Medical tourism can be defined as the process of traveling outside the country of residence with the aim of receiving medical care. Growth in the fame of medical tourism has caught the attention of policy-makers, researchers, and the media. Originally, the term ‘medical tourism’ referred to the travel of patients from less-developed countries to developed nations for the treatments not available in their homeland.
Medical tourism denotes a worldwide, multibillion-dollar phenomenon that is expected to grow considerably in the next few decades. For the individual interested in health services, the cost is one of the key factors included in the decision to receive medical care abroad. As healthcare Services costs in the US and other parts of the world are extremely high, many employers and insurance companies started to view medical tourism as a way to lower their costs. The main reason behind the lower cost of treatment in the clinics and hospitals in developing countries is that the cost of the treatment in these countries is directly related to the nation’s economic status.
