I have mixed feelings about medical tourism. On the one hand it makes a lot of sense. With careful research and a little luck, you can obtain comparable quality of care for many or most procedures if you do your due diligence. No different from here.
On the other hand, complications do occur, both long- and short term. You need to have a backup near home unless you are prepared to fly half way around the world every time something potentially related to the procedure comes up.
Most importantly, almost every cheerleader for care abroad has been relatively healthy except, perhaps, for the specific issue in question and some mild chronic illnesses perhaps. The real world isn't nearly so tidy. You need your gall bladder out, and in the hospital they discover diabetes. You are fine and one day a polyp is found but the pathology is iffy, and there is not more tissue to test. Or you develop abdominal pain during a stressful period and your primary care doctor orders a few test which show an unexpected mass in the liver. Health issues can accumulate and gyrate like the stock market.
These are not arguments against care abroad, just a caution to make sure you also have a good care network here. And believe me, if you had a stress test abroad and later develop chest pain here, the cardiologist will probably not "trust" the original resuls just for being unfamiliar or of uncertain quality control. My advice: find a great primary care internist (or GP) where you live. If a specific probem arises for which you are considering care abroad, discuss it with your PCP. Closely.
Be wary of advice about serious medical care issues from people who who have been and are healthy. Not all health care is like a root canal.
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Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.
As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
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