As a health care marketing professional, I have done some overseas work in the area of medical tourism, that is helping overseas hospitals market to U.S. and European patients. Until yesterday, I had never seen the concept applied to nursing homes. This is an interesting article in the Chicago Tribune about just that, farming mom and dad to the nursing home in India.
Even for me, a pretty liberal thinking guy, this seems over the top. Or is it? People faced with dire financial situations will resort to what they need to do to get the care they need. Just today another article on how medical tourism in Mexico is picking up, fueled in part by some Texas hospitals building in Mexico and offering cheaper care just across the border.
It's a shame that people have to ship their loved ones overseas to get good, affordable healthcare. The people in the industry should be ashamed of themselves. It's all about the almighty dollar and just how much they can squeeze out of us.
ReplyDeleteShipping relatives abroad for retirement is the logical response to high medical costs, anti-immigrant fervor, and (in Europe and Japan) low birth rates. As I wrote on the Health Business Blog a year ago "Why not pay granny to take a hike?"(see http://www.healthbusinessblog.com/?p=870)
ReplyDeleteMore recently, I've started www.MedTripInfo.com to provide information about medical tourism. Please have a look.
David Williams
CEO, MedTripInfo
Here are a couple of resources to get you started. Yes people have gone overseas - 58,000 to Thailand and 150,000 to India from the U.S.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16300826
and
http://www.medicaltravelauthority.com/
Anthony