Case One: Global Medical Tourism
Question one
Outsourcing specific, well-defined tasks to foreign providers founded in countries like India is beneficial to American medical providers. It unburdens them of their very tedious administrative and management responsibilities. With this, more time is spent on other patients. This results in better staff productivity, more worker satisfaction, decreased training costs, and, eventually, fewer turnovers. Generally, in India, the medical procedures cost around 10-20% less than that used in the United States.
Question 2
Outsourcing done by American health care providers is a good thing from a firm economic point of view. Outsourcing health care providers should consequently result in a further efficient industry. The healthcare prices in America should be reduced as countries such as India provide services as a substitute for America’s higher-priced services, which means that more income would be spent in the different parts of the economy.
Question 3
The practical limitation of outsourcing health care provision to other countries would be the cost of overseas travel and the amount required for surgeries. This means that an individual would be required to pay out of pocket, as several American insurance companies will not cover costs for services in far-off countries.
Question 4
As seen in this case, Howard Staab and Robert Beeney are Patients who benefit from the growth of medical tourism. Also, American health care providers are seen to benefiting by reducing time, tasks, and costs. Moreover, the Chinese middle class depends on medical tourism to improve on the quality of the accessed healthcare. Furthermore, countries like India and the United States benefit from an individual’s willingness to pay for his medical care abroad. Individuals unable to afford the cost of specific performed procedures, even at a lowered price, will not benefit from the trend. Hospitals may also lose some patients following this trend.