Medical tourism (traveling overseas to get medical care) is growing and likely to continue to do so. The USA’s extremely high costs of medical care push people to find more reasonable health care solutions. Also in some countries the very rich seek out advanced treatments outside their country.

Seeking more cost effective and more customer focused health care options are likely to lead to booming markets in catering to these customers. Many countries have seen this as a smart market to focus on. And I think they are right.

It is a booming market and the USA’s mess of a health care system doesn’t seem to be getting any better and certainly isn’t getting cheaper. In Europe the demand is largely driven by services that have very long waits if done using their national health system. Those that can pay, can pay to have it done where they live, or they can travel and have it done much cheaper.

The jobs provided in countries serving medical tourism are very good. And it brings in a great flow of foreign currency. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Mexico are putting forth smart governmental efforts to boost this industry in their countries.

Raffles Hospital, Singapore by John. See more of my photos from Singapore.

Most of the time health insurance won’t pay for optional (emergency care while you travel depends on your policy) health care internationally. So most medical tourism is paid for by the person being treated. This is a somewhat silly policy as insurers could save a great deal of money even by only paying say 50% or less of what they would pay locally for those who were willing to travel.

And some insurers are letting people travel for health care (and even giving them incentives to do so). The governments seem willing to pay inflated local prices and so use things like the fear of untrustworthy foreign health care as unsuitable. And then they work with local health industry interests to restrict covered health care options. There is some sense in worrying about abuse but there is also hundred of billions of dollars that countries like the USA could save by letting people seek out health care solutions much more cheaply overseas. Europe could also save a great deal.

Some countries are doing smart things. At the same time Singapore is building up medical tourism for complex medical solutions (drawing people from SE Asia and further away) they are also working to boost the use of Malaysia to provide less complex medical solutions to Singaporeans. As is often the case, Singapore’s government is acting wisely.

Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines are going after the large market for reasonably priced basic health care. Which is smart for all 3. They are also looking to move up-market (especially Malaysia and Thailand) which is also fine, but there is likely to be great competition and a much smaller market so I would suggest they do so, but do so with caution.

India has potential but has the general problems with infrastructure and a difficult business climate. The potential is huge though. Other countries targeting this market include Brazil, Hungary and Costa Rica.

Related: The Growing Market for International Travel for Medical Care (2013) – Traveling for Health Care (2007) – Finding an International Business Bank as a Digital Nomad