DENVER, CO. (NEWS 1130) – With his official inauguration just days away, getting rid of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare as it’s widely known remains one of US president-elect Donald Trump’s major promises. And if that happens, millions of Americans could be left without health coverage, leading to a possible increase in medical tourism here in Canada.
“It’s possible,” says Dr. Maria Todd, CEO of the Denver-based Mercury Health Advisory Group. “But your [Canadian] government is not all that keyed-up on medical tourism per se.”
She adds there are companies looking to attract business here. “You already have some folks that are launching medical tourism initiatives, but without the government’s support.”
Not having that support, makes it difficult.
Todd says it’s necessary to make the entire industry cohesive, successful and appealing to a world-wide market. “Without the government’s support, [medical tourism companies] can’t speak for the destination, they can only speak for themselves. And that’s when you end up with Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven and Modest Mussorgsky all trying to play at the same time,” she explains.
“Medical tourism is a destination experience activity. And if the government doesn’t get behind it, you end up with a cacophonous message to the market that doesn’t have one brand or one targeted message. And I fear that will happen in Canada,” adds Todd.
She says right now our medical tourism industry is much better at getting Canadians care in other — mostly Latin-American countries — rather than bringing people here.