The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Carolyn Lochhead writes that the draw of medical tourism lies with both transparency and affordability and implies that its success shows the need for an overhaul of the U.S. medical system.
She also notes that the reform efforts don’t seem likely to change those two central systematic problems, and thus medical tourism is likely to be here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future. The piece also explores the consumer side of medical tourism, profiling an Oklahoma surgeon who competes on price and transparency.
The article also cites an executive who advises that the economics of going overseas for treatment start making sense when the American price tag for a procedure reaches about $15,000.
Resources
- Controversy follows medical tourism’s top couple
- Story examines risks, rewards for medical tourists
- Self-insured groups may encourage medical tourism
- Tip Sheet – Medical tourism: Trend or aberration
- Article – Health Journalism 2008: Medical tourism – trend or aberration?
- Role of the Internet in medical tourism
- Tip Sheet – Medical Tourism Takes Flight
