De Vera, Sherah Danielle D. 1. A decade ago the idea that medical procedures might move offshore was unthinkable.

Today it is a reality. What trends have facilitated this process? Is the globalization of health care good or bad for the world economy? The globalization of health care have greatly evolved during the past decade before the traditional way of seeking medical help was less developed nations often journeyed to major medical centers in more highly developed countries. This means such kind of practice is often limited to wealthy individuals but this kind of practice is now changing due to the various reasons. First, individuals lacking health insurance that werent covered in their plan have crossed borders for care that are simply more affordable. Usually, the services sought have limited medical complexity such as cosmetic surgery and dental care. Second, other people have travelled for reasons of privacy, or to circumvent delays associated with long waiting list, to obtain services that are restricted due to the legality of such procedure. There is also worldwide shortage of organ donors which created global commercial opportunities in the international organ trade. Reproductive outsourcings have also emerged due to legal and policy limitation of some countries. Third, the strongest driving force that facilitated the globalization of health care is the cost. On first world countries such as the United States of America, the expenses are far greater than of those provided on less developed countries. This alone has persuaded a large amount of patients to find treatment elsewhere. In fact it gave birth to a new trend which is medical tourism, wherein patients would visit a foreign land to receive complex, sophisticated and often serious medical or surgical care. Following the treatment the tourist can experience personal medical attention in a luxurious setting with first class accommodation and subsequently has the chance to enjoy vacation for a short while before returning home. These days the traditional model has been reversed and instead first world countries would rather seek medical care on less developed countries in order to lessen cost. This method allowed better service and health to a broader audience. The globalization of health care has its fair share of positive and negative impact to the world economy first it can also benefit trade in developing countries by being able to adopt standards, processes, and language of developed countries can benefit from liberalization of the movement of goods and services. By undertaking some or all components of production or service provision for clients/consumers in the developed country, some economic benefits may occur to the developing country where the outsourced service is provided. Globalization under liberalized markets has generally benefited the industrialized or strong economies and marginalized the weak economies. For example, the difference in annual average GNP per head between high-income countries and low-income countries is 12 times, and between 1960 and 1990 contribution of the poorest countries to world trade reduced from 4 per cent to 1 per cent.

2. Is the globalization of health care good or bad for patients? Who might benefit from the globalization of health care? Who might lose? The changes in globalization of health care have generally procured a good impact on the patients under the basis that given the cost of medical care in the United States some uninsured individual conclude that they cant afford medical care and outsourcing health care to countries where surgical procedure and other treatment are available at a substantially lower prices than in the US allows more people to have access to health care without drastic impact on their finances. Aside from that in order to prove the quality on countries such as India, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines medical institutions on these countries use high markers of quality to signal high standards of care. They train their physicians on United States, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom in order to gain high competence. Also, hospital and universities partners with elite universities in the establishment of medical schools. This means countries all over the world are adopting universal standards to cater for these patients. The development of international standards could potentially result in a significant increase in the movement of patients and health professionals across national boundaries. This will arise as external procedures accepted worldwide for the recognition of quality (in health care or in education) promise an equivalence of service. 3. How might a universal health insurance program change the current trends in health care industry? In your opinion, are programs like that affected by Aetna to have surgery conducted in another country truly viable?
If this scenario comes to be, insurance companies will offer cheaper premiums (as will countries which are less and less able to finance the health care of their populations at least for elective and costly procedures), for care provided by countries that are accredited and competitive. The new insurance policy conducted by Aetna is viable because given the circumstances and the benefits of spending less on medical care without sacrificing the quality provides better option for individuals. Aside from that Singapore have proven their competence in the medical field and the countrys growth and overall status assures quality for Aetnas customers.

SOURCES:
http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/17/4/277.long http://www.ahc.umn.edu/bioethics/prod/groups/ahc/@pub/@ahc/@bioethics/documents/asset/ahc_asset_177834.pdf http://www.facs.org/fellows_info/bulletin/2009/unti0409.pdf