Medical Tourism: A Global Health Cost Comparison

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Could you get the same medical procedure for less than half the price by boarding a plane? For millions of Americans facing staggering healthcare costs, medical tourism has become more than just a curiosity – it's becoming a financial necessity.

The story of 28-year-old Brianna Williams highlights this growing trend perfectly. Despite having comprehensive employer-provided health insurance, she discovered her IVF treatments would cost approximately $25,000 out-of-pocket in the United States. Her solution? Traveling to Mexico, where the same procedures cost just $7,500 – a 70% savings that made starting her family financially possible without taking on massive debt.

This isn't just happening with fertility treatments. Dental work shows some of the most dramatic differences – veneers costing $9,600 in the US are available for $2,500 in Mexico, while Europeans flock to Hungary for dental work at 75-85% savings. Even major surgeries like hip replacements ($40,000 in the US vs. $8,700 in Turkey) and gastric bypass ($23,000 in the US vs. $7,800 in Mexico) demonstrate why medical tourism is booming.

Safety remains the primary concern, which is why patients are advised to seek facilities accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI). With over 1,000 JCI-accredited hospitals worldwide, patients can find quality care that meets international standards while saving thousands. Looking ahead, we're also seeing US doctors abandoning insurance altogether for cash-pay models, potentially creating domestic alternatives that offer similar savings without international travel. 

Have you considered medical tourism for a procedure? Share your thoughts or questions about finding affordable healthcare alternatives in today's challenging insurance landscape.

Music by Alex Lambert.

Contact Justin via text 740-525-5259 or via email [e-mail]

I welcome the opportunity to hear your feedback from this episode!

Thanks again to my musically gifted friend Alex Lambert for the music. Also thanks to Kevin Asehan for the edits.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another Tuesday morning with Justin.
I'm Justin Futrell, benefitAdvisor at True North Companies,
and today I'm going to ask no,I'm not going to ask a question.
A listener asked a question, soI'm going to expand on their
question, and that was hey,justin, I heard about medical
tourism and people flying todifferent countries to get stuff

(00:24):
done.
What do you know about that?
I was looking through thearticles I try to save all kinds
of articles that I think mightbe relevant at some point and I
found an article fromKiplinger's personal finance
magazine last year, in 2024.
And it was an article on thisyoung woman named Brianna
Williams, 28 years old, and shehad comprehensive healthcare

(00:47):
coverage through her work, butwhen she started looking into
fertility treatments to start afamily, she was floored by the
out-of-pocket costs,specifically of getting three
rounds of in vitro fertilizationtreatment IVF, as a lot of

(01:07):
people know it by which, as weall can appreciate, is becoming
more and more common and talkedabout.
So the bottom line is if shedoesn't want to, what options
does she have?
Maybe we should ask that?
I think three things come tomind.
One well, she could not start afamily.

(01:30):
That's not ideal.
Obviously she wants to.
The second that she shared waswell, I could get a second
mortgage, also not financiallyideal.
And the third thing is find abetter solution.
Well, well, it turns out thatwhat she was looking at in the
us out of pocket was aroundtwenty five thousand dollars and

(01:51):
the the ivf treatment in mexicowas seventy five hundred
dollars after all three of thosetreatments.
Now I'm going to give some otherexamples, because I think it's
really interesting thinkingabout traveling somewhere to
take care of something, but Iwant to first say the importance

(02:12):
of care See if there areinfections and other
complications known here.
Most importantly, you want tostick with an accredited
facility, one that is reputable,affordable, not necessarily the

(02:37):
cheapest if it's not goodquality.
You are able to look forhospitals that are accredited by
the Joint Commission,international, jci, and there
are well over a thousandaccredited JCI hospitals in the
world, which candidly creates areally cool opportunity to go on
vacation and get somethingtaken care of.

(02:59):
Now, it's not always somethingso major, right, it could be
something like your teeth.
Here's an example in MexicoDental veneers.
Well, in the US it would havecost $9,600 for a full set of
veneers, but it was $2,500 for afull set in Mexico.

(03:24):
What else?
Hungary, hungary.
I knew there was a reason I didthat third grade project on
Hungary when I could choose anycountry in the world to learn
about when it comes to dentaltourism.
What Mexico is for us in theUnited States, it's Hungary for
Europeans.
So an example a crown can beanywhere from $1,400 in the US.

(03:52):
Well, that's $210, $400 at themaximum per tooth in Hungary.
So incredible difference ofalmost $1,000 per crown.
Okay, what else?
Cosmetic surgery, of courseThailand is really well known
for that.

(04:12):
I want to give three lastexamples.
The first is just kind of funfunny Teeth whitening.
The average teeth whiteningcost is $650 in the US.
It's 190 bucks in Costa Rica.
I'm doing the math and I thinkyou'd get a round trip ticket
and explore Costa Rica a littlebit for the same price.

(04:34):
Now, more importantly and moreseriousness, the big ticket
items Gastric bypass.
The US cost on average is$23,000.
What do you think that cost isin Mexico?
$7,800.
That's a difference.
I mean, that's a third of thecost.

(04:56):
What about a hip replacement?
What's the cost in the US?
We just talked about a kneereplacement being, on average,
$30,000, probably a littlehigher now.
$40,000 is the US average for ahip replacement.
Well, you could go to CostaRica it's $13,000 to an
accredited JCI hospital.
You could go to Mexico and it'seven cheaper at $11,000.

(05:17):
Or you could even go to Turkeyand it's $8,700.
For the same exact hipreplacement, it's $40,000 in the
US.
I just want to say thank you.
I wanted to share thoseexamples and the trivia like
that, because we got greatfeedback from a listener a

(05:39):
couple of weeks ago.
Medical tourism it looks likeit is happening and not going
away.
And at the same time, I believethat there are going to be
doctors and dentists who aresick of dealing with insurance
in the United States, dentistswho are sick of dealing with
insurance in the United States,and they're going to start
requiring cash pay only.
They're going to say, hey, I'mnot going to deal with insurance
, I'm just going to tell you thecost of the surgery.

(06:01):
Take it or leave it.
This is a major opportunity foremployers to partner with these
kinds of doctors and dentistsin the US, because it can
accomplish a big chunk of thesame goal without having to fly
out of country.
All right, gang, keep bringingthose good questions.