Medical Tourism
Medical Tourism:
Beneficence or Commerce?
Danielle Evans
February 15, 2013
Contemporary Perspectives, Spring 2013
Professor Philip J. Gibbon
Psychology/ Occupational Therapy Major
Medical Tourism is a health care trend that has recently greatly increased and is expected to continue increasing in the future. Medical Tourism is defined by tourist travel for the purpose of receiving medical treatment or improving health fitness (Medical Tourism, 1). The skyrocketing cost of health care is a major contributor that is causing people to go abroad in order to seek affordable healthcare. Because of the United States’ overly expensive Medicare and Medicaid Insurance packages and the difficulty to get coverage from insurance companies, patients that are in need of surgery and other types of medical care are turning to foreign, sometimes less developed, countries to get the treatment they need. Since in most other countries, patients pay out of pocket for medical services rather than having them covered by bigger business’ insurance packages, like the United States does, health care facilities are more competitive in pricing so that patients will choose their facility for their needs. Devon M. Herrick centers his article, “Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care”, around the financial benefits and global economic effects of this spread of international health care. He argues that as more insured American patients continue to go abroad for medical procedures, medical tourism will result in competition that is needed in the American health care industry and, in turn, change the health care system itself (Herrick, 3). The obsession with cost, along with many other factors, has shifted the purpose and main concern of health care from being centered around treatment and the patient’s beneficence, to healthcare being viewed as a business and consumer market. Lamk Al-Lamki, contrary to Herrick, discusses the risk factors in his article, “Medical Tourism”, in
Beneficence or Commerce?
Danielle Evans
February 15, 2013
Contemporary Perspectives, Spring 2013
Professor Philip J. Gibbon
Psychology/ Occupational Therapy Major
Medical Tourism is a health care trend that has recently greatly increased and is expected to continue increasing in the future. Medical Tourism is defined by tourist travel for the purpose of receiving medical treatment or improving health fitness (Medical Tourism, 1). The skyrocketing cost of health care is a major contributor that is causing people to go abroad in order to seek affordable healthcare. Because of the United States’ overly expensive Medicare and Medicaid Insurance packages and the difficulty to get coverage from insurance companies, patients that are in need of surgery and other types of medical care are turning to foreign, sometimes less developed, countries to get the treatment they need. Since in most other countries, patients pay out of pocket for medical services rather than having them covered by bigger business’ insurance packages, like the United States does, health care facilities are more competitive in pricing so that patients will choose their facility for their needs. Devon M. Herrick centers his article, “Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care”, around the financial benefits and global economic effects of this spread of international health care. He argues that as more insured American patients continue to go abroad for medical procedures, medical tourism will result in competition that is needed in the American health care industry and, in turn, change the health care system itself (Herrick, 3). The obsession with cost, along with many other factors, has shifted the purpose and main concern of health care from being centered around treatment and the patient’s beneficence, to healthcare being viewed as a business and consumer market. Lamk Al-Lamki, contrary to Herrick, discusses the risk factors in his article, “Medical Tourism”, in
Cited: Al-Lamki, Lamk. "Medical Tourism: Beneficence or Maleficence." Editorial. SQU Med J Nov. 2011: 444-47. NCBI.gov. EPub, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206745/pdf/squmj-11-444.pdf Herrick, Devon M. Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care. Rep. no. 304. National Center for Policy Analysis, Nov. 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. . "Medical Tourism." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.