Health Care

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFOUYlLpslo

Based on the video, research and write a paper, minimum 2 pages, about Medical Tourism from the United States to Latin countries.

Follow the instructions, do not research Americans going to Asia for example, or Europe. This should be only for Americans traveling to Latin countries for medical purposes.

Use only our Library’s LIRN Database, (Proquest & Statista) to find articles and statistics.

Write using APA 7 Format and list your references on a separate page.

ANSWER

Medical Tourism from the US to Latin America

Medical tourism, also known as health tourism, is a term that was created by travel agencies. Medical tourism refers to traveling to a foreign country to obtain medical services with the added bonus of touring and sightseeing. Medical tourism does not include people who get injured and require medical services while in a foreign country. It involves people who travel to get the services. Latin America is one of the regions with the highest tourist attractions. Destinations such as Mexico, Cuba, or the Dominican Republic attract tourists every year (Sandberg, 2017). Over the decade, medical treatment has become one of the main reasons tourists travel to Latin America. People are choosing to visit the region over the past decade for medical services due to the affordable prices and quality healthcare services.

The leading destination for medical tourism in Latin America is Costa Rica, while Mexico had the highest number of medical tourists in 2020.  In 2019 Colombia had the highest number of medical tourists. The exopansi0n of the medical tourism business is mainly due to the high cost of medical services in America. Patients from the United States usually seek the same medical services they would have sought at home with a quarter the price. Other patients do not have insurance that covers the procedures they need to undergo and therefore prefer to seek the services outside the country as they are cheaper. Between 2007 and 2017, the number of Americans traveling abroad to seek medical services rose from 750.000 to over 1.4 million (Holzer & Mastroleo, 2019).

The high cost of medical services has pushed people to seek medical care from abroad, and Americans have turned to countries near them, such as Mexico. Mexico has an intensive concentration of dentists who are becoming beneficial to the dental crisis in the US. People are also attracted to the idea of getting affordable health services while still vacationing. Costa Rica is also well known for the dental services they provide. Costa Rica is among the top ten health destinations in the world. Costa Rica, however, suffers from brain drain as most of its qualified medical professionals are learning more in the private sector and therefore neglecting services in the public sector (Holzer & Mastroleo, 2019). However, the Costa Rican government supports the practice for economic reasons, and travel agencies have been formed to facilitate Americans who travel to the country for medical services. The Americans who travel to the country for medical services benefit from the warm tropical climate and get the medical services they need at a lower price than they could have gotten home.

Another reason for the growing medical tourism growth is the provisi0on of quality medical services in the region. Brazil is famously known for the highly skilled professionals in cosmetic surgery. The country has a reputation internationally for its prowess in cosmetic plastic surgery. The public health system in Costa Rica has also incorporated a plastic cosmetic surgery program in their residency (Sandberg, 2017).  The residency program attracts surgeons from overseas, which creates a clinical environment for experiments and innovative techniques in plastic surgery. The services provided in Latin America are way cheaper than the services offered in the US, and therefore Americans have chosen to travel abroad for the services. The CDC, however, warns against medical tourism as they state receiving medical services abroad can be risky due to factors such as language and a communication barrier. Despite the warnings from CDC, Americans continue to seek cheaper medical services outside their country.

References

Holzer, F., & Mastroleo, I. (2019). Innovative practice in Latin America: medical tourism and the crowding out of research. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(6), 42-44.

Sandberg, D. S. (2017). Medical tourism: An emerging global healthcare industry. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 10(4), 281-288.