Capacity expansion in established destinations
Colombia, Mexico, and Costa Rica have all continued expanding accredited facility capacity to meet rising demand — a trend likely to continue rather than plateau, given sustained US demand pressure.
Specialty depth moving beyond cosmetic and dental
Cardiac care (anchored by Colombia's Mayo Clinic Care Network affiliation) and orthopedic surgery are growing specialty categories across the region, expanding beyond the cosmetic-and-dental focus that historically defined Latin American medical tourism.
Continued US insurance-market pressure
2026's ACA enhanced-subsidy expiration and related insurance market disruption plausibly sustains, rather than reduces, self-pay demand for medical tourism through the next several years — a structural driver more durable than any single year's headline market-size figure.
What could change this trajectory
A significant shift in US domestic healthcare pricing transparency or insurance coverage could reduce demand pressure; currency shifts in any specific destination could move the relative savings calculus between countries. See colombiamedical.co for the current state of the network's destination comparisons.
The Takeaway
The structural drivers behind Latin America's growth — proximity, cost gap, expanding capacity — look durable through the next few years, though the specific country-by-country market share will likely keep shifting.