The Rise of Medical Tourism

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Market Movers

by Felix Salmon

Main

Incentives for Inflation A Brief History of Home Equity Loans

Aug 15 2008 7:17AM EDT

Dean Baker has long complained that when American journalists and policymakers talk about "free trade" they don't think to include trade in things like medical care -- the price of which could be brought down substantially if foreign-trained doctors were free to practice their vocation in the US.

But as a wonderful and detailed article in the Economist explains, maybe they won't need to. Medical tourism -- when Americans travel to hospitals abroad for their care, saving thousands of dollars even on copays, let alone rack-rate prices -- is set to rise sharply in coming years, and that in turn is likely to bring downward pressure on medical costs domestically. It's no alternative to health-care reform in the US, of course. But it is a useful prod in the right direction.

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