Faced with medical costs zooming out of control in the United States, Americans and their employers are increasingly outsourcing their health care to countries like India, according to a story in GlobalPost. This year hospitals abroad are reporting record numbers of American patients.
The July 27 story, “Slumdog Doctors No More,” cites the example of 65-year-old Les Seaver-Davis, who was able to get needed surgery done on his knee in Bangalore, India, for one-fourth of what hospitals in the United States were demanding. Seaver-Davis says the price might be cheap, but the service was exemplary nonetheless. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m cared for by the best people in the world.”
The hospital that treated Seaver-Davis, Wockhardt, tells GlobalPost that they have provided extensive medical care, from heart bypass operations to organ transplants to 580 Americans already this year — three times the amount since last year.
Dubbed “medical tourism” by some, dozens of countries provide excellent medical care abroad at a significantly lower cost. For example, nearby Cuba, officially off limits to American tourists, averages about 20,000 foreign patients annually for eye-surgeries, cancers and more. To give an idea of the quality of Cuba’s medical care: the country boasts twice as many doctors per capita as the United States; the infant mortality rate is lower than the United States; the Cuban mortality rate is third-lowest in the world; and life expectancy is roughly on par.
Maybe a little illegal travel would be good for your health.