Medical tourism also referred to as health tourism or health outsourcing means traveling to other countries to obtain cheap medical, dental, and surgical care. The exorbitant costs of healthcare in industrialized nations has led to the worldwide popularity of medical tourism. More and more people are traveling abroad as an affordable and enjoyable way to undergo plastic surgery and dental procedures.
Practically all medical tourism agencies, most of them located in the US and the UK, promote the dentist and the plastic surgeon abroad on the Internet. All the agencies have contracts with hospitals, doctors, dentists and plastic surgery clinics overseas. Using the service of medical tourism companies includes the fact that cross border medical facilities usually add 10-20% for commissions payable to the agency that refers the patient. That makes medical treatments more expensive than local pricing. Moreover patients cannot choose their own plastic surgeon or dentist. Usually it's the agency that selects the doctor or a limited group of doctors or medical facilities the patient can choose from.
Of course there is a do it yourself alternative. Some try to find clinics in Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, Hungary, Poland etc. without the use of medical agency services. But, researching an entire health industry in foreign countries seems to be time consuming, confusing and could be risky. Despite higher than local pricing of medical procedures it seems better to take advantage of the experience and expertise medical tourism agencies have.
However there is a new medical tourism trend finding its way on the Internet: do it half yourself after the agency has taken care of the other half first. This alternative is offered by the companies Dentist Abroad SA and Plastic Surgery Abroad SA both operating from Tijuana Mexico. For $15 the companies provide a thoroughly screened exclusive list of dentists, plastic surgeons, doctors, hospitals, cosmetic surgery clinics, dental surgeons, and clinics in Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, Hungary, Poland and several other countries. The service includes contact info, pricing, years of experience, working procedures, specialties and the necessary background information. Since there are no contracts, the companies claim not to receive any commissions. If this is true, then it makes treatments much cheaper and patients may have 100% freedom to choose their own doctor or dentist.
Plastic Surgery Abroad and Dentist Abroad were launched with the aim of assisting people around the world in exploring global healthcare options available to them. The companies claim that their two websites will help individuals to find medical possibilities and pricing abroad that they might otherwise never realize. The address of the companies is: Plastic Surgery Abroad SA and Dentist Abroad SA, Av. Madero 1120A, suite 1+2, Tijuana, Baja California 22000, Mexico. Websites: www.plastic-surgery-mexico-costa-rica-thailand-india-cosmetic.com and www.dentist-mexico-costa-rica-thailand-hungary-poland-dentistry.com
Sammie Justesen is a full-time literary agent, medical writer and editor, having worked with the publishers Mosby Inc., Addison Wesley Longman, Prentice Hall, and Springhouse Corporation. She writes professionally for print media and the Internet. Sammie has published business, technical, nonfiction, poetry, and short stories. Sammie is also a registered nurse with 25 years' experience in the health care industry. She lives on Rooster Ranch in northern Idaho with her husband Dee, who is a home and small business consultant, e-commerce specialist, and webmaster. Her website can be found here: www.northernlightsls.com/aboutus.htm