Medical Tourism is not new. For decades, US citizens have and continue to travel to foreign countries to receive cosmetic surgery and to Mexico for dental care. Recently, medical tourism has experienced a huge boom. Josef Woodman, the author of "Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody's Guide to Affordable, World-class Medical Tourism", estimates that 11 million people will receive medical treatment abroad. For 2014, Woodman projects that 1,200,000 of the medical tourists will be US citizens.
The Health Industry provides medical tourism information, which reveals that the main reason for the high cost of U.S. healthcare is the rapidly increasing healthcare insurance, malpractice, increased salary and benefits provided to hospital employees.
While the country debates over the medical insurance system of America, an increasing number of American people have taken matters into their own hands. Approximately 61 million uninsured or under-insured Americans have rejected a system that fails to satisfy their medical needs and instead they opt to go to receive treatment elsewhere.
Medical tourism dates back to ancient times, when Greek pilgrims traveled over the Mediterranean to take refuge in the Saronic Gulf known as Epidauria. This is where the healing god Asklepios could be found.
Travel Insurance: An Essential Item in Health Tourism
