Austin American-Statesman Series Examines Issues Related To Medical Tourism

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 29 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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The Austin American-Statesman recently published a series of articles on medical tourism. Headlines and summaries appear below.

• "Issues Can Arise After Surgery Far From Home": The article examined how U.S. residents who travel abroad for medical procedures can face questions about "how to safely travel on a long-haul flight" and liability in the event of complications and how "follow-up care can be difficult" (MacLaggan [1], Austin American-Statesman, 10/24).
  
  
• "Doctors' Views Differ on Hip Procedures": The article examined how, as more U.S. residents travel abroad for hip resurfacing surgery, "doctors are divided in their opinions of the procedure" (MacLaggan [2], Austin American-Statesman, 10/24).
  
  
• "U.S. Insurers Consider Sending Patients Overseas for Cheaper Treatment": The article examined how some U.S. health insurers "are considering paying for patients to go overseas for care, which could spark major growth in the medical travel industry" (MacLaggan [3], Austin American-Statesman, 10/24).
  
  
• "Options Vary Depending on Who You Are": The article examined how many public hospitals in India have "doctors with the same qualifications as those at private ones, but India's wealthy -- and its rapidly growing middle class" -- and foreign patients "often choose corporate facilities" (MacLaggan [4], Austin American-Statesman, 10/24).
  
  
• "Austin Entrepreneur Markets Medical Tourism": The article profiled MedTrava Group, a company based in Austin that "brings American patients who can't afford medical treatment at home to the Indian hospitals that want to take them" (MacLaggan [1], Austin American-Statesman, 10/26).
  
  
• "In Pain and Uninsured, a Texas Truck Driver Goes to India To Get His Hip Fixed": The article profiled an uninsured Texas resident who traveled to India for hip replacement surgery (MacLaggan [2], Austin American-Statesman, 10/26).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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