Should you leave the country for your next doctor’s appointment?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Reema Khrais (0:36)

There was a time when the travel content on my social media feeds was all about relaxation. Spas, beach towns, hidden gems to help you escape the daily grind.

But lately, I've been seeing a different kind of travel itinerary.

SPEAKER_3 (0:49)

Okay, you guys, I'm never going back to the American healthcare system after this experience and you won't believe how much it costs.

Reema Khrais (0:54)

So now we're going to head to one of the major hospitals here in Tijuana.

SPEAKER_3 (0:57)

I'm going to show you those facilities and also try to get an MRI scan for myself.

SPEAKER_4 (1:01)

Unfortunately, I found that hair transplants literally cost an arm and a leg in America and was quoted for $30,000. Yep, big fat no.

SPEAKER_3 (1:07)

We got a standard checkup for all of us, which included blood testing of our cholesterol, blood count, triglyceride, and EKG, chest x-ray, full urine analysis, and abdominal ultrasound. So for all of this, it cost our family of three just $1,300.

Reema Khrais (1:23)

People are traveling not just for leisure, but to get everything from hair transplants and dental work to fertility treatments and major surgeries. It's hard to know exactly how many Americans travel abroad for medical care each year, but the CDC estimates that millions of US residents do. Medical tourism is now a multi-billion dollar industry, which makes a lot of sense to me. Healthcare in this country is wildly expensive, especially for people without insurance. But it also makes me wonder, what are the trade-offs? Like, what happens if something goes wrong? And what does it say about our health care system that for some people, getting on a plane feels easier than getting care at home?

I'm Reema Grace, and welcome to This Is Uncomfortable, the weekly podcast from Marketplace about life and how money messes with it.

Here to talk with me about it all is Dr. Alok Patel. He's a physician at Stanford Children's Health and a medical journalist. Hello, Dr. Patel.

Alok Patel (2:21)

What up, Reema? I feel like the tagline about how money messes with our daily life is perfect for a conversation about health care spending and medical tourism.

Reema Khrais (2:29)

Definitely. I'm very excited to talk with you. I'm also chatting with TK Dutes, the host and creator of The Secret Life of TK Dutes, a podcast that in part features her journey with medical tourism.

Hello, TK.

TK Dutes (2:41)

Hey, glad to be here, Reema.

Reema Khrais (2:43)

Okay. So I just want to start by getting your reactions to those social media clips we just played. What came up for you, TK?

TK Dutes (2:49)

So it's like, it almost sounds like a fantasy, right? Like, oh, I went to, I got my whole body looked at and nope, $30,000, not going to do it or hair transplants in Turkey. And I'm not going as far as Turkey, like that's too far for me. I like a little closer distance between me and my doctors. But I understand the appeal.

I am partaking in it. But there's some parts of it, I don't know, maybe white people's voices sounds like a commercial to me. So there's a little suspect stuff there, but I'm team medical tourism. Yeah.

Reema Khrais (3:28)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to get into that in a bit, but what about you, Dr. Patel?

Alok Patel (3:32)

My first reaction was, why can't we have that here? And you see some kind of a one-stop shop of going and getting a checkup with the primary care provider, labs, imaging, everything from potentially a colonoscopy to an MRI, to a bone density scan in one day. And I'm sitting here looking at these influencers, because I've seen these videos of people going to Turkey and documenting the entire thing.

And not only are they spending a fraction of what we're spending, that would take you so long to coordinate and organize in the United States, let alone one day. I feel like these influencers are actually influencing, because unlike TK, I'm like, shoot, next flight to Turkey, let's go.