15-Feb-17 Medical insurers are seeing a surge in demand for private insurance that offers cross-border health cover. This market is growing by 15-25% per year, and could be worth as much as USD144 bn globally. The challenge for the insurance industry is identifying who might need a policy that covers international travel for medical treatment, and why. [image: AXA PPP International]

13-Feb-17 President Donald Trump plans to fight birth tourism in the US. Most of these tourists come from China, Russia and Nigeria. In 2014, 60,000 Chinese women arrived in the US to give birth. The popularity of such “tours” increased after the release of the movie Finding Mr Right. The movie's heroine travels to Seattle to give birth. [image: Tourism-Review]

08-Feb-17 Smith & Nephew reported a 7 percent drop in profit, as tough conditions in China and Saudi Arabia kept growth in check. The company has focused on emerging markets in recent years to boost sluggish demand in the US and Europe, where it competes with Zimmer and Stryker. The company delivered growth, but not at the level it had wanted. [image: Smith & Nephew]

08-Feb-17 In 2016, nearly 300,000 foreign patients are estimated to have traveled to the US to seek medical treatments, according to Josef Woodman of Patients Beyond Borders. To entice medical travelers, top medical centers have been spending millions of dollars cultivating their facilities to attract international patients, Woodman noted. More recently, they are seeing a growing influx of patients from China. [image: PYMNTS.com]

01-Feb-17 Malaysia is a popular destination for tourists from the Middle East, with nearly 200,000 arriving in 2016. The country is a key destination for medical tourism. In neighboring Thailand, tourism officials said the US ban could lift visitor numbers. "The Middle East is a big market for us, especially in the medical tourism sector," said Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. [image: Reuters]