Next Avenue: Medical tourists seek cheaper healthcare and dental treatments, but there’s plenty that can go wrong

This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. Medical tourism is a multibillion-dollar, unregulated industry. Medical tourists are motivated to travel for different reasons. Some go after their friends and family have done so and have good results. Others don’t have dental or health insurance or want procedures not covered by insurance, like cosmetic surgery.

Further, medical tourists are often drawn to shorter wait times and fewer medical requirements before surgery. But the most common motivation is to avoid the high treatment costs in the U.S. Dental implants, for example, cost around $3,000-$5,000 in the U.S. but only $1,300 in Costa Rica. The cost savings seem like a no-brainer unless something goes wrong. “If there is any significant problem, that patient’s paying double or triple what they would have paid if they had just had it done [at home] and not had a problem. The revision surgeries are usually just as much or more. And often, it’s not a single procedure. That’s just the money aspect of it,” said Mark A. Jabor, M.D., a plastic surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology. “That’s not considering the loss of work, pain and suffering.” “In fairness, it’s hard to know how many get problems; not everyone that goes overseas has a problem. But, I do care for a lot of patients who have had problems,” he continued. Also read: I never expected to retire to Panama — but we are living ‘very comfortably’ on $1,200 a monthRules and regulations

Dental offices crowd the small town of Los Algodones, Mexico, which thrives off the Americans who cross the border for treatment.

AFP via Getty Images

“When people tell me, ‘I can get things cheaper overseas,’ I say, absolutely you can, because of the difference in regulations. If you have it done and it goes well, great! All is good. However, if something …

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