The term “Medical Tourism” is commonly used to describe people traveling outside their home country for medical treatment.
Patients may pursue medical care abroad for a variety of reasons, such as decreased cost of medical treatments or procedures, higher quality of medical treatment and health care standards that those available in their home country, a preference for care from providers from a similar culture, access to procedures that are not available in their country’s healthcare system, access to brand name medical institutions and world-renowned physicians, freedom from long wait times or the rationing of procedures because of national governmental regulations, the ability to combine tourism opportunities with obtaining medical treatment, access to cutting-edge technologies or treatments not available in their country of residence, to take advantage of pricing differentials as a result of favorable currency exchange rates (or otherwise), or to receive a procedure or therapy not available in their country of residence.