1. there is quite a bit of medical tourism going on already. 2. there are potentially 3 major good effects from more US medical tourism: saving US consumers money, introducing pressure against US health care costs, getting US dollars to people who need them. 3. some people are uncomfortable with the idea of Americans receiving health care in places where the locals don't receive health care.
what if someone would organize a project to promote "responsible medical tourism"? the idea would be to promote medical tourism to either 1) a place or places where the locals do get health care and/or 2) a place or places where the dollars that come in from foreigners for health care are leveraged to cross-subsidize health care for the locals. over time, as relationships were built up, we could increase the confidence of a broader group of Americans in participating. people who were interested could be invited to be engaged in what was going on with the cross-subsidization - e.g. you could visit a clinic for the locals that was subsidized with the dollars that came from treating Americans. over time, as relationships were built up, we could press some US insurers to cover services for Americans at particular foreign facilities. that would set a precedent. -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
