Video: Surgical Tourism offering sun, sand and surgery

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SEATTLE - More and more tourists are getting away for the sun, sand and surgery.

A company called Surgical Tourism USA opens its doors in Seattle Wednesday, booking patients on getaways for everything from a heart bypass to cosmetic surgery.

Their vacation packages promise healthcare at a lower cost. The company says you can pay a third of the price for a surgical procedure in a foreign country compared to the U.S.

The concept is called "medical tourism." Patients travel to another country in search of quality healthcare at a more economical price. The hospitals are modern facilities with physicians often treating American patients, but these hospitals are in countries like Mexico or India.

"Those who are uninsured, sometimes the cost of the surgery is so high that it may not be an option, but with our services, it becomes an option where they can get the same surgery but maybe a third of the cost of what it would be in the U.S.," said Yasmeen Sayeed, president and CEO of Surgical Tourism Canada, Inc.

Surgical Tourism is based and has been operating in Canada for three years. But because they've been getting a lot of patients from the U.S., so they've opened an office in Seattle.

The company's CEO says the hospitals they work with must pass a rigorous list of inspections and quality controls before they'll send patients there. In the end, a hip surgery costing upwards of $30,000 in the U.S. could be about half that in a package deal.

"It includes everything from their visa, their airfare, their accommodation, their travel insurance, their transit in Europe, the hospital stay, all the hospital costs and a two week rehab in a 5-star beach resort," said Sayeed.

Experts caution patients to do a lot of research before traveling out of the country for medical treatment. In some cases, malpractice laws are not the same and liability can be limited.