseas are able to do some procedures better, doesn't mean that all places overseas do all procedures better.

Third, a Toyota may be a "better" car than a Chevy, but there are still lots of Chevys being sold. Why is that?

[Fred Johnson]

fmf You asked William to ask the question I have asked many from other countries that come to the USA. and you would be amazed of the answers. One told me that they were told that the USA is so much better than India and that is why they came here then they told me that they were lied to and thought that India was much better than USA. I think they lied to me as they are still hear and have no intention of going back to India.