THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF MIDDLE-AGE MEDICAL TOURISM

NEW TEETH, NEW HAIR, NEW KNEE, NEW OUTLOOK ON LIFE.

- BY RINA RAPHAEL, JULIE STEWART & BEN COURT

Medical tourism is bouncing back from the pandemic and overcoming its shady reputation for botched plastic surgery. More than 2 million Americans travel abroad annually now for everything from dental work to orthopedic surgeries to stem cell therapies. A lot of it comes down to money: Procedures can cost 25 to 75 percent of what they would in the United States. That's due to higher pay for doctors and other health-care workers in the U.S., the burden of administrative fees, and the cost of malpractice insurance, explains David Vequist, PhD, director of the Center for Medical Tourism Research at the University of the Incarnate Word. But price is not the only motivating factor. "It's younger people, Internet-savvy people, and people who may distrust the health-care system," says Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders, a global medical tourism company. "These are not medical refugees with no other options." They're people shopping around for the most affordable care. Maybe you share their frustrations with American medical care and have an issue you want to fix. We talked to doctors, researchers, and guys who have sought treatment abroad to learn how to best navigate this new frontier. Safe travels!

A Matthew Smith pre-op in San José, Costa Rica, in January 2024, and 12 months later, 130 pounds lighter..

WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY IN COSTA RICA

After his insurance company refused to pay for a sleeve gastrectomy, MATTHEW SMITH went south. Way south!

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