The updated and expanded Fourth Edition of Patients Beyond Borders: Everybody’s Guide to Affordable, World-Class Medical Tourism, a consumer guide to medical tourism and international health travel, is now available from Calvander Communications.

Written by Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders, the impartial, easy-to-navigate trade print and ebook reference provides cross-border health travelers a trusted road map to safe, cost-effective decisions about traveling abroad for healthcare.

In 2020, more than two million US patients will cross borders for medical care, up more than tenfold from just a decade ago, a media release from Patients Beyond Borders suggests.

“Costs have become unbearable for some 82 million uninsured or underinsured Americans,” Woodman says. “US patients who would otherwise undergo treatment at home are now driven in droves to seek affordable medical options in other countries.”

The book offers readers concise information on how to make safe, informed decisions about their treatment while saving 30-80% on medical procedures. Some 800 medical centers and clinics in 70 countries around the world are now US-accredited, offering patients a wide range of treatment options, per the release.

Key 2020 medical tourism trends:

• The international medical travel market is expanding at 15-18% annually, with rising costs of treatment and aging Millennials driving the growth.

• Americans seeking inexpensive pharmaceuticals for complex conditions are beginning to explore destinations such as Mexico and Thailand, where formal hospital-sponsored programs have been created to serve healthcare consumers burdened by ever-increasing US drug prices (e.g. another 5% hike in early 2020). Expensive drugs sought by patients include treatment for cancer, Hepatitis C and spinal conditions such as osteoporosis.

• Fewer inbound patients are visiting US medical centers for care, in favor of culturally compatible, friendlier venues closer to home. Thailand, Singapore, Korea, and Malaysia are the big beneficiaries. China is a big exception as Chinese patients flood US medical centers for complex treatment of cancers and other environmentally driven diseases.

Chapel Hill, NC-based Patients Beyond Borders, dba Calvander Communications, publishes books and information on international healthcare travel.

[Source(s): Patients Beyond Borders, Newswise]