It has been in the news and now it's on radar of Congress. There is a trend, a phenomenon -- U.S. residents who can't afford health care in their own country are going abroad for it.
Now the Senate Special Committee on Aging is on the case ...
GLOBAL HEALTHCARE MAY SAVE MONEY, BUT IS IT SAFE?
June 27th, 2006 - Washington, DC - Today, Chairman Gordon H. Smith (R-OR) called for the formation of an interagency taskforce to explore the economic impact and safety of patients seeking lower cost health care procedures abroad. His call came during a hearing of the Special Committee on Aging on medical tourism that featured patients who had saved thousands by traveling abroad ...
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Yes, it's happening. I was among (apparently) many people contacted by the committee and talked with a staffer briefly about two weeks ago. I've been one of those overseas patients and wrote about my experience in 2004; and my book on the subject, "Beauty from Afar," was published this month by Stewart, Tabori & Chang of New York. (I'd make the de rigeur apology for the self promotion but discussed this in email with Kos some months back ... in context, I hope everyone understands that this is my credential in raising the issue.)
In the course of research, I frequently have run into the gut-level opinion that medical tourism is a symptom, a sign, of all that ails the U.S. health care system. That may be true, on some large and yet parochial level. But saying so doesn't solve any problems. My guesstimate is that in the neighborhood of 100,000 people are now going outside of the U.S. annually for cosmetic surgery alone. Add in dentistry, other elective procedures and those going for "regular" uninsured surgery and care and the total guesstimate is some multiple of that. I've put the number at 500,000 to 750,000 -- again, a guesstimate. It sounds like a big number but is not, relative to the size of the U.S. health care system. My point is -- whatever the number is -- it is small but significant and growing.
I argue that it is more useful to look at medical tourism as part of the U.S. health care system than it is to label it a symptom, or worse, scapegoat it. High quality, lower cost care is indisputably available in other countries. To some extent, objectively the global health care system is functioning as a safety net and an alternative for U.S. patients.
I submit that this is an issue that bears careful scrutiny going forward. Politically, it's a potential flashpoint.