By Dr. Shari Andrews
Imagine getting on a plane, flying eight or twelve hours, checking into a hotel in another country and then going to the doctor.
Not because you got sick on vacation.
Because the healthcare was the reason for the trip.
Medical tourism is not a fringe phenomenon. The CDC reports that millions of U.S. residents travel internationally for medical care each year. Americans most commonly travel to Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and countries in Central and South America, while destinations such as Turkey, South Korea, Thailand, and Costa Rica have built increasingly visible international healthcare markets.
People travel for dental care, cosmetic procedures, fertility treatment, cancer care, surgery, organ and tissue transplantation, health screenings, and other interventions. Cost is one major driver. Access is another. Some people are looking for a treatment unavailable at home. Others are attracted to bundled pricing, faster appointments, coordinated services, or simply a healthcare experience that feels easier to navigate.
And that last part is what I think American healthcare should be paying very close attention to.
Medical tourism is becoming a global healthcare industry
Countries are not passively waiting for international patients to arrive. Some are deliberately building healthcare systems and services around them.
Turkey is a striking example. Official Turkish health-tourism data show that approximately 1.5 million people traveled to Turkey for healthcare in 2024, generating about $3.02 billion in health-tourism revenue. In 2025, nearly 1.4 million people traveled there for healthcare, again generating approximately $3.02 billion.
South Korea has seen remarkable growth as well. According to its Ministry of Health and Welfare, more than 2 million foreign patients received care in Korea in 2025; the first time the country crossed that threshold.
These numbers tell us something important: healthcare has become globally competitive.
It is not just the medicine. It is the experience.
One example is Asan Medical Center in Seoul. I am naming it here as an example of international-patient infrastructure not as a personal endorsement or recommendation.
Asan operates an International Healthcare Center that helps foreign patients with appointments, interpretation, billing, medical records, admissions, and follow-up. In 2022, the hospital reported treating 17,835 international patients, including 4,298 from the United States.
Look at what that model communicates to a patient:
We will help you navigate this.
That matters.
Knowing the cost matters. Coordinated scheduling matters. Having records reviewed before arrival matters. Seeing multiple clinicians without spending months bouncing between disconnected offices matters. Feeling like somebody understands where you are in the process matters.
Those things are part of healthcare too.
America is not behind in medical science
I want to make an important distinction.
The United States has extraordinary physicians, nurses, scientists, hospitals, research institutions, technology, pharmaceuticals, and highly specialized care. Some of the most advanced medicine in the world happens here every day.
So I would not say that America is simply falling behind in medical innovation.
I think the more uncomfortable argument is this:
We may be falling behind in healthcare delivery.
The Commonwealth Fund compared healthcare systems in 10 high-income countries in 2024. The United States ranked last overall, despite spending far more on healthcare than the comparison countries. Yet the U.S. ranked second in care process, a category that includes prevention, safety, coordination, patient engagement, and sensitivity to patient preferences.
That is an important contradiction.
We know how to do excellent medicine. We struggle with whether people can reliably access it, afford it, navigate it, and benefit from it.
You can have great doctors and still have a frustrating healthcare system
These two things can both be true.
A patient can have an excellent physician and still wait months for an appointment. Then spend twenty minutes at the visit. Then be referred somewhere else. Then wait another six weeks. Then discover the imaging facility is out of network. Then receive a bill that makes no sense. Then call the insurer. Then call the doctor. Then start over.
We have normalized an enormous amount of friction.
That frustration is part of why articles like feeling rushed at the doctor’s office and speaking up for your health matter. Patients are increasingly being asked to become their own navigators inside a system that is difficult even for healthcare professionals to navigate.
Not every patient experiences the U.S. system the same way
Medical tourism is not a race-specific phenomenon. But patient experience in the United States is not equal across populations either.
The Commonwealth Fund has documented substantial disparities in healthcare access, quality, equity, and outcomes across racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Its 2024 international comparison also found that U.S. patients and physicians reported troubling levels of discrimination, unfair treatment, or concerns not being taken seriously because of race or ethnicity.
That does not mean racial disparities explain medical tourism as a whole. They do not. But when people who already feel underserved begin looking internationally for a different healthcare experience, that deserves attention rather than dismissal.
But is going abroad actually better healthcare?
Not necessarily.
And this is where I put my physician hat firmly back on.
A beautifully organized medical package is not automatically better medicine. Lower cost does not automatically mean lower quality—but higher cost does not automatically mean higher quality either.
And receiving more tests does not automatically mean receiving better care.
Some international health-screening packages advertise extensive bloodwork, imaging, and whole-body testing. I understand why that can feel incredibly appealing, especially if you have spent years feeling like you had to beg someone to investigate your concerns.
But patient-centered medicine is not measured by the number of tests ordered.
Every test should have a clinical purpose. Excess testing can identify incidental findings that were never going to cause harm, leading to more imaging, biopsies, procedures, anxiety, expense, or unnecessary treatment.
I want patients to receive appropriate, evidence-based evaluation without having to fight for it. That is different from testing everything simply because it can be tested.
Medical tourism has real risks
The glossy social-media version of medical tourism rarely spends much time on complications.
The CDC warns that international medical care can involve infection risk, antimicrobial-resistant infections, differences in licensing and regulatory oversight, communication problems, challenges obtaining complete medical records, limited legal recourse, and difficulty arranging follow-up after returning home.
Travel itself can also matter. Flying soon after surgery may increase risks such as blood clots depending on the procedure, the patient, and the duration of travel.
And if something goes wrong after you come home, another clinician may have to manage a complication from a procedure they did not perform and may know very little about.
Sometimes that clinician will be your primary-care doctor.
Sometimes it will be a specialist.
And sometimes it will be someone like me in the emergency department at two in the morning.
Continuity matters.
So, Dr. Shari, do you support medical tourism?
Yes… with an asterisk.
I support patient autonomy.
If you have researched your options, verified the clinicians and facility, understand the risks, have a plan for follow-up, and believe another country offers care that better meets your needs, I do not think you should feel guilty about making that choice.
Healthcare does not stop being legitimate because you crossed a border.
But I do not believe foreign equals better any more than I believe American equals better.
Healthcare should be evaluated by quality, evidence, safety, transparency, outcomes, and the ability to manage what happens next.
My position is simple:
I support informed medical tourism. I do not support medical tourism by algorithm.
The Teeny Dose: Not because TikTok told you to go
If you are considering healthcare abroad, do not book a procedure because TikTok told you to go.
Do not choose a surgeon because the recovery suite looks luxurious on Instagram.
Do not assume a package of 40 tests is automatically more thorough medicine.
And do not confuse a medical-tourism concierge with an independent patient advocate. Their job may be to sell and coordinate the service. Your job is still to determine whether the care is appropriate for you.
Verify the clinician. Confirm specialty training, licensure, board or regulatory status, experience with the procedure, and how often they perform it.
Verify the facility. Research accreditation, infection-control standards, emergency capabilities, and what happens if you require a higher level of care.
Ask why every test or procedure is being recommended. Good medicine should survive the question: “What are we looking for, and how will this result change what we do?”
Understand the entire cost. Ask what is included in the advertised price and what is not: physician fees, anesthesia, facility charges, pathology, imaging, medication, revision procedures, follow-up, and complication care.
Get your records before you leave. That includes operative reports, pathology reports, laboratory results, imaging, medication lists, discharge instructions, and implant information when applicable.
Plan for the return home before you depart. Who will see you if you develop a complication? Will the overseas physician communicate with your U.S. doctors? How long should you remain near the treating facility before flying?
Tell your doctor what you are planning. Your U.S. physician does not have to agree with every choice you make to help you make that choice more safely.
That is informed medical tourism.
America should be paying attention
It is easy to reduce medical tourism to one explanation:
People just want cheaper surgery.
That explanation is becoming increasingly inadequate.
Patients are global consumers now. They compare cost, wait times, expertise, reviews, technology, coordination, customer service, and how the entire experience makes them feel.
Countries have noticed.
Turkey has noticed.
South Korea has noticed.
Hospitals around the world are building international-patient systems because they understand that healthcare is now globally competitive.
American healthcare should notice too.
Because the question is not simply:
Why are patients leaving?
The more uncomfortable question is:
What are they finding somewhere else that we have made unnecessarily difficult to get here?
Maybe it is affordability.
Maybe it is access.
Maybe it is coordination.
Maybe it is transparent pricing.
Maybe it is time.
Maybe it is simply feeling like someone has taken responsibility for guiding the patient through the process.
None of those things require a new miracle drug.
They require a better healthcare experience.
And perhaps that is the healthcare innovation we should be paying attention to most.
— Dr. Shari Andrews
Sources and further reading
CDC Yellow Book: Medical Tourism
CDC Travelers’ Health: Medical Tourism
Commonwealth Fund: Mirror, Mirror 2024
USHAŞ / TurkStat: Turkey Health Tourism Data
Republic of Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare: Foreign Patients Surpass 2 Million in 2025
Asan Medical Center: International Patient Data
Medical disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes only and is not individualized medical advice. Medical tourism involves clinical, travel, financial, and legal considerations that vary by patient, procedure, destination, and facility. Discuss your individual risks and follow-up needs with qualified healthcare professionals before traveling for medical care.
