After A Medical Emergency, Black Travelers Say They Found Better Healthcare Abroad Than In The U.S.
My first trip to Accra, Ghana, was full of emotion. From the moment I stepped off the plane and heard “Welcome home,” I felt the ancestral tug so many had […] The post After A Medical Emergency, Black Travelers Say They Found Better Healthcare Abroad Than In The U.S. appeared first on Essence.
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My first trip to Ridge Medical Center, I was checked in within minutes. Staff walked me through the insurance verification and care procedures, as I wasn’t a citizen. As I waited, I noticed a fully stocked on-site pharmacy, a spotless facility, and posters advertising community clinic days offering free screenings, from eye exams to diabetic checks.
The care itself rivaled what I’ve received in any The author’s ailment during her trip to Ghana.
Travel photographer and content creator Carey Bradshaw has seen this firsthand. His travels in 2023 took him to Saigon, Vietnam, and Kingston, Jamaica, where he ended up in emergency rooms for unrelated issues. Across both visits, he received MRIs, X-rays, multiple tests, and blood work. The difference? The cost.
His ER visit in Vietnam was $260. In Jamaica, a private hospital charged $400. Both facilities treated him without insurance, provided medication, and offered what he described as a level of care he’s “never been privy to in the States.”
“It was the human part that stood out,” Bradshaw says. “The doctors didn’t just check boxes; they were genuinely concerned. They asked smart questions, connected the dots, and actually tried to solve the problem instead of rushing me through. In both cases, once they diagnosed me, they gave me the medication right there on the spot. I didn’t have to make a separate trip to a pharmacy or wait for a prescription to be >PCOS. Out of fear of subpar treatment, she often ignored pain flare-ups. A severe episode in Saudi Arabia finally sent her to the ER, where she was seen by a Sudanese doctor who was assigned her case due to their shared African roots. For Jackson, being seen and understood, rather than dismissed, wasrel="tag">health and wellness travel
The post After A Medical Emergency, Black Travelers Say They Found Better Healthcare Abroad Than In The U.S. appeared first on Essence.
