Is health care sector recession proof In the recent times of recession when almost all the industries are effected , the question arises if the health industry is still stable, shielded amidst all the economic crisis or is it proving the belief that health care industry is recession proof. It is inevitable that people fall sick and need medical aid for various reasons. Poor eating habits have lead to various health related issues. It was earlier believed that the health care center was not much vulnerable to the economic crisis that we are facing today but however the truth remains that the health care sector is not spared form the severe economic blow. As the health sector is also a part of the economy, so has it become a part of the vicious economic downtrend. On the other hand people don't want to go for expensive treatments due to budget crunch. Without medical insurance many people will not be able to pay for the medical expenditures further resulting in the doctors and the hospitals to face the bad debts. A number of factors in the health care sector are getting effected due to the mismatch happening between the allocation of resources and the assets in the respective industry. The health care industry comprises of the health care technology, medical devices and equipment, health care services company, bio tech firms along with the insurance companies which bridges the gap between the health industry and the financial industry. Health care industry definitely forms the vital part of the economy. In the US the health care industry is also seeing a slow growth in this year as it is being subjected to the market slowdown. The growth level has gone down to 4% compared to the 14% in the previous year in the US. The heath care sector is also witnessing lay offs, salary freezes and reduction in allowances. The key concerns like access to care, quality to care, cost of care, technology adoption, burden on providers, shortage of providers etc needs to be addressed but might take a back seat due to the monetary crisis. However, in India the health sector is said to be growing at 12% rate per annum in India amidst recession according to Udo Schürtzmann, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf India Pvt. Ltd. . The existing potential of the health care industry appears to be steadily growing with India becoming the epicenter of the health tourism. It is also interesting to know that medical tourism is being proposed in order to cut the health care treatment cost which mean the patients will be traveling to another country to avail the services at a much cheaper cost. cAmong the destinations India is also in the list
along with Brazil, Costa Rica, Gulf States, Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa Thailand and Cuba. The air fares and the cost of companion is very much cheaper in India helping the oversees patients to save thousands of dollars. Another interesting factor is the post treatment packages that is provided to visit the attractive places in the respective country. Despite the global downtrend the MT(Medical Transcription) industry forges ahead through the recessionary trying times and cannot be denied as the fastest growing fields in the health care sector. This acts as a beneficiary factor as India is an ideal destination for the Medical Transcription processes as it has the educated, trained and English speaking lot. However, experts say that the health sector could actually lead the economy out of recession. The people would like to forgo a lot but the health care sector still is considered a necessity. The economic slow down has had an impact but a marginal one in India and some of the giants in the health industry are on the process of spinning off the expansion process. Health industry has improved in the past few months and so is considered safe and is growing. Hope can be restored that once the dust recessionary period is settled, this industry can witness major investments.