Surveying The Landscape: An Overview Of The Market For Medical Tourism
No industry is more dynamic than modern medicine. Thanks to changes in technology, treatment methods, financing, and public health, the market for medical care is in a constant state of flux. Doctors and researchers regularly find new ways to treat diseases, while consumers and their insurers identify better ways to pay for those treatments. Whether you work in medicine, invest in it, or merely want to obtain better care, it pays to keep track of the medical industry’s most important trends.
Few trends have had a greater impact on modern medicine than the rise of the medical tourism market. Defined as the tendency of patients to seek care outside their home countries, medical tourism creates new opportunities to obtain effective treatments at affordable costs, though it also carries some serious risks. By understanding the current state of this market and its prospects for growth, you can get a sense of how modern medicine is changing and what opportunities will soon be available.
What Is Medical Tourism?
Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across national borders to get care that you would have trouble receiving in your home country. Typically, patients go abroad for procedures that they are unable to afford where they live. For example, compared to care in the United States, medical procedures tend to be 20 to 30 percent less expensive in Brazil, 30 to 45 percent less costly in South Korea, and 65 to 90 percent less expensive in India. Considering that many procedures cost thousands of dollars, these savings far outweigh the price of taking an international trip. American tourists thus have a strong incentive to travel to one of these countries when they need care.
Patients can use medical tourism to get virtually any procedure, from dental care to cosmetic enhancements to cancer treatments to help with fertility. But certain countries tend to specialize in particular procedures. South Korea, for example, is a popular destination for patients who want four main types of care: plastic surgery, comprehensive examinations, dermatology, and orthopedic treatments.
Besides areas of care, individual countries tend to specialize in caring for people from certain other countries. For instance, a third of all medical tourism patients in South Korea are from China. This reflects not just the proximity of the two countries, but also the similarity between their ecosystems. Because South Korea’s climate and epidemiological environment are similar to those of large parts of China, people tend to get similar diseases in both nations, leading to fewer complications for Chinese medical tourists.
As of 2016, the global market for medical tourism was worth USD $1.97 billion. This figure is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years, as rising rates of international travel and problems with domestic healthcare systems push more people to go abroad for care. By 2021, the market is projected to be worth $4.66 billion.
Why Is the Market for Medical Tourism So Large?
Medical tourism is so popular in large part because of the already high and continually rising cost of medical care. Currently, virtually every country in the world is dealing with some version of the same problem: as people live longer and develop higher rates of chronic disease, the average person requires more medical care each year. This is driving up demand for care faster than medical practitioners and facilities can supply it. As a result, the cost of care is increasing, forcing patients to spend more and more of their money on it.
As costs increase, many patients find that they cannot afford the procedures they need where they live. They look for ways to get those procedures at a discount, and one of those ways is to travel to another country. Due to differences in available technology, purchasing power, and various other factors, the same medical procedure can cost significantly less in one country than in another. If people travel from the latter country to the former, they can get their care at a discount.
Besides charging different costs, some countries have better care than others, whether because they have superior technology, they keep their hospitals cleaner, or they set higher standards for physicians. This helps explain why South Korea is such a popular destination for medical tourism. The country is widely considered to have some of the best doctors in the world, so many people feel they can get better care by going there.
How Has Medical Tourism Grown & What Is Its Growth Potential?
The medical tourism market is expected to keep up its rapid pace of growth, expanding by 18.8 percent annually through the year 2021. Ordinary consumers are becoming wealthier and better connected across the world, making it possible for more and more people to travel for their care. Combined with the aforementioned disparities in care quality and cost, this should drive increased demand for care over the foreseeable future.
While the medical tourism market has enormous potential, it also faces some serious problems that it needs to resolve in order to continue growing at its present rate. In particular, patients and providers have trouble connecting with each other internationally, forcing them to rely on medical tourism agents who may be corrupt, incompetent, or otherwise unfit for the job. The medical tourism market will suffer as long as these agents remain essential and are able to operate without much regulation.
Medipedia is developing a comprehensive blockchain-based solution to these medical tourism roadblocks. By using blockchain technology, we’re bringing unprecedented levels of security and transparency to users, all while providing them with a user-friendly platform where patients and providers can connect without the aid of an agent. To learn more about our efforts and the future of medical tourism, visit our website today.
