Private hospitals in Jalisco Mexico are gearing up for medical tourists as they expect more US Citizens to travel to the country for medical treatments. The state government of Jalisco said it would invest up to 4.35 million pesos on the medical industry in Jalisco to make the private hospitals in the area to be up to the standards to qualify them for certifications under the Joint Commission International (JCI).

Travelers who love to travel to Mexico City will definitely find this a good deal. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard recently handed out insurance cards to tourists in the city.

According to a research paper by UCLA researchers, published recently in the Medical Care journal, close to 1 million Californians travel to Mexico to undergo medical procedures.  According to the study, the two main reasons Californians travel to Mexico for healthcare are they lack of insurance and the rising healthcare costs in the US.  The paper is based on data gathered in 2001 through the California Health Interview Survey. Out of the 952,000 Californians who traveled to Mexico for medical services, 488,000 are Mexican immigrants.

The travel warning to Mexico issued by the US government because of the Swine Flu has been canceled. The waning of the swine flu in Mexico has prompted the US State Department and the US Centers for Disease Control to lift the travel warning against Mexico last Friday, May 15.

The health insurance company Wellpoint is currently testing insurance coverage for medical tourism particularly for employees of Serigraph Inc and for cardiac and joint-replacement surgeries in India. Wellpoint is taking advantage of the lower healthcare costs in the said country. Generally, healthcare costs in India are about 80% cheaper than in the United States because of the lower cost of labor and cheaper medicines.  The quality of healthcare in India particularly in top hospitals is comparable to the quality of healthcare in the US and other developed nations.