December 15th, 2008 by wgarin Have you ever wondered what a trip to Central America might be like? On a motorcycle? For dental care?! BridgeHealth International client Doug French tells his two-wheeled story on his blog: “About four years ago I went to a dentist in the states with the idea that after years of either neglect or simply not having the money or insurance to keep up on my teeth, I was going to do what ever it took to get them up to where they needed to be. I was working ... Read Full Story

September 9th, 2008 by -- the moderator In yesterday’s interview with Dr. Miguel Alfaro of Costa Rica, he candidly noted that the number of plastic surgery patients coming to Costa Rica from outside the country is down by perhaps 15-20 percent in 2008. This should surprise no one, given the state of the economy in the United States. In fact, Costa Rican plastic and cosmetic surgeons are probably weathering the economic slowdown better than are their higher priced counterparts in the... Read Full Story

September 4th, 2008 by -- the moderator It should not surprise anyone that there is no mention of medical travel and tourism in the platform of either the Republican or Democratic parties. However, it’s lurking beneath the surface. GOP candidate John McCain’s healthcare policies and positions would encourage Americans to take greater individual responsibility for their healthcare choices. Health benefits would no longer be treated as tax-free income; instead, individuals and f... Read Full Story

Syndicated columnist Froma Harrop of The Providence Journal in Rhode Island writes about the “good and bad” of medical tourism in a piece that has appeared in newspapers from coast to coast over the past few days (including in The Seattle Times: Medicine through the back door.) Harrop fancies herself something of a pioneer as a medical tourist, having had Lasik ™ eye surgery in Toronto in 2000, paying about a quarter of what she would have in the United States, saving $3,000... Read Full Story

August 18th, 2008 by -- the moderator The Bridge is in good company this week, in bouncing off Robin Cook’s medical thriller “Foreign Body.” The Economist led off its own lengthy feature about medical tourism with a reference to the novel, also. … Central to the plot is the story of Maria Hernandez, a working-class American woman who travels to Delhi to get a hip replacement she could not afford back home. Alas, she and other medical tourists die in mysterious circ... Read Full Story

One of the world’s most respected journals, The Economist, suggests this week that Medical Tourism is the proverbial tide that lifts all boats. In an article headlined “Importing Competition,” the magazine says the “coming boom in medical travel could help both rich and poor.” Read Full Story

Dr. Andrew Weil, MD, is a prolific author, perhaps best known for establishing and popularizing the field of integrative medicine, which combines conventional medical treatments and alternative treatments for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of their safety and effectiveness. His web site, DrWeil.com, is among the most visited medical sites on the Internet. The “Ask Dr. Weil” column, from the site, is a cottage industry unto itself; “Dr. Weil has raised d... Read Full Story

August 12th, 2008 by -- the moderator The National Center for Policy Analysis, in an article released today, concludes that “as more insured patients begin to travel abroad for low-cost medical procedures, medical tourism will result in sorely needed competition in the American health care industry.” The NCPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization with a goal of developing and promoting private alternatives to government regulation and control. The lat... Read Full Story

August 8th, 2008 by -- the moderator Relaaaaaaax. It’s not a true story. It’s not based on a true story. It’s a work of complete fiction by the master — perhaps the inventor — of the medical thriller genre, Robin Cook. “Foreign Body,” published Aug. 5, is bound to find an audience; Cook, 68, has written a string of bestsellers dating back to the 1970s. “Coma,” the original medical thriller, came out in 1977. It was the “gripping ... Read Full Story

I’ve been told time and time again that medical travel and tourism is under discussion at the highest policy-making levels of the U.S. government and have not doubted the assertion when I have heard it. Yet last week, I was briefly stumped when someone asked me for proof that medical tourism is important enough for Congress and the White House to be interested. Read Full Story