Medical tourism soars as Americans seek major savings on health care in hospitals abroadNEW DELHI — When James Payne found out he needed a liver transplant, he first tried to arrange the surgery at a top local hospital in South Florida. Doctors there told him that they couldn't schedule the procedure for a few months and that it would cost $450,000, a fortune for the uninsured former investment banker.
So the 55-year-old and his wife, who planned to donate half her own liver to her husband, bought plane tickets to India instead. There, at one of New Delhi's premier hospitals, a transplant specialist did the surgery for $58,000—a price tag that included their 10-week hospital stay.
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If you want to live, this is where you come," said a smiling Payne, who planned to return home to Florida this week and said he would recommend his experience to anyone suffering similar problems.
The number of Americans heading abroad for medical procedures is surging as the country's 46 million people without health insurance look for treatment they can afford and cash-strapped U.S. companies struggle
to find cheaper ways to provide high-quality medical care to their employees, according to the American Medical Association.
Chicago Tribune