| WEST PALM BEACH -- Visit the Taj Mahal, get a hip replacement. Fly over a volcano, have heart bypass surgery. Have that nip/tuck you’ve been wanting, recuperate at a beach resort. In an era when 47 million Americans – 3.6 million in Florida – have no health insurance, the chance to save thousands on both necessary and elective surgeries is luring patients to exotic locales.
Medical Tourism, a new monthly magazine published in West Palm Beach, explores this phenomenon and points out precautions prospective patients should take when traveling out of the country for health care.
The take-home message is: Do extensive research before you go. “Some of these people have never left their state, never traveled with a passport in hand, and [they’re going] to a third-world country where they may be traveling in a rickshaw,” said Renee-Marie Stephano, editor of the new magazine.
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