The medical tourism industry is one of the fastest growing travel sectors in the world. As the cost of health care in developed countries like the United States and Japan spirals out of control, many people from these nations travel to developing countries like Thailand or Brazil to have their surgical procedures done.

Other factors that boost the medical tourism industry include long waiting lists for certain procedures, improvements in the standards and technology of hospitals in developing countries, and ease of international travel. Medical tourists come from all over the world, but are typically citizens of the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

In 2007, an estimated 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for medical care. This number is expected to double over the next couple of years, costing US health care providers billions in lost revenue. Convenience, cost and speed are the main factors motivating people to travel abroad for health care. In Canada, nearly a million people are waiting for various specialized procedures.

A hip replacement, for example, can take more than a year to get done in the UK or Canada. In booming medical tourism countries like Thailand, Singapore, Costa Rica, India or the Philippines, a patient could likely have the operation completed within days of their arrival.

Patients also sometimes discover that their insurance won’t cover things like orthopaedic surgery like hip or knee replacement. Colombia can perform a knee replacement for around US$5,000, about one-fifth of the cost in the US. A heart valve replacement in the US will cost about US$200,000, but in India the procedure can be done for US$10,000, including airfare and recovery time on the beach.

The most popular and respected medical tourism destinations are India, Cuba, Colombia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Brunei, Jordan, Hungary, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Africa. Recently, New Zealand, Tunisia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have greatly expanded their medical tourism industry and its promotion.

Cosmetic surgery is another major facet of medical tourism. The most respected destinations for these kinds of procedures are Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico and Turkey. A facelift in the US will cost about US$20,000, but in South Africa it’s a mere US$1,200. South Africa has even begun marketing medical safaris.

While countries like the US and the UK lose money when their citizens travel overseas for medical care, the host nations not only receive a welcome economic boost but it also improves their own health-care industry. The average cost of a surgery in Thailand, India or South Africa can be one-tenth of what it is in Western Europe of the United States. Cosmetic surgery and dental work savings can be even greater.