Medical Travel

Medical travel, also known as medical tourism, is quickly becoming one of the world's fastest growing industries. For those seeking cosmetic surgery or dental surgery, the concept of medical travel to receive treatment in a foreign country has been around for quite a while. However, medical travel is rapidly evolving to the point where patients are now seeking medical treatment ranging from eye surgery, kidney dialysis and organ transplantations to open-heart surgery and other cardio-vascular surgeries, pediatric heart surgery, hip and knee replacements, bone marrow transplants, weight loss surgery/ bariatric surgery, and cancer therapy from highly qualified surgeons at foreign medical facilities equipped with the latest electronic and medical diagnostic equipment, and techniques.

Welcome to OnlineMedicalTourism.com. We are a resource-portal for people who are searching for medical travel information. OnlineMedicalTourism.com guides the visitor through a wealth of information regarding international medical options. We offer in-depth information on the following medical travel topics: detailed lists of world-wide medical travel / Medical Tourism Facilities with information about each facility including specific procedures performed, comparison and indication of “medical treatment costs” , medical travel insurance information, travel related services and providers, details and warnings on the risks of medical travel, and other information we feel will help you make an informed decision regarding your medical travel needs. Our information is constantly being updated as we build and maintain OnlineMedicalTourism.com's database.

The name medical travel or medical tourism conjures up the idea of planning a trip that combines medical treatment and a vacation. There are a number of health travel agencies that promote this concept. However as more people travel abroad for serious medical procedures the dream of taking a vacation and undergoing a medical procedure must be tempered with the reality that after surgery there will be a recuperation period. You may travel to an exotic location, you may recuperate in a beautiful setting, but that doesn’t necessarily make you fit to then go on a safari. Be realistic when you make your medical travel plans not only to allow for proper healing, but also to reduce the risk of complications. Learn about medical travel to: Riga, Latvia.

Although OnlineMedicalTourism.com can provide you with a vast amount of information about medical travel, when a person finally decides to commit to traveling to a foreign country to receive overseas medical treatment, the logistics can be daunting. Fortunately there are a number of Medical Travel Service Providers with established relationships to numerous respected medical facilities that will be able to assist you. However, just as you have spent time educating yourself about medical travel options, spend time investigating medical tourism agencies. You want the agency’s staff to be knowledgeable about both the medical and travel professions. A quality medical travel agency will provide their clients with solutions for all medical and travel-related components from finding the best-accredited hospitals and doctors, to hotel accommodations and other travel options. Learn more about JCI accreditation to enable you to research and find the most suitable medical facilities and service providers.

Frequently cost is the driving factor for people and even companies to consider the medical travel option. For folks that lack health insurance, desire cosmetic surgery, or other elective surgery, or have high-deductible health plans, treatment overseas may be the only reasonable option. It’s hard to believe, but the facts bear out that the cost of treatment overseas is a fraction of what you'd pay in the U.S even after including air, hotel accommodations, meals, and other travel-related expenses. If you have a high-deductible HSA tax-free account, you may even be able to pay for your overseas medical and surgical procedures that qualify under the IRS rules from such an account. Most health-insurance companies have been slow to accept the idea of medical travel, but several now allow their members to travel outside the U.S. to receive care. Check with your health insurance provider. Learn more about medical tourism insurance and where medical tourism insurance is headed. For desperate patients in Britain, Canada, or other countries contending with long waiting lists for major surgery, the best solution may be one of these foreign health-care facilities. Many can accommodate you immediately.

In the US the idea of medical travel to a foreign country may seem strange to folks who live in a country with its own advanced medical system. But even U.S. employers and businesses with extraordinary employee health care costs may find huge savings by leveraging medical travel through well-conceived tiered health insurance plans. If you feel skeptical about medical travel, you will be gratified knowing that many foreign hospitals and the health care they offer often rivals or surpass that found in the U.S. In fact, many of the facilities and clinics that cater to the medical travel market are among the best in the world, and are often staffed by physicians trained at major medical centers in the United States and Europe. Their surgical procedures are performed with the same technology and expertise found in the US, yet cost a fraction of the price. As part of your education, OnlineMedicalTourism.com recommends that you check the accreditation of the hospital and the credentials of the surgeon you are considering. We provide the accreditation of the hospitals listed on our site. See our medical tourism facilities and service provider pages.

In addition, hospitals in foreign countries catering to medical travel often meet higher patient standards, because they know there's more on the line. They are motivated to give the patient a high-quality experience because the hospitals are always looking for more medical travel visitors and outstanding results are a great word-of-mouth marketing for that facility. Many folks in the US are not used to a patient driven environment, and will be pleasantly surprised to find that among the benefits of medical travel are better service and better facilities. The experts predict medical travel to grow exponentially in the coming years as more and more patients around the world discover the advantages to having medical treatments overseas. Choice is everything, and as the market grows, the competition for patients will lead to welcomed improvements in all areas of service, including quality of care.

The are risks to medical tourism. At the moment one down side of medical travel is that in most cases you'll have no liability protection or recourse in case of malpractice. There is also the concern among some doctors about the issue of follow-up care after a patient has returned home. Some medical facilities are addressing follow-up care by having reciprocal deals with US hospitals and doctors. Do ask about follow-up care when speaking to the hospital or when talking with a medical travel agency who may book your trip.

Medical travel can potentially provide enormous cost savings and ease the health care woes for many people not only in the US, but from around the world. OnlineMedicalTourism.com is devoted to providing information to help make your medical travel choices be based on knowledge. We want you to feel satisfied that all your options have been explored and that your selection of medical travel opportunities is as complete as possible. As is true of many important life decisions, knowledge is the key to both confidence and comfort level. The more options available to the medical traveler, and the more educated the medical traveler becomes, the more likely appropriate services can be found to match the need. This is a major goal of our site.
Learn, travel, heal.

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