Many organized medical facilities state that the United States has the best healthcare in the world, but the increased popularity of a phenomenon called medical tourism, is challenging that statement. The US basically has the most expensive healthcare in the world, but certainly not the best.

This realization is hitting the general public and they are increasingly leaving this the United States to find offshore locations to access quality medical care and excellent surgical procedures, hence the term Medical tourism. Medical tourism’s clients are patients who will undergo a medical procedure in the US, which is a costly procedure, will instead fly to another country, like Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, India and Europe to have the procedure done there, because they will save an enormous amount of money.

Other countries have modern hospitals, which are often newer and equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art technology and most often have, if not equal, better surgical care and procedures that are performed with expertise at a fraction of the price any US hospital will charge. For example: a knee replacement in a high-tech Philippine hospital, where the surgery was performed by a Western trained surgeon, will cost $6,000, where as in the US the same procedure will cost, on average, $50,000. Heart bypass surgery in the United States can cost up to $80,000, but in Asia the cost is around $10,000, even adding to that, the cost of a round-trip airplane ticket and accommodation, only will add maybe $2,000 to the total cost.

The cost saving that oversea country’s offer are largely due to the waste and fraud in the United States healthcare system. It has been known for decades that the United States healthcare system is out of whack, and the proof lies in the growing popularity of medical tourism; same procedures done for a fraction of the cost in the US. But, maybe in the near future, due to the popularity of medical tourism, the US might just decide to compete and bring down healthcare prices, maybe.