by
REUTERS ,
The Huffington Post |
2013-08-28
Marlene Trithardt, who is a Canadian house cleaner, needed to replace her tooth, she didnt go to her local dentist's office in Alberta but instead flew to the beach paradise of Costa Rica - because here the treatment is cheaper!
A large number of North Americans turn south for health care due to lower prices. Trithardt is one of them. Such mediacl tourists contribute 0.8 percent of Costa Rica's GDP.
"I chose to come here because I find in Alberta the prices are about 80 percent higher than in Costa Rica," 57 years old Trithardt says, who makes $30,000 a year.
In Canada she was expecting to pay $10,000 for this treatment. But here in Costa Rica, she had to pay only $4000, including airfare, hotels and meals for two weeks.
Some doctors in the US discourage traveling abroad for loear rates of treatment . They think that the quality may not be up to the mark and that follow-up care is lacking - technology and care standards in the private sector are perceived by the medical community and patients alike to be high.
Costa Rica a country of 4.5 million people best known for its white sand beaches and lush rainforests. Now accounting for 36 percent of all medical tourism. The dental tourism niche is booming in Costa Rica, and that figure is seen rising to 50 percent over the next two years, says Promed's Manzi.
