Download PDF - Medical Tourism Magazine

In recent years medical tourism has become
somewhat of a buzzword in the USA – it might
even be worth calling it a bubble, given both its
links and likeness to the dot-com investment
bubble. Although one could view this evolving
industry as a manifestation of globalization and
more liberal trade common in all sectors of the
economy, some have attempted to classify this
as a unique phenomenon – often considering it
a “disruptive” technology that could
revolutionize health care, both here and abroad.
Others paint a more sinister picture, claiming
that healthcare tourists are “refugees” escaping
the high prices of the U.S., displaced from the
comfort and quality of American health care
systems in order to afford care (with the natural
extension that they are sacrificing both comfort
and quality by doing so).
In reality, the U.S. plays a minor role in the
international market for healthcare tourism.
The American market is dominated by the
Asian market, and both Asia and the Americas
are minuscule compared to the size of the
European market. This disparity is in part
46 DECEMBER 2007
MEDICAL TOURISM
Psychological
barriers to
understanding
the market for
Medical Tourism By JOHN F.P. BRIDGES, Ph.D.
This disparity is in part due
to the misconceived
definition of “health tourist,”
which focuses on national
borders rather than
state borders.
due to the misconceived definition of “health
tourist,” which focuses on national borders
rather than state borders. If we focused on the
E.U. and just looked at its collective exterior
border, much of the internal trade amongst its
member countries would be omitted. Similarly,
if the focus in the U.S. were to shift to patients
crossing state borders for healthcare, the
numbers would be much higher. In fact,
Americans cross state borders for healthcare
every day in search of better quality of care,
better physicians, greater convenience of
scheduling and even better pricing. What is
surprising about the American market is that
most of the current discussions focus on
exporting patients to other nations, rather than
the traditional market of attracting wealthy
foreigners to our elite hospitals systems. It is
clear, however, that the debate on health
tourism is being manipulated for political
means (e.g. healthcare reform in the USA is
hard to sell if you focus on the positive
elements) and such manipulation is being made
possible by a lack of data on health care