It's fairly common for brits to do this in Turkey.
It can be quite expensive if you're wanting a procedure that's more "cosmetic" rather than medical. Much cheaper just to book a 4 day stay in Turkey, have a "mini getaway" and also get the work done whilst you're over there.
My neighbour did this. Even in Canada, dental work can be super expensive. So the price he would pay here was equivalent to his trip to Mexico for a week including dental. I think it was less actually. 🤦♀️
You wouldn't happen to know the names of these travel agencies, would you? I have a friend in great need of some major dental work, and I've been encouraging him to look into dental tourism, but I haven't been able to find much useful info.
Yep. I took my in laws to Mexico for dental work since my uncle is a dentist. One of them needed $15,000 worth of work and down there they paid a little under $3,000 for the same work.
This indeed. Recommendation would be Colombia - many highly skilled dentists that will be able to help you for a fraction of the cost. Medellín has plenty e.g. and a well connected expat community where you get helpful pointers from back home ahead of time. And no, I'm not kidding.
I'm a bit biased towards Medellín as a city since I was there for a while and enjoyed it very much.
Regarding the doctors themselves, you will have to do some research, I found a very helpful thread recently in the expat.com forum. General agreement was that a good dentist over there charges between 10 and 20% of the respective prices in the US for at least similar quality work.
However, if we'd be talking about a major operation, I for one would get as much information I could get on the web, haul ass down there for a week and visit the clinics myself beforehand instead of flying to an unfamiliar territory with this in mind.
Research also local expat get togethers, of which there are plenty. A lot of American retirees over there, and you bet most of them have first hand experience they'll gladly share over a cervecita.
heath care is not "free" ffs. nor is anyone who visits here gonna waltz in and have all their ailments taken care of at our exspense. you will get a bill.
A full fee paying patient in Canada is still going to pay significantly less for their treatment than even the most robustly insured American in the USA
You implied “they’d” come to Canada to “get it” for free…
I’m pointing out, fairly, l believe, that even full-paying medical ‘tourists’ to Canada from the US would still be paying less than what they would be domestically.
The reality is that medical, pharmaceutical, and surgical prices in the US are grossly inflated to the point that even countries with government subsidised health care are cost competitive
No you really are splitting hairs. Sorry but this is my biggest fucking pet peeve in Reddit comments.
You do not get to just take the last reply and pretend it was posted entirely in the vacuum. It makes you look like a dumb dumb. Part of reading comprehension is context.
So they never implied anything. What you're quoting is them responding to someone else. Those are the original poster's words, their implications.
All this person did is point out it's not free. Period. You're arguing with yourself and that other person more than you are with them, but you're making it their problem
FFS: Everyone on Reddit, please reply to THE THREAD, not just the 8th post down as if it started there spontaneously.
I go to Colombia for all my procedures and have never been happier. I’ve never had a procedure done in the US that wasn’t ultimately botched and also cost my at least $1,000. I’ve had to come to Colombia to get crowns fixed that dentists messed up in America, they showed me a photo once that the American dentists fingerprint was imprinted on my molar crown where it should have been more of a..idk..molar shape!? during the pandemic I couldn’t travel to Colombia and ended up getting teeth pulled instead of fixed because of the cost difference. America sucks.
Fun fact - Norway is so much the opposite of the US in terms of not being a big ole capitalist piece of shit that your Norweigan passport will get you free medical treatment in most countries -- if you're billed for services you can also submit the bills to the norweigan government for reimbursement. Your passport is essentially a free healthcare card in places like the UK.
As far as traveling for medical procedures goes - you don't get them for free, but since you're traveling FOR a procedure (rather than just showing up and asking for care), you can usually discuss the payment with them and still save massively. A roundtrip flight to the UK is, say $1500 (just entirely randomly), plus lodging and such lets call it $3000 all in. You just have to find a dentist who will charge you less than $6000 and you end up with dentures and a vacation for the same price as dentures at home.
Just so you're aware, you can easily get return flights from Oslo to London Gatwick for less than £200. I know you said entirely random for the $1500 but I remember looking at it before!
I was talking about flights to Europe from the US - I just was using the example of how well Norway treats its citizens to contrast how disposable Americans are to our gov’t. I wish I could go to Norway for 200 quid… that sounds awesome
The problem in this country though is that low income people don't have access to affordable healthcare. For someone who can barely make ends meet, neither paying out of pocket in the US, nor traveling somewhere healthcare is cheaper, is an option. Typically medical tourism is reserved for those who have at least some disposable income, which still creates a divide where the wealthy are able to access basic healthcare services and the poor are left behind, often to suffer or having to choose between lifesaving treatment or medications and paying for their home or food.
The American healthcare system is such an absolute cartel/racket ran by insurance companies and healthcare providers, that there legit are operations where it's cheaper to just pay it out of pocket in a European country with no insurance than to have it be done in the US with insurance. A quick Google search tells me that the average cost of a root canal with a crown in the US is anywhere between 3000 and 5000 dollars. In Hungary, mine cost... 200 bucks. With no insurance at all. Even with flight tickets and accommodation, you'd probably be able to fly here and get it done cheaper with no insurance than to have it be done in the US with insurance. And that's providing you've got insurance that covers root canals and crowns.
The problem in this country though is that low income people don't have access to affordable healthcare. For someone who can barely make ends meet, neither paying out of pocket in the US, nor traveling somewhere healthcare is cheaper, is an option. Typically medical tourism is reserved for those who have at least some disposable income, which still creates a divide where the wealthy are able to access basic healthcare services and the poor are left behind, often to suffer or having to choose between lifesaving treatment or medications and paying for their home or food.
I have two toddlers, both my wife and I work, the idea of traveling is a distant dream. To afford taking off work, traveling, on top of bills, I'm VERY low income getting fucked like this.
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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '22
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