Consumer Advocate Urges Caution on Medical Tourism
With current reform proposals failing to address rising health care costs, U.S. insurers and employers might turn to medical tourism with "'incentives' for overseas surgery that border on coercion," argues Judy Dugan, research director and health policy advocate for Consumer Watchdog. However, Dugan notes that there is "[n]o public data on quality" for medical tourism and "little recourse for injured patients." She concludes, "That's why medical tourism should be under a microscope now, before employers and insurance companies decide it's part of their own cost -- and profit -- solution."
- "Medical Tourism: Outsourcing Your Health" (Dugan, Los Angeles Times, 11/3).