Craving a luxurious vacation? Depending on where you travel, a five-star hotel stay might actually cost you less than a night at the hospital. You might think the average bill for a US hospital is expensive at $642 per night. But surprisingly, we rank only 17th on Finder.com’s list of the most expensive hospital stays worldwide.
Finder.com analyzed primary, secondary and teaching hospital costs in 189 countries reported in the World Health Organization’s 2011 health costs data to discover that the No. 1 spot belongs to the independent city-state of Monaco, where a single night’s snooze on a hospital bed will empty your pocket of an average $3,371 — or 425% more than the price of a US hospital bed. Given a five-star hotel in Monaco costs roughly $509 a night, you could stay seven nights in a luxury hotel in Monaco for just a few hundred dollars more than your one night with doctors.
Better yet, you could instead pay for travel insurance, which often includes emergency medical benefits that cover emergency hospital stays. We collected travel insurance quotes from numerous providers to discover at a mere $16 a day on average, it’s peace of mind that’s 211 times cheaper than sleeping on a hospital bed, should you need it.
Trailing Monaco is Luxembourg at an average $1,775 per hospital night. This night of care is $1,596 cheaper than a hospital stay in Monaco, but it’s also a whopping 12 times more expensive than Luxembourg’s average five-star hotel, where you can rest like royalty for just $154 a night.
| Rank | Country | Cost of hospital bed per day | Average cost of travel insurance for a week | Average cost of a 5-star-hotel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monaco | $3,371 | $111 | $509 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | $1,775 | $111 | $154 |
| 3 | Norway | $1,314 | $111 | $328 |
| 4 | Qatar | $1,280 | $112 | $230 |
| 5 | Switzerland | $864 | $111 | $434 |
| 6 | San Marino | $827 | $111 | $99 |
| 7 | Denmark | $791 | $111 | $203 |
| 8 | Ireland | $787 | $111 | $236 |
| 9 | United Arab Emirates | $711 | $112 | $311 |
| 10 | Netherlands | $696 | $111 | $153 |
| 11 | Sweden | $677 | $111 | $184 |
| 12 | Kuwait | $677 | $112 | $283 |
| 13 | Iceland | $675 | $111 | $273 |
| 14 | Finland | $650 | $111 | $242 |
| 15 | Austria | $639 | $111 | $239 |
Source: finder.com analysis of health delivery data from the World Health Organization (2011), Knoema’s Accomodation Price Index 2016, Trip Advisor, finder.com’s hotel comparison tool.
Our research team analyzed US National Travel and Tourism Office statistics for 2017 to determine how much you could pay for a hospital bed in popular tourist destinations.
Topping the most expensive countries popular among American travelers is the UK, where a hospital bed costs an average $218 a day. Shelling out 66% more than your average hospital stay in the States might sound reasonable enough, but it’s far more than the $16 a day you could instead pay for travel insurance.
| Rank | Country | Cost of hospital bed per day | Average cost of travel insurance for a week | Average cost of a 5-star-hotel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | $218 | $111 | $269 |
| 2 | Dominican Rep. | $44 | $108 | $1,323 |
| 3 | France | $570 | $111 | $307 |
| 4 | Italy | $487 | $111 | $248 |
| 5 | Germany | $578 | $111 | $166 |
| 6 | Spain | $443 | $111 | $313 |
| 7 | Jamaica | $52 | $108 | $319 |
| 8 | China | $31 | $111 | $244 |
| 9 | Japan | $491 | $111 | $289 |
| 10 | Ireland | $804 | $111 | $236 |
| 11 | India | $9 | $111 | $146 |
| 12 | Netherlands | $711 | $111 | $153 |
| 13 | Costa Rica | $68 | $115 | $639 |
| 14 | Bahamas | $246 | $108 | $541 |
| 15 | Philippines | $15 | $111 | $164 |
Source: finder.com analysis of five-star hotel prices from Knoema’s Accomodation Price Index 2016, Trip Advisor, as well as finder.com’s hotel comparison tool
The most expensive hospital bed in our list of the top 15 US travel destinations is home to Guinness and U2: Ireland. The Emerald Isle averages $804 for one night at the hospital, or seven times more than the average five-star hotel, where you could pay only $111 a night for a luxury stay.
| Country | Price of hospital bed |
|---|---|
| Monaco | $3,371 |
| Luxembourg | $1,813 |
| Norway | $1,343 |
| Qatar | $1,308 |
| Switzerland | $882 |
| San Marino | $845 |
| Denmark | $808 |
| Ireland | $804 |
| United Arab Emirates | $727 |
| Netherlands | $711 |
| Sweden | $692 |
| Kuwait | $691 |
| Iceland | $689 |
| Finland | $664 |
| Austria | $653 |
| Australia | $646 |
| United States of America | $642 |
| Belgium | $612 |
| Canada | $594 |
| Singapore | $586 |
| Germany | $578 |
| France | $570 |
| United Kingdom | $565 |
| Brunei | $504 |
| Japan | $491 |
| Italy | $487 |
| Spain | $443 |
| Cyprus | $399 |
| Greece | $383 |
| New Zealand | $367 |
| Bahrain | $367 |
| Equatorial Guinea | $357 |
| Israel | $339 |
| Slovenia | $335 |
| Portugal | $287 |
| Oman | $268 |
| Malta | $265 |
| Czech Republic | $250 |
| Bahamas | $246 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | $237 |
| Republic of Korea | $235 |
| Saudi Arabia | $224 |
| Andorra | $218 |
| Slovakia | $207 |
| Estonia | $206 |
| Croatia | $181 |
| Hungary | $180 |
| Barbados | $170 |
| Latvia | $169 |
| Libyan Arab Jamahirya | $169 |
| Lithuania | $163 |
| Antigua and Barbuda | $162 |
| Poland | $157 |
| Russian Federation | $137 |
| Seychelles | $129 |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | $122 |
| Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) | $117 |
| Niue | $113 |
| Turkey | $111 |
| Mexico | $110 |
| Chile | $110 |
| Gabon | $109 |
| Romania | $104 |
| Uruguay | $98 |
| Kazakhstan | $89 |
| Argentina | $89 |
| Malaysia | $89 |
| Palau | $88 |
| Cook Islands | $83 |
| Montenegro | $78 |
| Mauritius | $77 |
| Botswana | $75 |
| Lebanon | $74 |
| Bulgaria | $73 |
| Panama | $72 |
| Costa Rica | $68 |
| Belarus | $66 |
| Grenada | $65 |
| Saint Lucia | $58 |
| South Africa | $56 |
| Dominica | $56 |
| Suriname | $56 |
| Azerbaijan | $56 |
| Colombia | $53 |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | $53 |
| Jamaica | $52 |
| The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | $49 |
| Algeria | $49 |
| Serbia | $49 |
| Bosnia | $49 |
| Cuba | $48 |
| Iran | $47 |
| Dominican Republic | $44 |
| Peru | $44 |
| Belize | $43 |
| Albania | $40 |
| Angola | $40 |
| Ecuador | $39 |
| Thailand | $39 |
| Tunisia | $39 |
| Namibia | $38 |
| Maldives | $37 |
| Ukraine | $37 |
| Fiji | $37 |
| Turkmenistan | $35 |
| Armenia | $35 |
| El Salvador | $34 |
| Nauru | $32 |
| China | $31 |
| Jordan | $31 |
| Cape Verde | $29 |
| Tonga | $28 |
| Iraq | $27 |
| Samoa | $26 |
| Georgia | $26 |
| Congo | $25 |
| Guatemala | $25 |
| Morocco | $24 |
| Paraguay | $24 |
| Vanuatu | $23 |
| Tuvalu | $23 |
| Swaziland | $21 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | $20 |
| Indonesia | $19 |
| Micronesia (Federated States of) | $19 |
| Marshall Islands | $18 |
| Egypt | $18 |
| Sri Lanka | $18 |
| Brazil | $17 |
| Honduras | $16 |
| Mongolia | $16 |
| Bhutan | $16 |
| Philippines | $15 |
| Bolivia | $15 |
| Republic of Moldova | $14 |
| Guyana | $12 |
| Nigeria | $11 |
| Kiribati | $11 |
| Sudan | $11 |
| Solomon Islands | $10 |
| Yemen | $10 |
| Cameroon | $9 |
| Papua New Guinea | $9 |
| Nicaragua | $9 |
| Djibouti | $9 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | $9 |
| India | $9 |
| Uzbekistan | $8 |
| Vietnam | $8 |
| Cote d'Ivoire | $8 |
| Zambia | $8 |
| Senegal | $8 |
| Mauritania | $8 |
| Kyrgyzstan | $7 |
| Lao People's Democratic Republic | $6 |
| Pakistan | $6 |
| Cambodia | $6 |
| Lesotho | $6 |
| Tajikistan | $6 |
| Kenya | $6 |
| Benin | $5 |
| Comoros | $5 |
| Chad | $5 |
| Ghana | $5 |
| Mali | $5 |
| Togo | $4 |
| Haiti | $4 |
| Afghanistan | $4 |
| Democratic People's Republic of Korea | $4 |
| Uganda | $4 |
| Bangladesh | $3 |
| Gambia | $3 |
| Myanmar | $3 |
| United Republic of Tanzania | $3 |
| Timor-Leste | $3 |
| Madagascar | $3 |
| Rwanda | $3 |
| Central African Republic | $3 |
| Mozambique | $3 |
| Nepal | $3 |
| Guinea | $3 |
| Niger | $2 |
| Sierra Leone | $2 |
| Ethiopia | $2 |
| Eritrea | $2 |
| Malawi | $2 |
| Guinea-bissau | $2 |
| Liberia | $1 |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | $1 |
Source: finder.com analysis of health delivery data from the World Health Organization (2011)
Richard Laycock, Insights editor and senior content marketing manager
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