Running Head: Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism
Pedro Garcia
University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
The American healthcare costs have been rising yearly and this is
causing Americans to finding alternatives to their healthcare needs.
With developing countries offering surgeries and procedures at the
fraction of American prices more and more Americans are making the
trip to those countries. Many of those not realizing the possible side
effects that come with making the trip. Medical societies from
developed countries are seeking the help of politicians to fix the
healthcare costs to help protect their citizens from receiving
complications from their surgeries. However there have been many
instances where the tourists have been very satisfied with their results
and would make the travel again. Since the price for healthcare is
steadily rising the option of traveling is going to be more common and
therefore the awareness on the subject is crucial to help the tourist
make a wise decision.

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As the rising price of health care increases in the United States, a

new industry is growing outside its borders and it involves the
American citizens. The American health care is the most expensive in
the world, cost has been rising faster than the rate of inflation.
(Bodenheimer, 2005) This rise in cost is leaving citizens without health
care, and others to find care somewhere else, which includes going
over seas. This action is called medical tourism and has been present
for decades, however back then people from undeveloped countries
would travel to developed countries to receive the health care they
need. However now people from the developed world are the ones
going to the underdeveloped countries to receive their treatment to
save money.
There are ripple effects that come with medical tourism; there
are effects to the United States, effects to the developing country, and
effects to the patients. This topic has been debated and has called for
reforms and improvement in healthcare, and therefore calls for review
through the following questions:

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1. Why do people travel to other countries to receive medical

treatment?
2. How does medical tourism affect the health care of the
country that the people are traveling to?
3. What are the differences between the health care systems of
countries popular in the medical tourism business?
4. What are the by-products of receiving medical treatment in a
developing country?
These questions will allow the readers to understand the topic of
medical tourism and inform them of the pros and cons of outsourcing
health care.
Why do people travel to other countries to receive medical
treatment?
It is a proven fact that the United States has the highest
healthcare costs than anywhere else in the world. The American
citizens that cannot afford the health care they need are going to seek
it from somewhere else. The main reason that people would travel to
another country is to save money. In many cases that is the only option
for many American citizens. In the United States a cardiac bypass will
cost over $100,000 dollars, where for example in India a cardiac
bypass can be performed for around $10,000. As seen in table 1, the
saving in medical procedures is very large and could explain for the
growing popularity for Americans. In survey distributed to citizens of El
Paso and Las Cruces, the amount of people that would cross borders to
receive medical treatment was 66% and that was either to save

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money, preference of medical techniques, or for other reasons. While
the number of people that would not travel to another country to
receive treatment was 34%. However when asked if they would travel
to save $5,000 from a procedure only

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52%
would have made the travel, and 23% chose maybe. But when asked if
they would travel to save $50,000 the percentage rose to 69% with
only 13% choosing maybe. When asked for what reason they would
travel to receive medical treatment, the most popular answer was to
save money (48%). In Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua has become a popular
spot for citizens living in nearby El Paso and other Texas cities,
according to an El Paso Times article, Juarez has plans to incorporate
hotel rooms equipped for the rehabilitation of its foreign patients,
many being Hispanic. Since many of the tourists that go to Juarez to
receive treatment are Hispanic, the cultural relationship and low cost
helps draw the tourist. On the survey distributed 82% of the survey
takers were Hispanic and when asked on their comfort if going to

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Mexico to receive medical treatment, most of the survey takers listed

their comfort as semi comfortable. The region that received the highest
comfort was Europe. Also 87% of the survey takes also reported they
believe that health care in the United States is too expensive.

How does medical tourism affect the health care of the country
that the people are traveling to?
Medial tourism has been found to be a great revenue producer
for many countries; the industry is growing at about 25% every year in
some Asian and South American countries. There are reports of as

many as 10,000,000 Americans traveling to receive health care,

whether its dental, medical, or cosmetic. (Johnston, National Institute
of Health, 2010). So it is obvious that the influx of tourists is going to
generate revenue, however there are issues that come with having so
many tourists seeking healthcare in a country that is undeveloped.

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One of the issues about having a high demand of health care in a

underdeveloped country is that the citizens living in those countries
are now competing for sources and doctors. In most undeveloped
countries doctors work for the public sector and for the most part
doctors are limited. When so many tourist make their way to that said
country, it is very common for doctors to leave the public sector to
make more money with the tourists. This causes the already depleted
health care system to be even more depleted. (Rampalli, TED, 2013).
This usage of public resources gives more money to the private sector
and is shown by better facilities, better equipment, better educated
staff. This however does not affect the tourists, in fact more attention
is sometimes put into the international patients because they provide
more money for the economy.
The great amount of tourist seeking medical care has a lot of
benefits for a countries economy. The large amount of patients who
want to have first world health care, at a third world prices (Rampalli,
TED, 2013) are going to draw doctors who have moved to developed
countries to receive their education back to their home country. The
large amount of tourists calls for the building of special hotels specially
equipped for the recuperation of the tourists, and also new and state of
the art hospitals that are going to draw the tourist attention. This helps
produce jobs and helps the local economy. The potential for business in

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these countries not also draws attention from local investment but also
foreign investment (Johnston, National Institute of Health, 2010).
What are the differences between the health care
systems of countries popular in the medical tourism
business?
Several tourists that travel to other countries get more than just
a cheaper procedure, many first hand encounters describe the staffing
of these foreign hospitals to be much more friendly than the ones in
the United States. In an article by USA Today, director of health
initiatives in the Americas at U.C. Berkleys tickets of public health
states "In Spanish, we say calidad and calidez, quality and warmth,"
she said. "When you are sick, you need medical support. You also need
emotional support. That is something that Mexican physicians give."
(Anna Gorman, 2014). In other countries similar experiences have been
encountered by some of the thousands of Americans that travel to
receive treatment. The medical facilities vary in countries popular with
medical tourism than the ones in the United States. In countries like
Panama or India there are hospitals specially made for the tourism
sector. The government does not fund these hospitals, and most of the
doctors have their private practice instead of working with the public
sector. The hospitals include larger rooms and are often close to the
beach so the tourist can heal from the medical procedure in comfort.
Since medical tourists contribute greatly to developing counties

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economies, they often contain medical tourism pages on the countries

official tourisms websites. On the official Costa Rica website they
contain packages for tourists who are interested in receiving different
types of medical procedures. On costarica.com they offer a package for
breast augmentation that includes surgery, 7day vacation in a hotel
specially designed for medical tourists and all the necessities to heal
from a surgery, all for 3,800 dollars. Hospitals in the United States are
not known to offer anything similar to the packages in developing
countries.
One main difference with the health care systems is that the
hospitals are often underfunded. This forces the surgeons so
sometimes use recycled needles and other equipment, this can be
dangerous for the patient and maybe even fatal(CDC, 2015). The
Center for Disease Control and the Australian society of Plastic
Surgeons warn travelers of the possible dangers that can be faced by
travelers.
What are the by-products of receiving medical treatment
in a developing country?
Throughout the growing popularity of traveling for medical
procedures there have been instances where the tourist is not happy
with his or her results. In other instances there have been reports of
other people contracting diseases on their way to the developing
country. The CDC (Center For Disease Control) warns of travelers who

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are in search of cheaper procedures. On the CDC website they warn

about the risk of contracting HIV or Hepatitis, antibiotic resistant
bacteria found in developing countries, and the chance of the
medication being counterfeit or of poor quality (CDC, 2015). Below is
one incident where the tourist received negative effects to the surgery
she received that eventually landed the woman in a coma.

One by-product
of making the travel is the saving of money. The tourist can easily save
thousands of dollars on many procedures (figure 1). This is not to say
that it comes with its risks and rewards. On an article published by the
Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the article describes the
incident where a British woman traveled to Thailand to receive
cosmetic surgery from an alleged unlicensed surgeon. This instance
raised the attention of the ASPS and therefore made the society raise
awareness on the risks. That is not to differ the fact that there are
many happy tourists that are very satisfied with the procedure they
had received and would gladly make the travel again.
Conclusion

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As the price of healthcare costs in the United States rises the

American citizens are going to be drawn to other countries for cheaper
healthcare. Many of them not having a choice when it comes to them
receiving life saving treatment like an open-heart surgery. As the
numbers rise the United States will have to make legislation or
changes to their healthcare system to keep the American citizens from
seeking treatment somewhere.

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Rampalli, K, (speaker) (2013). Medical tourism, your health can now be

outsourced. TedxUMN. Lecture conducted by Ted, Minneapolis,
Mn.
Center for disease control. (2015, February 23). Medical tourism.
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/features/medicaltourism/
Bodenheimer, T (2005, May 17). High and Rising Health Care Costs.
Retrieved from http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=718406

Johnston, R., Crooks, V. A., Snyder, J., & Kingsbury, P. (2010). What is
known about the effects of medical tourism in destination and
departure countries? A scoping review. International Journal for Equity
in Health, 9, 24. http://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-9-24

Health Base(2007), Top 10 Reasons Medical Tourism is Popular.

Retrieved from Johnston, R., Crooks, V. A., Snyder, J., & Kingsbury, P.
(2010). What is known about the effects of medical tourism in
destination and departure countries? A scoping review. International
Journal for Equity in Health, 9, 24. http://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-924

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