Examples why you would go abroad for treatment.
- Your health insurance does not cover the specific treatment.
- For example, for your annual physical exam the insurance only covers only the blood test of small numbers of disease. If you want test of more than cholesterol and blood sugar levels, for example test of 200 possible diseases, you can go to somewhere cheaper to have a screen test. If the test is positive, you may double check that specific disease in your home countries again.
- Patients wish to access treatments not available at home
- Chinese medicine
- stem cell therapy
- termination of pregnancy
- unlicensed medications
- gender re-assignment surgery
- Waiting lists may be too long. A Chinese may have to wait for a match of his kidney forever in US.
- Plastic surgery medical skills relying on their experiences. In certain countries, such as Bolivia and Colombia, plastic surgery has also become quite common. According to the “Sociedad Boliviana de Cirugia Plastica y Reconstructiva”, more than 70% of middle and upper class women in the country have had some form of plastic surgery.
- Experience of the doctor: with China and India’s large population, doctors there have seen a lot more patients.
- Combine your luxury travel with treatment.
- Patients wish for greater confidentiality than may be feasible at home (e.g. HIV/AIDS treatment, infertility treatment, gender re-assignment surgery, face lifts)
- New challenges arise from time to time, such as new medical developments which are not universally accessible.