US President Barack Obama has expressed an interest in curbing the amount of Americans looking to go abroad and receive medical treatment.

Speaking last week at the All-Russian Forum of Medical Workers, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed the country's continued health care problems and outlined the substantial investments required in the health system to improve outcomes. The crisis in Russia's healthcare system has been a persistent problem for many years. Despite an elaborate hospital network and an ample staff of trained…

On April 3rd, 2011, Qatar unveiled their ambitious National Health Strategy 2011-16 (NHS). The six year plan is designed to transform Qatar’s existing medical infrastructure into a comprehensive and integrated world-class healthcare system, accessible to all, that will generate the positive health outcomes set about in the development plan named Qatar National Vision 2030. The strategy was the result…

Patients seeking private medical treatment in India will no longer be faced with an upcoming 5 percent service charge. India's federal government last week announced the rollback of the planned tax on health-care services after encountering substantial pressure from opposition political parties, the healthcare industry as well as the general public. Giving his general budget speech before Parliament,…

Industry analysts are expecting the increase in merger and acquisition activity in Thailand's healthcare sector to continue. Thai healthcare providers are determined to integrate more with one another to give them a national competitive advantage over the large foreign multinationals now entering the market. Under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) agreements, by 2015 many industries will be increasingly…

In Saudi Arabia authorities are warning hosptials in Jeddah of a dengue fever outbreak, following floods which have provided a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. According to the Ministry of Health Saudia Arabia, since the January 26th floods in Jeddah, six cases of dengue fever and 4 cases of malaria…

  The Health Funds Association of New Zealand (HFANZ) has reported a significant decline in the numbers of individuals covered by private health insurance within the country. Approximately 10,000 policyholders have discontinued their health insurance policies during 2010. Given a number of financial pressures resulting…

India's General Insurers Public Sector Association (GIPSA), have shortlisted 9 companies to create a captive joint-venture third party administrator (TPA) to manage their cashless claims services. GIPSA's group of four public sector general insurance companies -- New India Assurance;…

Venezuela's private health system is currently undergoing an audit after allegations surfaced that insurance companies, and private health service providers, are putting their profit before the health of its members. The audit will be carried out by Venezuela's Public Defender´s Office, Institute for the Defense of People's Access to Goods and Services…

The US Health Reform law mandates that by 2014, US citizens must have health insurance coverage or otherwise pay a hefty US$695 annual fine. It is estimated that the Health Reform will reduce the number of the uninsured from 19% of US citizens in 2010 to 8% by 2016. The Health Reform law imposes new regulations and fees on insurers, and although it expands coverage to the millions of uninsured Americans,…