Medical tourism’s impact on destination countries

Medical tourism’s impact on destination countries
Medical tourism’s impact on destination countries

Medical tourism’s impact on destination countries

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What happens if you need surgery, but can’t afford the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to have it done locally? You might consider flying to a different country to have the procedure done for a fraction of the price. “Medical tourism—patients traveling from their home countries to another destination for medical care—is completely transforming the health care industry as we know it,” writes I. Glenn Cohen, Harvard law professor and co-director of Harvard’s Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics. Cohen joins Worldview to talk about the growing popularity of medical tourism and how it’s impacting health care systems in popular destination countries. His most recent book is The Globalization of Health Care: Legal and Ethical Issues. (Photo: AP Images).