Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Has anyone gone abroad for surgery? I am highly considering it but I do not know where to start.
Tell me about your experiences
Plastic surgery or to get treatment for a disease?
What was the cost difference compared to your home country?
What was the quality of treatment like?
How did you find your doctors/surgeons?
What advice do you have for someone travelling abroad for less expensive prices and more quality care?
Would you do it again?
I would prefer positive stories but if you have a negative experience which you think would be useful to share, please do!
I have no personal experience with this and don't know anyone who has.
Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-ft pole!
what if you develop a complication? You wouldn't find a doctor in this country to touch you due to liability! What about long-term follow up, like a year later? do you plan to travel vack and forth by yourself? I hope not! Then you have to factor in the cost of your companion, travel, hotel, etc.
I think the whole idea of medical tourism is a bunch of nonsense hyped up by the media for something to write about
The term itself reeks of cheesy marketing. When you go to another country for surgery, you're not going on a tour of anything other than the hospital/surgical center.
If you go to Mexico for dental implants, you won't be in any condition to enjoy a vacation while you're there. You won't be enjoying the beach, or the beer, or the tacos, or the empinadas, or the visit to Tulum, or the Riviera. You'll be in your hotel room sucking down painkillers and praying that your brain doesn't explode on the plane ride home in two days.
If you go to Africa or the Middle East, you get to worry about being caught in the middle of a war while you're recovering from your hip surgery - which renders you completely immobile and at the mercy of terrorists and armies, for a minimum of two weeks.
China's great, as long as you're okay with the understanding that your replaced organ -probably- came from someone who was murdered just to sell you that organ. That is their MO, in China, for affordable organ replacement.
Meanwhile, no matter what surgery you have in another country, you will be recovering from that surgery - in another country. If ANYTHING goes wrong - you're screwed. You have no recourse, because unless you're very wealthy, you can't afford to stay there and duke it out with the hospital with lawyers and malpractice suits. Or even for a follow-up visit a month later. And if you can afford to do all that, you can afford to support your LOCAL medical professionals, in your own country, hopefully within a reasonable distance to your own home, so that family and friends can visit you during your recovery period.
Remember if you go to another country, you're basically alone. Being sick, injured, in horrible pain, and in a strange place with unfamiliar faces - no thanks. I'd rather pay extra to have the surgery right here.
India has a good rep for hospitals and doctors. Many of their surgeons trained in the US. Google and evaluate what you find. You do need to stay until you are fully recovered.
A friend of my daughter had lap band surgery in Belgium, maybe 1/3 the cost of doing it here. Then she had to find someone here to do the re-fills on the band - not easy.
It is probably not worth it because if it is medically needed your insurance will have to pay for it. You should just look at the math.
A) Co-payment for the operation, hospital stay, and follow ups.
vs.
B) Out of pocket expenses (i.e. 100%) for a surgery done at a foreign hospital or clinic. Don't forget the airplane tickets, hotels, etc. Also, think what will happen if there's a complication from the surgery which are not uncommon. Appropriate follow up is another issue.
The only time you should consider it if you can't get insurance here (e.g. you are undocumented) or if it's a very expensive cosmetic surgery.
Ok, well first off. I am from one of those scary 3rd world Eastern European countries which aren't really that scary. My experiences at the doctor there are just like the American ones only the doctors smoke.. While examining me... Also, way less expensive! I am looking into dental procedures but I want to go to a tropical place to recover ideally. I am looking for positive or negative EXPERIENCES not opinions.
My wife has been to a lot of dentists in her life, and by far the two best ones were in Bolivia and Mexico (both female, one of them great with child). Both of them at about 1/3 the cost of what the same procedure would have cost in the USA.
As for medical, I haven't had any experiences with serious issues, but I had invasive surgery in Jordan with an overnight hospital stay, with excellent results and what seemed to be very competent staff and facilities. My wife dislocated her elbow in a small town in Panama, with an overnight hospital stay to be re-xrayed in the morning, and the professional quality and diligence of the medical personnel was as good as I would have expected in the USA. That was emergency room treatment, not even pre-arranged.
Having switched to an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan, in April, looking at their Provider List, I was pleasantly surprised to see 5 dental clinics in Tijuana blessed by Aetna. But not listed was the dental clinic I go to down there. Will I go to these dental clinics blessed by Aetna? No! This is from someone who's been getting quality dental work in Mexico for 22 years!
My other experience with Medical Tourism has been limited, in reaction to frustration and panic!
Frustrated beyond belief with the Orthopedic Clinic I was going to up here (an Ultrasound image wasn't enough for them, they wanted an X-ray, MRI and a 2nd MRI) I researched a medical tourism hospital in Tijuana (Angeles Hospital) and went there, to simply have a Baker's Cyst aspirated, $300. And my Orthopedist there told me that with a Baker's Cyst, there's no reason to have an X-ray or MRi, an Ultrasound was all I needed. They also do a stem-cell procedure called PRP (which could be performed by either a Tijuana Dr. or a San Diego Dr. who has dual offices in both cities) and you can have a knee replacement for $12,500. A number of Canadians are utilizing this hospital, as their national healthcare system is imploding up there.
My Orthopedist, interestingly enough, was lured to this hospital from Wichita, Kansas.
Years past, I had a benign growth on my face, and the Dermatologist scraped it off here, but told me I had to return for some incredible 7-hour procedure, to "make sure they got it all", and for cosmetic purposes. Frustrated, once again, I hightailed to Tijuana to see a Dermatologist down there, who put me under the light, and told me there was no trace of it left. That was over 10 years ago! No surprise, the dermatologist merely wanted to bill my insurance company for 7 hours of unnecessary billing!
Also, back in 2004, I developed a painful shoulder problem. I tried a chiropractor, no relief, and acupuncture, no relief, so I went to an Orthopedist at a Sports Clinic in Tijuana, where he, initially, gave me a vitamin injection, which, initially, brought instant relief. But it wasn't permanent, and with some prescribed meds, it eventually disappeared.
Anon Chick, you're overlooking the panic factor, and when in a panic, you'll do anything to find relief.
Some people, in a panic, will even commit suicide. At the world-famous Suicide Clinic, Dignitas, in Switzerland, where you can fly over there to end your suffering for $5,850, 70% of those who go there went there in a panic, due to health problems.
And if you don't have the resources, you'll try just about anything!
I've been extremely satisfied with the limited medical tourism I've experienced, and I'm looking forward to more of it, in the future!
I can totally understand why medical tourism is so big. When you're on a waiting list for surgery, and months and months and months go by, and you realize you could get the surgery for 1/3 the price in Thailand, it's easy to see how people who are suffering in a broken medical system would seek help elsewhere.
The Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok Thailand offers superior medical imaging and surgery. They offer the latest in medical technologies, are super, super clean..are very respectful of the patients needs, and best of all, it won't take months and months of specialists appointments and diagnostic imaging appointments that take months and months in between each one...
If you need a surgery you can send them any diagnostics you've already had done and within 48 hours their team of experts (surgeons, neurosurgeons) will send you a report on what they believe needs doing to help you.....
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
