Unfortunately, hospital pricing is not transparent and most people are not used to shopping for their healthcare. If you are not facing an emergency, we encourage you to treat this like any other major purchase and to call a few hospitals for their pricing. Some sites, such as HealthGrades.com, provide “reasonable” prices for various procedures, which will give you a sense of what you should pay. You might even ask your preferred hospital to match the price of another hospital, just as you might if you were shopping for a new car. 

The more standard or simple the procedure is the more we encourage you to shop for a good price. As procedures get more complex, we would encourage you to seek quality care with less concern for price.  Standard procedures are more likely to have multiple doctors who can provide a good quality service than complex ones.  Price is also easier to estimate for standard procedures than for complex procedures.  Your insurance company should also be able to provide you with information to help make a good decision.

Just like that inexpensive gadget you bought that was made in another country, you can now purchase your healthcare in foreign countries at significant savings. Over 1 million people in the United States per year are seeking medical care outside of the United States for procedures ranging from plastic surgery to heart surgery in what is known as medial tourism. Because the costs can be much lower in developing countries, a medical tourist can save thousands of dollars on a surgery, even when you include the cost of travel and lodging, without sacrificing quality. Popular destinations include South America, Central America and Southeast Asia.

There are obvious positive and negative aspects to medical tourism and the industry is still relatively new, but it’s becoming popular enough that very reputable healthcare providers in the U.S. are beginning to offer medical tourism services, sometimes in a partnership with a foreign company. The obvious benefit of medical tourism is that you could save a lot of money.  But, you should also consider the potential negatives of medical tourism:

1.  You have to travel to be seen by a doctor and will have to fly back as well
2.  You will spend some time in a foreign country recovering
3.  You've never used their healthcare system or doctors before and have quality questions

It is true that medical travel will never be as convenient as local healthcare.  However, with respect to concerns with quality (such as safety, credentials and general competency), regulatory agencies such as the Joint Commission International are certifying certain overseas hospitals. Even health insurers are considering partnerships in this area.  Finally, though the U.S. is known as a world leader in many areas, the U.S. healthcare system was recently ranked only 37th in the world by the World Health Organization. so other countries may match or beat the U.S. in some quality measures.  Now, this doesn't mean you should rush out and book your upcoming surgery in Singapore. But with careful research and examination, you might decide that medical tourism is the right thing for you.

As an example of potential savings, you can refer to an interview with Dr. Jason Yap, the Director of Information Services for Singapore Medicine at the Singapore Tourism Board, conducted in May 2007 (www.worldhealthcareblog.org).  According to Dr. Yap, the cost differences are significant between countries:

Even when you factor in your travel costs, it is clear there are significant cost savings to be had from medical tourism.

Here are some websites where you can learn more about medical tourism:

a. www.Imtjonline.com
b. www.Medicoglobal.com
c. www.Medretreat.com
d. www.companionglobalhealthcare.com