U.S. tourism. Travelling to countries with cheaper care.
In the U.S. those who do not have health insurance, pack their bags and leave for treatment abroad.
It’s called medical tourism and it’s the phenomenon where 45 million Americans, who can’t use the health service and can’t afford health insurance coverage, go abroad for treatment in order to spend at least 70% less than U.S. hospital care prices. This was discussed at the “How the Covid-19 Pandemic Changed Our View of Care” conference a few days ago in the Senate.
A heart valve replacement surgery, which would cost about $200,000 in the U.S., costs about $30,000 in India, South Korea or other countries, with a savings of about 85% of U.S. costs, even including round-trip flight and hotel. The same surgery in Italy costs 90% less than in America, 20 thousand euros instead of 200 thousand dollars.
The article published on Today.it reviews the various models of healthcare organization: pluralistic, mutualistic and universalistic, taking into consideration the pros and cons of each.
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