What countries, aside from the US, would you consider for major or minor medical or dental procedures?
DW and I just had minor dental work and skin cancer scans in Thailand, and were pleased with the quality of service, affordability, and transparency of pricing.
I lived in Argentina for a bit, so I have more than a few times considered it as a potential medical tourism (perhaps some plastic surgery?) destination. I would probably use personal contacts, though, to identify doctors.
My dentist here is originally from Columbia and I love him. He’s fairly reasonable, so I don’t think I’d need to go abroad for dental work - not at this point, anyway.
What’s a skin cancer ‘scan’?
At one point right after I got a couple of teeth capped (locally) a cab driver in Thailand told me that I should have gotten them done in Thailand since it was so much less expensive. My dentist thought this was funny, and said that he has redone a few caps that had been done badly in Thailand. This may of course depend upon how careful you are about picking a dentist.
I have heard of cases of Americans getting prescription medications in Canada. This does require that you go to a drop in clinic or other doctor in Canada to get a prescription. I have heard that this is not strictly allowed but that customs generally looks the other way if you bring in three months supply or less.
Most countries I think you have to know what doctor to go to (this applies to the U.S. too, but the baseline may be different here). I know somebody who did a major surgery very successfully in Guatemala but her relative was a hospital director. So…wherever you have insider contacts.
Getting dental work out of the country is big business. This is an interesting article.
https://truthout.org/articles/millions-of-americans-flood-into-mexico-for-health-care/
Thailand’s Bumrumgrad Hospital is top notched for all kinds of surgical and rehabilitation work. I would recommend that place.
I know quite a few people that go to South Korea for plastic surgery work. They’re generally considered the best in the business. The English speaking places charge more.
I have had dental implants done in China. Not as cheap as one might think, but still a bit cheaper than in the US, where almost all insurances max out at 50% of cost. There are English-speaking dentists there but China is not as well known as Sourh Korea or Thailand for medical tourism.
Re: #5
The article indicates that part of the reason that dental work in Mexico is less expensive is that dentists in Mexico do not have the mountain of debt that dentists in the US have.
In the early days of LASIK, some people went to Canada for it, because it was approved there years before it was approved in the US, so the doctors there had that many years more experience.
I was in South Korea this past August, mixing visiting relatives and getting a dental work done by my cousin who’s a dental surgeon with his office in Gang Nam district in Seoul. I know many fellow Korean-Americans who travel to South Korea to seek medical treatment and plastic surgery.
Hmmm… we almost drove our dog to Canada (it would have been 1/2 price had he needed surgery to repair his neck wound) but thank goodness a tube of Neosporin and “heals like a dog” did the trick. 
Costa Rica, has, I beliive, excellent medical care; in Italy this past summer, I noticed a lot of tourist medical centers, especially in Milan.
Romania is popular for dental work, a lot of Italians and British come for that. I got two zirconium crowns last month, about $400 each. I would not expect treatment in US to be better quality.
@madison85 - I might be using the wrong term. I’m referring to when you visit a dermatologist and they thoroughly inspect your body for skin irregularities. DW and I have this done every couple of years and this time decided to do it in Thailand. The base cost was less than $50 and the removed a suspicious thing on DW’a foot for a nominal cost.
I also consulted with a dentist regarding a bit of oral surgery I’ve debated for a few years. I was shocked at the price quoted by the US educated dentist: less than 25% of what I’ve been quoted at home. And this was in a modern dental hospital, not some random storefront.
I’ve experienced the medical system in Canada, Costa Rica, and England. Never for elective things, always for something that happened to me while I was there. If I paid for anything in CR or England, it was so small that I don’t even remember. In Canada I remember paying a small amount for the script I was given but not for the doctor visit.
Almost everywhere I went in CR had medical tourist packages of some sort.
My experience in Costa Rica was in the middle of a village that barely had paved roads and it was still some of the best medical care I’ve ever received in my life.
I had a medical procedure performed in Thailand at Bumrumgrad and the quality of care was very good with the cost being a small fraction of what I would pay in the US. I was living overseas at the time and my insurance would have paid 100% of the cost anywhere, but Thailand was much closer.
A few years later, my wife, son and I were in Phuket on holiday and had a dental cleaning that was inexpensive and seemed to be very good.
Hmmm… I get dermatology checks every 6 months and have had things removed. Insurance covers most of the cost. Wouldn’t the cots of travel outweigh the cost of this procedure?
I have a friend who took her daughter to Mexico for bariatric surgery. I think it went ok.
Because we have high deductibles and few health issues, insurance doesn’t cover much for us. While the dermatology savings won’t cover the cost of the vacation, all bargains are appreciated.
We don’t have any dental coverage; that is all out of pocket for us. Between the teeth cleaning and some minor fillings we saved several hundred dollars more.
If I choose to come back for the elective dental surgery, that savings will pay for two round trip fares.
We live in Toronto and when my H had his Lasik surgery back in 1992, his doc was the one to go to. I remember sitting in the waiting room and every other person there waiting was from the U.S. He still is the top doc for Lasik in Canada and continues to have many American patients.
Then there’s this: “Surgeries in Mexico Linked to Antibiotic Resistant Infections”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/health/mexico-surgery-antibiotic-resistant-infection-cdc/index.html