Should Medicare Pay for Medical Tourism?
“The real deal-killer to retiring in Mexico is that your Medicare doesn’t cover you down there,” Wagner said. “If Medicare would cover, it would save the government money and people would live a lot better.”
Alfredo Corchado from The Dallas Morning News.
My only worry is excess fraud. However, if we can use an expected value formula to show that the cost of increased fraud is offset by the savings, then I say go for it.
Covering medical tourism could lower GDP.
That’s a strange assumption John. Medical tourism could lower domestic prices, increasing demand, and possibly even raise GDP.
I also worry about excess fraud, but I cannot make much of an assumption unless I fully understand the economic factors influencing such a policy, which I don’t fully understand. However, it seems to be an idea worth considering.
Medical tourism would leave American hospitals with fewer patients.
Since most hospital costs are fixed, the hospitals would charge more to the patients who remained.
If the government then turned around and limited hospital prices, then the result would be substantial unemployment in the one sector that has been creating jobs for the last 20 years.
In other sectors of our economy like clothing, prices have fallen due to foreign competition. But a lot of Americans lost their jobs in the process. Health care has been a kind of haven for American workers, with its non-offshorable jobs.
This may change!
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