There has been a sharp increase in Americans leaving the country for medical care. There aren’t hard numbers on how many Americans travel to other countries for medical care, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates it’s in the millions. Medical tourism was once reserved for the very wealthy, but it is now a booming business across the board.
In fact, Statista reports the medical tourism market is currently worth about $47 billion, but the industry is expected to grow twice as much by 2029, with forecast numbers around $111 billion. There are two main reasons people travel for healthcare in other countries: cost and desire. Although the United States generally has better healthcare than other countries, American insurance companies are notorious for their quirks regarding what they’ll cover and what they won’t.
Even those with better coverage may need a procedure the insurance won't pay for or one where the copay is out of reach for most people. If these patients have to save up to meet the copay, they may not get the care they need in a timely fashion. According to KFF , an independent source of health policy research, 61% of Americans say they did not get the care they needed because of the cost.
In such cases, patients may opt to go elsewhere in the world for treatment. A $10,000 trip overseas could be cheaper than what they would pay in the U.S.
for their care. Some people want medical procedures that are not available in the U.S.
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