Dramatically rising U.S. health care costs are prompting many consumers to consider outbound medical tourism as a viable care option.

By Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and Deloitte Consulting LLP

Traveling for Care

Many patients are traveling great distances to obtain medical care. Whether the destination is an exotic resort halfway around the world or a health care facility several hours away in a neighboring state, U.S. citizens are increasingly embracing the benefits of medical tourism. Rapid expansion of facilities for patients abroad has helped to spur this industry growth.
Broadly speaking, medical tourism is the act of traveling to obtain medical care. As described in Figure 1, there are three categories of medical tourism: outbound, inbound and intrabound (domestic).

Outbound Medical Tourism
In 2007, an estimated 750,000 Americans traveled abroad for medical care. As depicted in Figures 2 and 3, this number is estimated to increase to six million by 2010.1,2 Accordingly, the base-case estimate for the annual growth rate in outbound medical tourism is estimated at 100 percent from 2007 to 2010. Increases beyond this time, however, could be tempered by several factors:

• Supply capacity constraints in foreign countries
• U.S. health plans’ possible decision to not cover services provided offshore
• U.S. providers’ possible decision to compete more aggressively with outbound programs
• Potential government policies that might curtail demand.