Here are 10 tips you should be aware of before you seek medical treatment overseas.

1. Be absolutely certain of your medical procedure: you should obtain exact, written details from your primary care or U.S. doctor that detail your diagnosis and preferred method of treatment.
2. Research your overseas doctor as much as possible: do everything you can to obtain as much detailed information as you can about your doctor: certifications, medical training, etc.
3. Interview your overseas doctor on the phone: ask anything and everything and ensure you are are comfortable with your choice. If not, choose someone else.
4. Allow yourself enough time for your trip: ensure that you budget enough time for the entire medical trip, which should include post-recovery time. You do not want to get right back on the plane immediately after your procedure. Your overseas doctor will let you know exactly how much time you should budget for post-recovery.
5. Obtain everything in writing: recommendations, opinions, overseas medical procedure cost estimates, air travel, accommodations - get everything you can and organize everything into a folder
6. Make sure you have enough money: payment is usually required in full upfront. By now you should have an estimate of the entire cost of your trip (travel, medical procedure and accomodations), allow an extra 5% of this figure for unforeseen scenarios.
7. Let your bank and credit card company know: call your bank and credit card company and ask for the fraud unit. Inform them that you will be travelling overseas and let them know your destination (including lay-overs) and the time you will spend overseas. This way you won’t run into any problems trying to access your funds overseas.
8. Inform your primary care physician or local doctor before you leave: they may not agree with your decision but this puts them on alert since in most cases you might return to your primary care physician or local doctor for a post-recovery follow up.
9. Don’t go cheap on lodging: you are already experiencing savings of up to 80% depending on your medical procedure - ensure that your lodgings are top notch. This is usually not a problem before your procedure, as most overseas hospitals have excellent international facilities at your disposal, but this will matter during your post-recovery period after discharge from the hospital. Ensure that your lodging is as close as possible to the hospital: in case of any complications that may arise after your medical procedure
10. Be prepared for a worst case scenario: be fully informed of the hospital policy on what may happen if something goes wrong. Most will re-do your medical procedure at no additional cost. Malpractice recourse might be extremely difficult and slow to obtain in a foreign country. However most overseas hospitals and doctors realize that one bad operation or medical procedure is all it takes to damage the millions of dollars they have spent towards their reputation, and will do all it takes to ensure that your overseas experience is an extremely pleasant one.