Going Abroad To Escape High Medical Costs

Can’t afford the insanely high cost of health care in the United States? You may want to join the growing number of medical tourists who are flocking to Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. The Bumrungrad looks and feels more like a hotel or a high end mall than a sterile hospital. They offer world class service at a fraction of the price it would cost in the US.

Fast Company profiles this global hospital and the growing medical tourism market:

The phrase “medical tourism” was once used to describe early retirees jetting in to Bangkok or Bangalore to have a little work done before recuperating on the beach. That image doesn’t jibe with the numbers today. As many as half a million Americans streamed abroad last year in search of affordable alternatives for hip replacements or prostate surgery. And they went not for the postsurgical tanning but for the savings: up to 90% off the going rates in the United States. They went because 47 million Americans lack insurance and can’t pay for surgery to fix a bad back or clogged arteries. Or because they have insurance but can’t begin to pay the soaring deductibles a major surgery entails. They’re fleeing a system that is by far the most expensive in the world and growing more so by the hour, with diminishing returns in quality of care.

Fast Company: “Why Americans Are Going Abroad For Health Care”