Anybody here ever travel out of the country

for medical care?

I'd be interested in hearing your experiences.

How did you locate a foreign health care provider? Why did you go abroad? What quality of care did you receive?

Please share.

Thanks.

I am going to Brazil for some plastic surgery next Spring....

to Rio for a mini facelift and neck lift...

just happen to know someone down there that has used this surgeon...
and have a place to stay...

Hope that goes well for you.

How did you check out the surgeon? Anything other than word of mouth?

I have done a LOT of checking things out... esp in

Buenos Aires and Rio DJ specifically....

I know of several people who have gone down there for all kinds of surgery
and have had very good results....

Brazil is famous for it's world class surgeons....

They do a better job there than here in the USA and although there are some
issues about the travel and accomodations costs the surgery itself is much
cheaper....

Most of the surgeons I have considered have had extensive training in the US
although not all.
There is an issue with medical malpractice.... it is not really an option
there like it is here...

The biggest reason I am going is because of the cost...
the surgery I am planning on having would be around $20 thousand dollars...
I expect to pay around $4 thousand.

What kind of surgery are you wanting to have? if you don't mind me asking.....

it is mostly a curiosity.

I know several folks who live in Mexico and have for quite some time. They get most of their health care needs cared for there.

I've been curious because I'd like to have some cosmetic stuff done - and because I'd likely want to go out of country for treatment if I were diagnosed with something serious since I only have high deductible catastrophic health care coverage.

Was cheaper to fly to Russia and have oral surgery than to do it here with no insurance.

(And FU US Army for creating a need for the surgery and then not providing it. The one helpful thing they did, ironically, was give him the Russian language training he needed so we could get medical care.)

The health provider was through word of mouth; a Russian friend had some contacts. The surgery went fine, and he and a friend who went with him got a nice vacation out of it.

I have a family member that got a full set of dentures at the ripe old age of 26 compliments of the US Army. Another screw up.

I have heard of people going down to South America for
routine hip replacements and other "routine" surgeries -
and their insurance companies pay for the whole thing because
it is so much cheaper and the patients seem to have shorter recovery times.

also, I don't know anyone who has done this, but my sister knows of lots of people
who go down for dental work because it is so much cheaper and better than
what you can get here.....

I know there is a whole little industry of dentists in Mexico who advertise online. There are those who do it right over the border, and there are those in places like Acapulco and Cancun, where you can book a "vacation" package to get it done and recover on the beach for a week for still much less money than you would pay just for the dental work in the US. The dentists are just as skilled and the equipment, while not necessarily state-of-the-art, is still everything you'd need for normal things like root canals, bridges, caps, etcetera.

As has been pointed out, Brazil is famous for cosmetic surgery (too much so; it's worryingly mainstream in the culture there to the point where you can be looked down on if you don't have it). But if you want it, the surgeons there are top-notch and the prices are much better.

I've heard you can get good work of either type done in Thailand too - also sex-reassignment surgery. Transgender people, especially MTF, have a long history and semi-respectable place in that culture, so it's familiar territory and there are a lot of surgeons there with a lot of experience - and again, better prices.

Google "medical tourism"; there are actually a lot of travel agencies that specialize in this.

Dental care in Mexico City. I have friends there who steered me to the right dentist, who did the work for about 1/2 the price I would have paid in Wisconsin. The guy was a pro and did a good job.