An Industry by Any Other Name

Many Americans seem to believe that "Medical Tourism" is a recent phenomenon. And while the soaring costs of healthcare in the US have highlighted the motivations and experience of these early "pioneers," personal travel to centers of medical excellence spans thousands of years.

Depending on where one grew up in America, history commonly began at 1492, 1776, the Alamo in 1836 or upon the firing at Fort Sumpter in 1861.

Perhaps it is the relative newness of our country that leads us to be so surprised that countries such as India could have a 6,000 year head start in the practice of medicine.

Travel agencies have been helping to arrange vacations for patrons of excellent plastic surgeons in exotic locations throughout the world for many years. But with the soaring costs of healthcare, US patients have been seeking increasingly more complicated and expensive surgeries overseas. While the term of "Medical Tourism" doesn't quite do justice to the myriad of components that define the industry, thanks to Google, it is probably going to be with us for a long time.