Recently, studies and developments have increasingly showed medical travel to be an alluring service for travel agents to offer corporate clients that are seeking affordable employee healthcare. Much of this stems from the quickly rising cost of employer-provided healthcare.

On average, the cost of providing healthcare benefits is greater than $10,000 per employee per year, according to Aon Hewitt, the human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation.

The analysis went on to conclude that the 2012 average health care premium rate increase will be 7%, slightly lower than the 7.5 percent mark in 2011. However, the average total health care premium per employee for large companies is projected to be $10,475 in 2012, up from $9,792 in 2011 and $9,111 in 2010.

Read more about the increasing strides that the medical tourism industry is taking to become an even more viable alternative for healthcare!

Medical tourism has been around for decades and started when people from developing countries visited destinations like the US, UK and Europe for treatment which was unavailable in their own countries. This trend has now reversed and has led to the common misconception that the only people who travel for healthcare are from developed countries, looking for cheaper medical treatments in a developing area.

Experts believe these misunderstandings make it incredibly difficult to calculate exactly how successful this industry has become. “Everyone is giving different figures,” says Dr Premhar Shah, the CEO and Medical Director of The Medical Tourist Company. “We must not forget there are still people from African countries that do not have adequate facilities and have to travel for treatment. They are also medical tourists but this information is not usually published a lot because they are coming from African countries.”

While medical tourism happens all over the world, there are certain destinations that are more desirable than others. “India is one of the most popular destinations,” notes Shah. “So is Thailand and Singapore, but Malaysia is also coming up with Turkey, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.” … Read More

Mexico is one of the places that offer low-cost eye surgery. Besides that, cataract surgery in India, Turkey, South Korea, and Jordan, is also available at reasonable lower cost. There are several surgical procedures possible, so prices vary, but you can be sure that cataract surgery costs in Mexico are lower than costs you could incur in the US or in the UK. You can trust eye surgeons and doctors in Mexico to deliver where it matters as the World Health Organization ranks the country as the 61st best in the world.

Reprinted from the Medical Tourism Corporation 

One of the primary tips that Little gives is to involve your local doctor whenever possible. If your local doctor is going to be doing any post-operative care, he is going to need to be informed and in the loop.

When a reader challenged this advice, saying that it seemed most local doctors would advise against traveling for a procedure and would want to do it themselves, Little urged travelers not to let that potential doctor response discourage them. She says “you’re going to run into professionals in all industries who are either not educated on medical tourism or negatively biased by disposition.” Whether or not your local doctor supports your decision to travel for medical care, it will always prove beneficial to have them informed and up-to-speed, should they need to become involved for any reason. 

She goes on to address the issue of liability as one of the main factors that doctors are hesitant to collaborate, specifically with foreign health care professionals. She advises travelers to deal with a medical tourism facilitator who is a case manager — someone whose clients include insurance companies, for example.

She says that one big reason doctors don’t want to do follow-up care for a medical tourist is that too often travelers return home with virtually no records; no surgeon notes, nurses notes, notes on recovery, etc. She goes on to say that conversely, when going through a facilitator who is a case manager, all the difference in the world can be made, as they are often adept at ensuring successful collaboration, communication, and record-keeping.

Located on the wide Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Merida, with a metropolitan area population of more than 1 million, it is the capital of the state of Yucatan, and is celebrated as both a contemporary and historical city, as well as a center for culture and education.

Mérida is home to about 10,000 Americans and Canadians, one of the largest congregates of expats throughout the country. Furthermore, safety and medical care are two huge factors drawing American and Canadian residents. Significant numbers are seen coming from locations such as Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the U.S. Mid-West States – just to name a few.

Another interesting fact…Méridais statistically the safest city in North America, according to Medical Traveler Yucatan.