Abstract
BackgroundMedical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care. The medical tourism industry has been portrayed in the media as an “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists. Discourse suggesting the medical tourism industry necessarily enhances access to medical care has been employed by industry stakeholders to promote continued expansion of the industry; however, it remains unknown how this discourse informs industry practices on the ground. Using case study methodology, this research examines the perspectives and experiences of industry stakeholders working and living in a dental tourism industry site in northern Mexico to develop a better understanding of the ways in which common discourses of the industry are taken up or resisted by various industry stakeholders and the possible implications of these practices on health equity.ResultsInterview discussions with a range of industry stakeholders suggest that care provision in this particular location enables international patients to access high quality dental care at more affordable prices than typically available in their home countries. However, interview participants also raised concerns about the quality of care provided to medical tourists and poor access to needed care amongst local populations. These concerns disrupt discourses about the positive health impacts of the industry commonly circulated by industry stakeholders positioned to profit from these unjust industry practices.ConclusionsWe argue in this paper that elite industry stakeholders in our case site took up discourses of medical tourism as enhancing access to care in ways that mask health equity concerns for the industry and justify particular industry activities despite health equity concerns for these practices. This research provides new insight into the ways in which the medical tourism industry raises ethical concern and the structures of power informing unethical practices.
Highlights
Medical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care
The industry has been portrayed in the media as a “safety zone” or “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists ([7], p. 1848;[8])
We draw on this case study to question whether providing more choice to patients is necessarily desirable for building robust health care systems if this choice involves limiting regulations needed to protect patient safety and responsible use of finite health resources. Before we examine this localized example in more detail, we first provide an overview of medical tourism industry development in Mexico and discuss why we chose the dental tourism industry in Los Algodones as our site of inquiry
Summary
Medical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care. The medical tourism industry has been portrayed in the media as an “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists. Media and industry portrayals of medical tourism, including dental tourism, often suggest that this practice enables both patients and providers to choose amongst a variety of industry sites and regulatory environments to arrange their care or work experiences [5, 6]. The industry has been portrayed in the media as a “safety zone” or “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists We refer to the common discourse presented in the media of the medical tourism industry as both enhancing access to medical care and driving economic development for industry sites as a discourse of empowerment
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