US Medical Tourism Soaring due to High Medical Expenses

April 10, 2008 - PRLog -- Clifford, director of international visa and immigration authority adds that “the amount of people applying for visas through Global Visas (www.globalvisas.com) in order to travel for medical reasons has risen dramatically in the past few years.”

There are however reasons why US medicine is so expensive, namely the high level of technology used, more demand for medication and treatment and the need for a greater variety of tests.

Also the United States is the only country in the developed world that does not have a public health system that maintains the health services of all citizens. Therefore most citizens require private health insurance, often supplied by an employee. However the high costs of medical aid causes many people to have no form of health insurance. In 1999 it was estimated that there where over 40 million people in America that were not covered.

Therefore a bulk of wages goes to personal health care. According to a column by David Leonhardt in The New York Times, “the cost of health care has aggravated the problem [of wage slowdown] by taking a huge bite out of workers’ paycheque.”  It has been estimated that people in Massachusetts contribute almost 80% more to health plans as apposed to in 2001.

Despite the high costs many Americans do not believe that the level of health care in the US is better than that of the UK or France. This is according to a survey done by the Harvard School of public health. The World Health Organisation have also consistently ranked American medical care lower than that of other western nations.

Prices also vary depending on the medical institution and the services they offer. For example Johns Hopkins hospital averages $85 000 (£43 090) per patient whereas the Mayo clinic is $53 000 (£26 868) per patient. However a patient is estimated to cost just $7000 (£3.458) in a Canadian hospital.

This has therefore influenced the number of people seeking medical treatment beyond American shores. But it is not just Americans who have become medical tourists; it is also an ever-growing industry for the British.

Countries like France, Germany and the United Kingdom have public medical insurance. Despite this, the amount of Britons travelling abroad is astonishingly high with numbers of up to 100 000 in 2007.    

Heart surgery in the UK will set you back £14 000, whereas it is only estimated to cost £7 000 in a country like Belgium, Germany or South Africa. The major attraction to travel overseas for medical reasons is these major cost cuts. Some savings are as high as 70%.

The cheaper medical costs of some countries have caused them to strategise in order to improve their medical tourist numbers.

In the Philippines the standard of care is high for the wealthy and privileged; therefore an initiative to promote medical tourism has been developed. Major differences in medical spend between the UK and the Philippines give one a clear idea why the Philippines is so much cheaper. The UK government spent $208 billion (£105 billion) for their population of over 60 million last year, this as apposed to just $400 million (£202 million) in relation to the Philippines population of 92 million. These costs are also up to 80% lower than in US medical centres.

As Clifford concludes, “Travelling to another country for the purposes of undergoing medical treatment is becoming a more frequent and realistic option for those who wish to receive treatment quickly and cheaply.”

Global visas (www.globalvisas.com) provide visa services for those who want to travel abroad for medical purposes. They supply anything from Indian medical visas, allowing holders to enter the country for up to one year for treatment reasons, to the South African medical permit allows foreign nationals to migrate to South Africa on a temporary basis in order to undergo medical treatment in the country. Visit www.globalvisas.com to find out more.

Website: www.globalvisas.com