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There are pros and cons to healthcare tourism for both individuals, clinicians/service providers and the government. The following highlights a set of pros/cons among 3 groups involved in healthcare tourism industry.
1) Individuals - Pros:
- Less expensive healthcare treatment
- Possibly link leisure travel with a healthcare treatment
- Some times can have the benefit of post-operation recovery in luxurious accommodations.
- Avoid long waiting times for treatment (especially true in national healthcare system countries)
2) Individuals - Cons:
- Safety issues and considerations
- Need to travel abroad to receive healthcare vs. in your own town
- Don't have the comfort of recovery at your home
- Clinicians have different standards of care than patient's home country.
- Patients of higher GDP per capita countries may limited legal recourse in the case of malpractice. (including lowered legal awards / slower trial times)
- In the event of a death, it is very expensive to transport a dead body between countries.
- Medication is available over the counter, instead of by prescription, in some countries. That could tempt patients to "self-medicate" themselves and this could be dangerous.
- Sanitation standards in other countries can be lower than in Europe/US and some parts of Asia. This could result from the surgeon's scrub wear to the surgical techniques used.
1) Clinicians/Other Service Providers (Insurers/Hotels/Transportation Services) - Pros:
- Offer less expensive treatment options for patients in higher GDP per capita countries.
- Possibly gain both leisure travel and healthcare treatment in one trip.
- Some times can have the benefit of post-operation recovery in luxurious accommodations.
- Increases revenue of foriegn country's tourism industry in industries such as airlines, government, hotels, transportation services.
- Insurers may be able to provide healthcare services to patients for less expensive prices abroad, thereby reducing reimbursement payments.
2) Clinicians/Other Service Providers (Insurers/Hotels/Transportation Services) - Cons:
- Clinicians from higher GDP per capita countries lose local patient base.
- Need to learn new languages, cultures, procedure standards, safety/technique standards
- Need to market to an international patient base instead of just the local community.
- Accommodation/transportation services now have higher legal liability and saftey/medical training protocol.
1) Government - Pros:
- Governments of higher GDP per capita countries can provide health services to government employees abroad at a less expensive price.
- Foreign governments benefit by having more visitors to the country and higher immigration tax/visa revenues.
- Increases tax revenue for foreign government's department of tourism because of higher revenues of taxes collected from hotel charges, car services and operating/income taxes of service providers.
2) Government - Cons:
- Increased need for legislation.
- May need to refine practices within Department of Tourism.
- Countries with higher GDP per capita will have lower revenues since patients will be receiving healthcare abroad.
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