ABSTRACT

People travelling across and within national borders to procure a range of healthcare services is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon. Driven by a range of forces, and provoking the rapid development of specialised health services in destination countries and regions, medical tourism involves a wide range of countries and regions globally. Defined variously, medical tourism involves the intentional pursuit of non-emergency medical treatment outside one’s home country (Crooks et al. 2010), can involve travel within one’s own country to another health care jurisdiction (domestic medical tourism), and represents an individual solution to a health system problem that has historically been addressed by the citizen’s governmental body (Pocock and Phua 2011). Importantly, unlike state-funded cross border treatment, the medical tourist initiates and covers all treatment expenses.