There has been so much talk, discussions, arguments, ravings and rantings about health care in the USA that I thought I would inject a bit of humor in the debate. Even living in far away Costa Rica, I haven’t been immune to media reports on everything being promised or threatened – depending on who you listen to – and so I thought we should discuss health care tourism.

Baby Boomers sometimes wistfully look to Western countries with socialized health care – such as Canada, Costa Rica and just about all of Europe – and wonder whether they might not go there for a procedure.
 
Having landed in the emergency room the last time I was in Canada (crashed my motorcycle, major bruising only), I can tell you that even without any health insurance the cost of the ambulance and doctor’s care was far, far less than when I went to the emergency room in California (fell off a ladder decorating an outdoor tree with Christmas lights, got a concussion) even when excluding the CAT scan expenses.

According to Wikipedia, medical costs for Americans traveling to Canada for procedures are 30 to 60% cheaper than in their home country. The World Health Organization has stated that health care in Canada is equal to if not better than that of the US in most categories.

The idea of thousands of Americans going abroad to receive health care brings a huge smile to many businesses that court them. In fact, there is so much of this going on that it has become a legitimate sub-sector of the industry: medical travel or tourism. Destinations include Africa, the Middle East, most of Asia and the Pacific, and a few countries in Eastern Europe.

Americans routinely go to Mexico for procedures where it costs approximately one third of what US hospitals charge much to the horror of doctors and dentists to the north. Investigations have shown that patients are generally satisfied with the care they receive. The scare stories propagated by the medical profession are nothing more than that: the truth is that it’s the doctors who are scared of the competition – not Americans who should be afraid of shoddy care.

Brazil is known for its plastic surgery and the number of well-endowed women there is enough to make you think that all of the large breast genes or, more likely, implants have made their way to that South American country.

The best ad for the industry, in my humble opinion, is one I recently came across while surfing the Internet. An idea for a medical holiday offers a “Hair Health Romance & Vacation Tour.”

And I quote: “Take a wonderful and romantic vacation to the foreign destination of your choice, enjoy meeting hundreds of beautiful marriage minded women and obtain the hair loss restoration, replacement, transplant or treatment of your choice. Restoration of hair loss or treatments to stop hair loss have (sic) never been so much FUN for men worldwide! Save overall on the cost of hair loss treatments while enjoying the romantic vacation tour of a lifetime!”

What more is there to add?

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