Brilliant Answer Peers 2

Medical Tourism

Medical tourism is a much more common practice today for receiving affordable health care services. As the cost of health care continues to rise in the United States, increased numbers of potential patients are flocking to other countries to receive affordable health care services. While medical tourism might affect the financial posterity of your health care organization, it too might be a reflection of an industry's commitment to fostering increased access to affordable health care services. From your perspective as a current or future health care administration leader, is medical tourism a social good?

For this Discussion, reflect on the media pieces in this week's resources, which highlight medical tourism. Consider the potential benefits and consequences of medical tourism from both a consumer and a health care administration leader's perspective.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post an explanation of how the role of medical tourism might relate to social change. Be specific, and provide examples for both the consumer and the health care administration leader.

Discussion

Continue the Discussion and respond to your colleagues' posts (250 words or more), suggesting one challenge your colleague should consider in addressing medical tourism for his or her health care organization.

Colleague

As a healthcare administrator, I will have to consider the potential physical and mental risks first of medical tourism for consumers. I have looked for enough evidence-based research to help me to decide that this would be a choice that I would recommend. However, I did not find what I was looking for to say that I would without reservation and good judgment recommend a client to fly to India or Costa Rica for major surgery. I understand that the cost is so much less for various surgeries and companies and clients can save tons of money (ABC News (Producer), 2013).

  I understand that this country’s expensive healthcare prices are driving patients and companies to participate in traveling outside of the country for medical procedures. “Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) put the price of a knee replacement in the U.S. at $48,000. Travel to India and the same operation will cost $8500, more than 80% cheaper. A heart bypass that costs $113,000 in the U.S. can be bought for just $3250 in Mexico, while operations in Malaysia are typically 65-80% cheaper” (Lunt, Smith, Exworthy, Green, Horsfall, & Mannion, 2011). So, I see that the cost of healthcare is causing many Americans to file bankruptcy and America pays too much for a healthcare system that is not working. Also, companies who are not at the Fortune 500 status would like to find a way to save money on employee benefits.

Therefore, I would say my thoughts on getting on board with this would be when another country has a life-saving procedure that cannot be performed in this country for various reasonings like a personal moral view of a political party in charge of stopping the legalization of a procedure, drug, or process such as the case was with stem cells years ago. I would give a patient the option to a life saving proven surgery that is only performed internationally. I would also highly work with insurance companies to offer an affordable international private medical insurance plan. This can work if it is a collaborative effort with policymakers, the healthcare industry, the airline industry, and companies.   

                                       References

ABC News (Producer). (2013). US companies look to ‘medical tourism’ to cut costs

            [Video file]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovdU5huFLDY

Lunt, N., Smith, R., Exworthy, M., Green, S., Horsfall, D., & Mannion, R. (2011). Medical

            tourism: Treatments, markets and Health system implications: A scoping review.

            OECD. www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/48723982.pdf