Even as the $940 billion health reform in the United States will expand medical care coverage to 30 million previously uninsured citizens, there will still be a market for medical tourism, said Renee-Marie Stephano, president of the U.S. – based nonprofit Medical Tourism Association.
“We anticipate medical tourism to increase,” Stephano said in an interview with The Tico Times on Monday. “More people will have access to health insurance (in the United States ), but you are going to see an increase in the underinsured.”
It’s these underinsured that have traditionally provided a large client base for medical tourism, Stephano said, as people look abroad for services that United States insurance companies deem “not necessary” including hip replacements, dental care or cosmetic surgery.
Patients are able to find such non-essential services of similar quality but at a fraction of the cost in countries like Costa Rica, India and Brazil, said Michael …
Colombia Jumps in to Medical Tourism Industry
February 26th, 2010The Colombian government is promoting the South American country as a medical tourism destination, where visitors can receive high quality-low cost treatments such as cosmetic surgery and dentistry.
Tourism minister Luis Guillermo Plata says that the government expects to see a rise in medical tourism visitors because the quality of Colombian medicine is high but far cheaper than treatments in Europe and the U.S.The government estimates that twenty foreigners travel to Colombia every month for cosmetic surgery procedures such as liposuction, rhinoplasty and breast augmentation. The majority of patients come from the USA, Spain, Panama and Mexico, according to the government. Approximately 2.2 per cent of visitors to Colombia in 2008 came to receive medical treatment, around 27000 people. The government estimates that the majority of these patients were Colombians residing in other countries.
One problem for Colombia is that several hospitals are still only in the middle of …
Cuba Makes a Bid to Become Medical Tourism Hub
February 3rd, 2010Although Cuban-Americans can now visit Cuba, other Americans still have to get a visa and prove to the authorities that they have a good reason to visit. So far, President Obama has not delivered on his promise of free trade and free travel between the USA and Cuba.
A delegation from American trade organization World Trade Center Tampa Bay has just returned from a Cuba trip and issued a declaration aimed at promoting travel and business with the island. WTC intends to re-establish historic relationships between the Tampa Bay area and Cuba by encouraging travel of business and trade groups to Cuba. The organization believes that unrestricted and free travel for U.S. citizens to Cuba should be approved. An embargo currently prohibits most travel to the island and limits trade to food, agriculture and medical products. The organization has encouraged the University of South Florida to establish a medical …
Caribbean Starts to Make a Case for Becoming Medical Tourism Hub
December 18th, 2009Dr. Conville Brown, founder, director and Physician-in-Chief of The Bahamas Heart Center, has a whole list of reasons why the Caribbean is a prime candidate as a medical tourism destination.
We have a lot of American trained doctors and U.S. hospital accreditations, no one is closer to the U.S. than us, we’re English speaking, have the same dollar value and we like to think we provide the best hospitality in the West,” Dr. Brown said during his presentation at this year’s World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress.
He went on to explain that the Caribbean has a long history of political and economic stability and maintains a non-punitive but compensatory malpractice environment, allowing them to keep costs at an affordable level. Certain medical procedures, he said, that may be unavailable in other jurisdictions can be legally and ethically performed, presenting novel opportunities for collaboration. High frequency ultrasound is one …
Documentary: A Portrait of a US Patient Simply Seeking Treatment
December 8th, 2009By Kirk Laughlin, NSAmericas Editorial Director
The patient in the documentary received treatment at Clinica Biblica in San Jose.
Bob, the patient who is the subject of an eye-opening documentary about medical tourism described his knee problems as like “stepping on a steak knife. ” The makers of the film, the Medical Tourism Association, say Bob saved about $80,000 by going to Costa Rica to receive a double knee replacement.
Nearshore Americas provided “on the ground” coverage of the fast-growing medical tourism industry of Costa Rica earlier this year, which included a first-hand account of one man’s experience with vibroliposuction.
As someone who just received knee surgery because of a recent collision on the …
US Patients Seek Stem Cell Treatments in Costa Rica
October 14th, 2009SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Dr. Orlando Morales is something of a celebrity at Costa Rica’s University of Medical Science, sauntering through the halls in his white lab coat. On a recent walk, students and faculty greeted him with “Feliz cumpleanos, doctor.” He just turned 68.
With the excitement of a young doctor fresh out of medical school, Morales’ eyes light up when he observes the petri dishes that harvest “celulas madre,” or stem cells, from mice.
“It’s practically science fiction,” Morales said of what he considers the medicine’s new miracle worker. Morales is one of the firmest believers around in the power of stem cell treatments.
“After a heart attack, they can begin to make new tissue. In a gland, which for example has to make insulin, the cells begin to create insulin. Nervous tissue, they regenerate it … It’s a panacea,” he said.
An increasing number of …
Researcher Argues LATAM Medical Tourism Needs Regulation
October 7th, 2009Montreal, October 7, 2009 – Medical tourism in Latin America needs to be regulated to protect consumers, according to Université de Montréal researchers. A new study published in the journal Developing World Bioethics argues that Argentinean fertility clinics are increasingly marketing themselves to international health care consumers: these clinics offer all-inclusive packages with fixed prices that feature airfare, accommodations, transfers, language interpreters and, of course, fertility treatments.
“The appeal of such packages is obvious: healthcare consumers need not worry about any of the practical details of their trip – budgeting, travel arrangements or language barriers – and can instead focus on obtaining quality medical services combined with a vacation. Non-accredited clinics in Argentina offer much more competitive prices for services in comparison with clinics in North America or Europe. For example, in vitro fertilization in the United States runs upwards of $10,000 U.S. per cycle of treatment,” says Bryn …
Medical Tourism: Where Latin America has an Edge over Asia
June 16th, 2009
Cultural familarity and proximity are key advantages Latin America has over Asia
As many as 23 million US citizens will seek medical treatment overseas by the year 2017 (spending close to $80 billion), and as much as 50% of those treatments will take place in Latin America.
Despite President Obama’s remarks today about the need to shore up the US healthcare system, there is little doubt that an increasing number of citizens will take advantage of what is seen as inexpensive and reliable health care services south of the border.
With such a huge upside, it’s no wonder that medical tourism development leaders in Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, and El Salvador are looking to get a stake in this growing market.
So what does make …
Hernan Campos, marketing director for Costa Rica Medical, sampled the services of his company when he went for vibro liposuction. Find out what happened in this post.
Costa Rica Services Summit Coverage
When Hernan Campos decided to trim a good bit of fat off his shoulders, belly and other pats of his body, he knew exactly who to turn to. (BTW, I checked with Hernan and he gave me full permission to share his story.) Hernan shed about 35 pounds in one treatment, provided by Costa Rica Medical, a San Jose-based, medical services organization that provides a wide range of cosmetic surgery and other popular procedures not generally covered by US insurance carriers. Hernan underwent a new, more advanced procedure called Vibroliposuction, a treatment that has not been approved yet by the FDA for usage in the United States.
Read more to find out how things went… .
