Every year, millions of people travel abroad in search of affordable medical care. “Medical tourism” is an estimated $92 billion industry, growing 15 to 25 percent annually, and promises affordable access to dental implants, plastic surgery, infertility treatments, and even rare cancer treatments. It also acts as a vacation to countries like Thailand. Or Mexico. Although this technique has become common throughout the world, it is particularly cost-effective here. The average American pays more than $12,500 in health care costs each year, $4,000 more than citizens of other wealthy countries. Some insurance companies have also adopted this practice, but the savings come with new risks and potential complications. Is medical tourism a boon to the market or a symptom of something rotten?
free market victory
Gaining access to overseas doctors and clinics introduces competition to a stagnant system and dramatically expands the range of choices Americans have, allowing them to make the best choices for their health. became. Patients Beyond Borders, a North Carolina company promoting the practice, says consumers can save up to 80% of what they would spend at home. For many people, these savings are a lifeline.
“Our market has always been what I call the ‘working poor,’ and they’re only getting poorer,” CEO Joseph Woodman told the New York Times in 2021. . The reality is that many of them must travel to receive affordable health care. ” The cost differences are most noticeable for elective procedures not typically covered by insurance, such as plastic surgery, fertility treatments, and dental care.
Institutions and businesses can benefit from even a short trip to a neighboring country. In Utah, a public trust that provides insurance for state employees offers a “pharmacy tourism program” that flies customers to San Diego and crosses the border to Tijuana, Mexico, to buy low-cost prescription drugs. That’s what it is. Or, if you prefer, you can choose to travel to Vancouver, Canada. In 2021, University of Chicago researchers found that even medical tourism to other markets within the United States may be the most cost-effective way to fill the gap left by the disappearance of rural hospitals. He claimed that there was. Probably not glamorous, but practical.
Some patients travel for personal reasons, such as receiving cutting-edge treatment or ensuring privacy for elective surgeries such as cosmetic surgery. “Many people are able to go home from their ‘vacations’ without anyone knowing they had surgery,” says a registered nurse at Very Well Health, a doctor-vetted health website. One of my teachers wrote: Some people travel for treatments that are not approved or permitted in the United States, such as stem cell therapy or other experimental procedures.
Despite the inevitable tough questions when it comes to health care quality, the Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit organization, has certified more than 1,000 health care facilities around the world that meet its standards. The organization has accredited U.S. hospitals since 1951 and is the nation’s largest medical accreditor, so its recognition carries weight.
System failure
Medical tourism is an indictment of our nation’s health care system cloaked in feel-good terminology. “I prefer the term ‘overseas medical travel,'” MSNBC health columnist Dr. Esther Chu writes. The care they want or need. ” Patients may not realize what risks they are taking on, either by choice or at the urging of their insurance company. “Quality and safety standards, licensing, credentialing, and clinical standards for receiving procedures are inconsistent across countries and hospitals.”
These are not academic concerns, but serious life-threatening issues. An analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 93 Americans died from complications from botched cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic alone between 2009 and 2022. The federal agency has also found an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria linked to medical tourism in Mexico, warning that infections are the most common complication of medical tourism.
Medical travelers seeking access to treatments that have not been tested or approved by U.S. regulators are putting themselves at risk through what researchers at Canada’s Simon Fraser University call “circumvention tourism.” You may not be aware of it. They warn of huge potential pitfalls, from dashed hopes to money-grabbing fraud. “Individuals are anxious for a treatment and may be susceptible to making wish-based decisions without fully understanding the likelihood of success,” the researchers wrote.
Perhaps the most common problem is the most obvious one. Patients often face linguistic and cultural challenges as they travel far from home to seek medical care and physicians are unable to participate in long-term follow-up visits. The impediment to communicating these needs is far more prevalent than the risk of being targeted by opportunistic criminals. “That might make sense,” says Henry Ford Health, one of Michigan’s largest health care companies. they come. ”
This article appears in the April 2024 issue. Deseret Magazine. Click here for details on how to subscribe.
