Medical tourism is a fairly new term used to describe an amazing amount of people globally that travel world-wide for health care. Why these people travel and for what differs, but basically there are two types of medical tourists the regular tourist that adds a visit to the doctor for some minor treatment, as part of his or her holiday, and the tourist travelling primarily for medical treatment.
Before there even was a term ‘medical tourism’, it was common practice among the well-to-do in third-world countries to travel to the USA, Switzerland and Germany for medical care. However, since the year 2000, this trend has been reversed and now countries such as Thailand, are attracting patients from the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom.
This new market has grown as modern health care systems all over the world are struggling to meet the medical needs of their own populations. In the United States, the price of health care is beyond the means of most and there are an estimated 40 million people without health insurance. While in Britain, Canada and Holland, socialised health care ensures affordability, demand for medical services far outstrips supply and...