Obama on discouraging medical tourism

Matthew Yglesias flags a Hindustan Times item, noting President Obama’s response to a townhall question on why U.S. insurance won’t cover treatments received in foreign countries: "My preference would be that you don’t have to travel to Mexico or India for cheap healthcare.. I’d like you to be able to get it right here in ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Matthew Yglesias flags a Hindustan Times item, noting President Obama's response to a townhall question on why U.S. insurance won't cover treatments received in foreign countries:

Matthew Yglesias flags a Hindustan Times item, noting President Obama’s response to a townhall question on why U.S. insurance won’t cover treatments received in foreign countries:

"My preference would be that you don’t have to travel to Mexico or India for cheap healthcare.. I’d like you to be able to get it right here in the United States of America that’s high quality."

It’s hard to imagine the president giving any other response to this question, but Yglesias is right to suggest that realitically, the U.S. out to be "looking at the practical problems here and trying to find ways to resolve them by developing cross-border standards," rather than condemining people for seeking out affordable alternatives to the American healthcare system. (I don’t think its the preference of most patients to travel to Mexico or India for cheap healthcare either.)

Developing some kind of accreditation system for medical tourism seems like a reasonable step — there have already been some private sector initiatives to introduce more transparency to the industry.

It become trickier for procedures like stem-cell treatments — a growth sector for the medical tourism industry — which are not permitted in the United States. A problem that brings together controversies healthcare costs, off-shoring, medical safety, and abortion rights should certainly provide ample opportunity for political grandstanding. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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