Medical tourism

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Rising popularity of medical tourism reveals deterioration of U.S. healthcare system Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

In medical tourism, patients who might normally undergo some sort of medical procedure in the United States, usually a costly surgical procedure, instead fly to the Philippines, Thailand or other countries to have the procedures done there. As a result, they save an enormous amount of money. Offshore medical procedures can be performed for as little as one-tenth the cost of what would normally be charged here in the United States. And yet the facilities offshore are state of the art.

So I am not at all a proponent of Western-style surgical procedures, but if you are going to get them done, I think you're going to have much better results by checking out medical tourism and going to hospitals overseas, where you get the same or better care at a fraction of the price you'd be paying here in the United States. Plus you get a vacation out of it, too. So if you get your knee replaced at a hospital in Thailand, you can take a tour before or after the surgery and soak up a little bit of Southeast Asia culture.

But getting back to the popularity of medical tourism, we're seeing this come on with strong momentum right now. More and more people are taking this option. They're booking tickets, going online to learn more about these hospitals, and opting to have these surgical procedures done overseas. This is very bad news for the U.S. healthcare industry, because for a long time, healthcare was an industry that people thought could be protected here in the United States.

People will go overseas to get better medical care or a better value on surgical procedures, and the popularity of medical tourism is proving that. What it could mean long term is a further deterioration of the U.S. healthcare system. If healthcare becomes so expensive in this country that it's by far cheaper to buy an international plane ticket and get some medical procedure done overseas, then more and more people are going to take that option and go overseas.

Some of these countries are saying tourism is big and medical tourism is going to be big. And they're putting a lot of money into building state-of-the-art infrastructure and engaging in marketing to attract more medical tourists. It's a very big deal to these countries. They see the opportunity and they see the U.S. healthcare system stumbling. Meanwhile, Americans are getting more diseased than ever before, so there's an instant customer base for hospitals around the world who can offer quality care at a better price. The U.S.

When people find out about medical tourism, they're going to get information on the internet, make informed decisions, go overseas and get high-quality care at a fraction of the price they'd be paying in the United States. And they're going to come back and tell lots of people. As a nation, you can outlaw that, but all you're going to do is criminalize citizens of our society who should never be criminalized. They're just seeking honest, affordable health care. They just want a procedure that they can afford.

Interview: the Cancer Control Society offers information and answers for cancer patients Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Mike: I've been covering medical tourism recently, which is a huge oncoming topic. For some reason people are going all over the world (the Philippines, Thailand and Korea) to have knee replacement, hip replacement and heart bypass surgeries. It used to be the world would come to the United States for healthcare, but now people are going elsewhere. Frank: Yes, they are, and they're finding fully-qualified, fully-credentialed medical personnel wherever they go. Mike: Well, thank you very much for your time today Frank, it's been a real pleasure. Frank: It's been my pleasure, thank you.

Ten Lies About Health Your Doctor Taught You Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

It's a trend called "medical tourism," and it's flourishing. See http://www.newstarget.com/007097.html Lie #8: All surgical procedures have been proven safe and effective. Truth #8: There is currently NO requirement whatsoever that surgical procedures must be either safe or effective in order to be practiced. Hundreds of thousands of medically unnecessary surgical procedures are performed each year in the U.S. alone, including hysterectomies and prostate cancer surgeries. See http://www.newstarget.com/002608.

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ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.