When buying a new car or even a small inexpensive object, you probably refer to a buying guide or try to find out what others who have bought the product in the past are saying about it to make smart shopping decisions. But when it comes to buying healthcare, do you do the same? You must.
Healthcare has gone global today. The rising cost of healthcare in the US has led many Americans to seek health-related services in other countries. There are sellers all around the globe selling health care packaged in attractive and appealing packages on the Internet. And people are shopping for health on the Internet just like they shop for products. In such a market, it becomes all the more important that you go through the medical tourism consumer guide before setting out for your medical travel trip.
Here is a quick consumer guide for your reference when buying medical tourism services.
Can medical tourism solve your problem?
Firstly, find out the problems that you want medical tourism to solve. For most people it’s either the high price that their local hospital is asking for because of lack of insurance or the long wait for surgery. You might have another problem but will medical tourism help you solve that? Find out if medical tourism is right for you by reading facts and frequently asked questions about it.
What are your expectations with the medical procedure you are seeking?
Is the procedure that you are seeking elective or medically indicated? Find out all you can about the medical procedure in question. This will help you answer a few questions: is the treatment right for your condition; are you the right candidate for this treatment; should you obtain this treatment abroad; what physical therapy and follow-up care you will need; do you need the procedure urgently or can it wait, or in other words, when is the right time to obtain care; how much time will you need to take off from work (which will include not only the time that you are overseas for surgery but also recovery time upon your return); and so on.
What all countries are out there where you can obtain treatment?
Check out the various international destinations that offer the treatment that you require. Some countries are known for offering good orthopedic treatments, some for their cardiac surgery, some for cosmetic treatments and others for their dental works. Travel and lodging costs add to your final bill so consider those costs not only when calculating the expected savings but also when choosing the international destination for your treatment.
How do you sniff the good provider from the bad?
The Internet has given anybody and everybody the liberty to sell their service making it all too easy for the consumer to land into a wrong place. When studying about a particular hospital or clinic don’t fall for slick websites offering services on sale. That, of course, doesn’t mean that slick websites offering healthcare services on sale are not genuine. The point is that you should do your proper research about the hospital or the clinic you are considering. Ask people around who have used their services in the past. Read their customer testimonials. Inquire about their doctors’ certifications, qualifications, training and experience. Call them up and find out what equipment and technology they use. All these will give you a fair idea of the quality of the healthcare provider. Ask for quotes from different providers and compare them. As you will notice, costs vary from country to country and from provider to provider. You shouldn’t automatically select the one that offers the lowest price but should base your decision on the quality of care offered.
Are your medical records in place?
Get all your medical records in order. At the time of pre-consultation, your foreign doctor may ask for your digitized medical records so he may evaluate your condition and prescribe a treatment course.
Do you have your passport and visa yet?
Next, acquire your passport if you don’t have it yet. Any companions traveling with you will also need to acquire theirs. Depending upon the destination you are heading to, you may require entry visa and therefore need to apply for that as well for both you and any companions.
Booking your transportation and accommodation
Book your tickets and hotel rooms in advance. After your surgery you can choose to recuperate in a hotel or a resort setting or go traveling in the foreign country if allowed by your doctor. But travel or tourism should always take a back seat on your medical trip abroad.
Taking proper follow-up care
Finally, remember that your treatment doesn’t finish with your surgery. How you follow the aftercare rituals as important as your surgery. If needed, prepare your home for recovery prior to leaving for surgery, like rearranging furniture. Also, in case you have even limited insurance coverage, find out if your insurer will reimburse you and how much they will reimburse. Even a small amount may help.
The above medical tourism consumer guide will help you make good decisions when purchasing overseas medical care. To ease your job you may want to use a medical tourism service provider to help you research, plan, arrange, schedule and book your medical travel trip. Medical tourism providers like Healthbase connect you with the hospital of your choice and provide you with many other related services while saving you valuable time, resources and money.
You can learn more about medical tourism, international healthcare providers, and the details of the medical tourism process by logging on to http://www.healthbase.com. Healthbase is a medical tourism facilitator committed to providing low cost high quality medical travel services to the global medical consumer.
The author works for Healthbase which is a medical tourism facilitator connecting patients to leading hospitals around the world for low cost high quality surgical care in various categories including bariatric, orthopedic, cardiac, spinal, dental, cosmetic, laparoscopic, etc. To learn more, call 1-888-691-4584, email info.hb@healthbase.com, or visit http://www.healthbase.com.hbase.com.
Tags: Consumer Guide, International Destinations, International Healthcare Providers, Long Wait, Low Cost High Quality, Medical Tourism Facilitator, Medical Tourism Service Provider, Physical Therapy, Surgery, Treatment Abroad
Bargain deals are not limited to groceries, household products or fashion goods any more. Today, even dental care is on sale. But the catch is that you have to cross the international border to buy it.
Dental tourism, as this phenomenon is known, is a close cousin of medical tourism, and can be defined as the act of going to another country for low cost yet top class dental services.
Why go abroad for dental care?
If you have dental insurance benefits from your employer you are among the lucky few. For a lot of people who do not have dental insurance, going to see a dentist can be a big blow on their pockets.
People go abroad for dental care for one of two reasons: because it’s so much cheaper there for the same quality of care that you get at home and because it’s available with no-wait.
The low cost dental care seekers are usually Americans going mainly to Mexico, Costa Rica, or Panama. The no-wait seekers are Canadians and Britons with the former seeking help in Mexico or Central America and the latter traveling to East European countries like Belgium, Hungary, Poland or Turkey. For some dental procedures which tend to be expensive or complicated, Asian countries like India, Thailand and Singapore are becoming hot dental tourism destinations.
Can travel costs outweigh the potential savings?
Possibly, yes. So, you have to plan your trip smartly if you are to save money.
Suppose you are going on business to Costa Rica. While you are there, consider taking advantage of the low cost of dental care in the country and get some imminent dental work done, like professional dental cleaning or teeth whitening or the likes.
But what if you were in need of a full mouth restoration and didn’t exactly have any vacation planned in Thailand in the near future? Well, if you flew from the US to Thailand, had your full mouth restoration there, and spent some time holidaying in the country, you would still end up saving money than if you had had the treatment done in the US at your local dental clinic.
If you have a couple of small and big dental issues to take care of, then it might actually pay to go abroad and solve them in one go. For example: If you had to get dental bonding, root canal treatment, tooth contouring and dental fillings, it may be best if you addressed them all in the same visit.
How do you find a good dental care provider?
Of late many dental clinics have emerged hosting sleek websites and boasting high quality care by top-class dentists but often dental tourists complain of poor jobs at those clinics. So make sure that the dental clinic or dentist you choose doesn’t fall into that category. You do that by inquiring about the dental care provider in question. Word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family help here. Ask about the credentials and experience of the dentist you are considering. Call up the provider and ask them about the equipments and technology they employ. Talking to them will also give you an idea of whether they are capable to handling foreign patients, for example by judging from their conversational skills and willingness to answer your questions.
You can save yourself the hard work of researching, planning, arranging and scheduling your dental care overseas by working with a dental tourism service providing company. Dental tourism firms like Healthbase are specialized firms that connect dental tourists to affordable and top quality dental care providers overseas. They also take care of several other related services like arranging pre-consultation conference calls with the foreign provider, digitizing and transferring your dental and medical records, ensuring that the provider is top-notch, scheduling your appointment at the foreign dental clinic, negotiating the best price for you, acquiring your passport and visa, booking your travel and accommodation, and much more.
You may learn more about the growing trend of dental tourism by visiting http://www.healthbase.com. Healthbase is a dental tourism facilitator committed to providing low cost high quality dental travel services to the global dental care consumer.
About the Author: The author works for Healthbase which is a medical tourism facilitator connecting patients to leading hospitals around the world for low cost high quality surgical care in various categories including bariatric, orthopedic, cardiac, spinal, dental, cosmetic, laparoscopic, etc. To learn more, call 1-888-691-4584, email info.hb@healthbase.com, or visit http://www.healthbase.com
Tags: Belgium, Central America, Costa Rica, Dental Care, Dental Insurance, Dental Tourism, Dental Tourism Destinations, Hungary, India, Low Cost Dental Care, Medical Tourism, Mexico, No-wait, Panama, Poland, Savings, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Vacation
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