• 64% of patients that traveled abroad for care did not have health insurance.
• Almost 83% of patients traveled with a companion.
• Almost 70% of patients rated their medical care as excellent.
• 33% of patients traveled abroad for cosmetic surgery.
• Almost 90% of patients or their companions engaged in tourism activities.
• Almost 85% of US patients found they received more personalized medical care than in the US
• Almost 86% of US patients said they would travel again overseas for medical care
• Nearly 27% of patients had previously traveled to a foreign country to receive medical care, most were female, all were between ages 45 and 64; the majority were White/Caucasian; all were American; all were college educated; half had household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000; and some had health insurance (50%), while other did not.
• Nearly 80% of the demand for medical travel is driven by cost savings.
• Medical tourists spend between $7,475 and $15,833 per medical travel trip.
• 48% of respondents would be interested in engaging in medical tourism again at some point in the future.
• The cost of medical treatment (85%) and state-of-the-art technology (83%) were the most important factors in their decision to travel abroad for treatment.
• Out of 49 participants that had previously traveled overseas for medical treatment, 36% used a medical tourism facilitator.

U.S. Healthcare Statistics

• In 2013, Nerd Wallet Health analyzed data from the U.S. Census, Centers for Disease Control, the federal court system and the Commonwealth Fund and found that:
  • 56 million Americans under age 65 will have trouble paying medical bills
    • Over 35 million American adults (ages 19-64) will be contacted by collections agencies for unpaid medical bills
    • Over 15 million American adults (ages 19-64) will use up all their savings to pay medical bills
    • Over 11 million American adults (ages 19-64) will take on credit card debt to pay off their hospital bills
    • Nearly 10 million American adults (ages 19-64) will be unable to pay for basic necessities like rent, food, and heat due to their medical bills

  • Over 16 million children live in households struggling with medical bills
  • Despite having year-round insurance coverage, 10 million insured Americans ages 19-64 will face bills they are unable to pay
  • 1.7 million Americans live in households that will declare bankruptcy due to their inability to pay their medical bills – Three states will account for over one-quarter of those living in medical-related bankruptcy: California (248,002), Illinois (113,524), and Florida (99,780)
  • To save costs, over 25 million adults (ages 19-64) will not take their prescription drugs as indicated, including skipping doses, taking less medicine than prescribed or delaying a refill
• According to a recent report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. spends almost 18 percent of its gross domestic product on healthcare that’s more than any of the 34 OECD countries.
• Due to the changes of healthcare reform, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions reported that 60 percent of doctors surveyed revealed they are likely to retire earlier than planned, perhaps, within the next 1-3 years creating a shortage of doctors.
• In 2009 the Council of Economic Advisers projected that the healthcare sector will comprise of 34% of GDP in the U.S. by 2040.

Medical Tourism statistics from around the world

• A 2013 MTA Medical Tourism Patient Survey found that Latin America and Asia are the two leading regions for medical travel.
• A 2013 MTA Medical Tourism Patient Survey found that Mexico and India respectively have the highest demand for medical tourism.
• Data from the Council for International Promotion of Costa Rica Medicine (PROMED) shows that in 2012, Costa Rica attracted nearly 50,000 medical tourists (mostly from the U.S. and Canada) and each one spent an average of $7,000. Close to half of these medical travelers were said to be dental, followed by orthopedics, weight loss surgeries, gynecology and plastic surgery. Medical tourism generated some $338 million in revenue for the country that year, PROMED reported.
• Tourism Research Australia from the Australian Government reported that more than 10,000 medical tourism patients flew into the continent in 2013 pumping more than $26 million into the national economy.
• According to the Indian High Commission, Indian hospitals received 18,000 Nigerians on medical visas in 2012, 47% of the Nigerians were in India to receive medical treatment and spent approximately $260 million USD.
• In 2012 the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand and the Kasikorn Research Center found that 2,530,000 international patients traveled to Thailand for treatment, the top five nationalities were; Japan, U.S., UK, GCC and Australia. Revenues generated from medical tourism were approximately 4 Billion USD.
• Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism said that almost 12 million international visitors arrived in Mexico in 2013, 6.5 million of the visitors were from the U.S.
• According to the Medellin Healthcare Cluster, twenty-four percent of the international patients that visit the Medellin Health City in Medellin, Columbia are from the U.S.
• The Korea Health Industry Development Institute reported in 2012 that 159,464 patients from 188 countries visited Korea in 2012, 32,503 of those patients were Chinese.
• In the 2010 Statistics on International Patients in Korea Report showed that 81,789 foreign patients traveled to Korea, 32.4 percent came from the U.S. (4,829 were U.S. Army patients), 19.4 percent Chinese,16.8 percent Japanese and  7.7 percent Russian.
• According to Rohini Sridhar, Chief Operating Officer of Apollo Hospitals, the number of international patients visiting the hospital has been witnessing an increase of 20 per cent every year. “We provide medical care for around 400 to 500 people from European countries, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the Middle East in a year,” she says.
• A 2012 report from the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare found that more than 60,000 patients traveled to Taiwan for healthcare the previous year, with 50 percent of patients coming from mainland China. The report also noted that the most popular procedure was a full health exam.
• According to Alpen Capital Investment Banking, the United Arab Emirates’ medical tourism sector is growing strongly and reached $1.69 billion in 2013. Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) is one of the largest healthcare tourist destinations in the region. According to DHCC, they handled approximately 500,000 patients in 2011, 20% of which were medical tourists.