Medical Tourism City

What does Health Care reform mean for Medical Tourism.

Great news for Medical Tourism everybody, Health Care reform in the United States is so ineffectual and poorly designed that the most basic results will be that Health Care insurance and Health Care costs are expected to rise almost 70% in the first year according to Deloitte. The effect will be to drive more individuals and more multinationals to seek solace in medical tourism options. For the insurance companies that are on the ball (and this is not many) look forward to increasing use of the Global health Insurance model and an ever increasing demand for medical tourism. For those of you in the Medical Tourism business you owe a very large thank you to the ineptitude and stupidity of the American government. Although a tip of the hat to the greed of the insurance companies and tort seekers would be a polite gesture.
The first and most basic change that will be felt is that all people will be required to own health insurance and all insurance companies will be obliged to offer health care to all, pre-existing conditions notwithstanding. Bottom line is a shift will take place whereby healthy people will be funding sicker people and an overall increase in the use of the system will ensue meaning a general overall cost increase and by corollary an increase in insurance premiums.
Bottom line is health care reform will do absolutely nothing to reform the true underlying problems of health care in America. It will not address ludicrous malpractice insurance premiums and a tort system that resembles justice less than the megabucks lottery. It does not address Medicare and insurance fraud, and let’s not forget billing fraud on behalf of the caregivers. So hooray for health care reform, at least from the medical tourism perspective.

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Comment by Scott Frankum on May 5, 2011 at 9:28pm: Rodgers,

You are right that reform will be good for health travel but we disagree on the reasons why. You might want to have a look at a Michael Porter's 2006 book, Redefining Health Care. It explains the research behind U. S. health care reform. Indeed, it is the foundation document of reform: http://www.amazon.com/Redefining-Health-Care-Value-Based-Competitio....

We know that pre-reform healthcare destroyed value because costs increased four times the inflation rate for the last ten years. Doing nothing was a bad plan.

Pre-reform health care is described as a sum: money. The simplest way to understand the whole health care reform strategy is as an equation: Value = medical outcomes divided by money. Personally, I am encouraged that measurement is fundamental because I think it is the change agent. Measurement introduces accountability and transparency (I hope we can agree that these are good) into healthcare.

If it is the 2000 plus pages that are bugging you, the law took 2000 plus pages to deal with existing healthcare complexity.... it did not really create more. You can always work back from the law's page explaining tactics to the strategy of outcomes divided by money.

I urge you to have another look at the Medicare piece because value-seeking-behavior and transparency begin to create savings quickly.

I disagree with your conclusions about fraud and oversight too. Digital records (kicking in this year) power algorithms that enable the same kinds of oversight your credit card company and bank use.

I'm hopeful that the reform law will be the creative destruction that is needed. I think health care reform is a place where the U. S. could actually begin to lead. And, I think it will unleash American value-seeking and entrepreneurial genius in regard to health care.

You can already begin to see the value of reform in that patients can finally compare the prices and quality of hospitals and doctors at: http://www.medicare.gov/default.aspx . Future services will be mind blowingly helpful.

Saying you're against health care is like saying that you're against the strategy of medical outcomes divided by money. And, that is very difficult ground to defend.