Medical Tourism FAQ's

Simply put, medical tourism just means travelling to receive healthcare.

There are a number of reasons you may decide to seek healthcare away from your home area.  Here are the most common:

• To save money on the cost of treatment.
• To receive treatment faster than you can at home.
• To get access to better healthcare than you can locally.  For example you may choose to travel to University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Clinic, because of it’s outstanding reputation for cancer treatment.
  

The amount varies from procedure to procedure and from country to country. Savings can be substantial, easily reaching 80%-90%. You could end up paying as little as one tenth of the cost of the same procedure at home.
Here are some example prices, from the Medical Tourism Association as of June 2010:

Yes!  From the USA alone it was estimated that in the year 2009 there were over 1.5 Million Americans travelling outside the USA to get medical treatment.

The truth is that people travel abroad to receive treatment for almost everything, from Dental work to Heart Surgery and Cancer Treatment.  Some of the most common procedures are dental work, weight loss treatment, fertility treatment and of course, cosmetic surgery.

All doctors and clinics are not equal.  Some are better than ones you may have access to locally and some are not.  There is an independent certification body JCI (Joint Commission International), which evaluates medical facilities against an international set of standards.  Look for JCI accredited hospital as a guide to the highest standards of health care.

No.  In order to let you compare procedure costs, we list only the cost of the procedure itself.  The prices you see on our site is the average price of procedures in each country.

No there is no fee and there is no catch.  Doctors want patients and are willing to provide you with free consultation to win your business.

No, you may pay more or less depending on the particulars of your case and the doctors you choose.

You can think of a facilitator as a specialized travel agent for medical tourists, like you.  Much as travel agents find you great places to go, hotels, and take care of all the bookings, tickets and so on, these can be among the services which facilitators offer.  They can often recommend the best hospital to treat you.  Often they may take care of booking flights, hotels and ground transportation. 

The chances are that your doctor will speak English, most do.  Those who do not speak English well, normally have interpreters available.  When screening possible doctors, it is always good to check that you are comfortable with your ability to communicate with them.

You should check with your doctors.  Some hospitals have full time interpreters.  Or, it may be that you doctor can speak your native language. For example most doctors in Mexico will speak Spanish and are able to talk to Spanish native speakers with ease.

More and more insurance companies are offering coverage for treatment abroad.  Some even offer to cover related travel expenses.  You should talk to your insurance company to understand exactly what their policy is and what parts of medical tourism may be covered.

Many visitors to our website need help and guidance with selecting the correct procedure.  You have a few options:

• You can pick a procedure that you think best fits, and in the detail of your enquiry, just make a note that you need help with understanding which is the best for you.  The doctors are glad to discuss options with you.
• You can chat with our on-line operators or email us; they can help you complete the online process.  But our operators are not doctors, so it is always best to make sure your doctors understand you need help with determining the best treatment.
• You can talk to your family doctor; they can likely help you and suggest they correct treatment that you need before you complete your online form on our site.
   

You can expect to hear back within 1-2 business days.

Sure.  When you want to contact a doctor, you need to provide your personal contact details and some basic medical information.  We understand that privacy is a concern, and all transmissions are encrypted.  Your doctors do need basic information from you.  That helps them ensure that the right specialists are assigned you, and that they are also able to contact you.  We all know that doctors are busy people and the more information we can provide them upfront, the better they can prepare for your case, saving both your and their time.