The unconstrained decision-making process of a medical tourist must compare treatment options available at home with those available in various overseas destinations. But exchange students already located overseas face a simpler, binary choice: whether and how to use the host country’s medical facilities during their stay. This study used questionnaire data obtained from over five hundred foreign graduate students in Taiwan to examine the effects of family income, health insurance status, country of origin, and other background information on the frequency and type of treatment sought durng their stay here. In addition, the questionnaire sought information about the unconstrained decisions made by the students themselves before their arrival in Taiwan and by acquaintances and family members in their home countries. The relative influence of the independent variables on the decision to purchase health care was determined by least-squares and binary logistic regression analysis. Finally, we obtained information from health care users about the quality of care they received. Data obtained will help to predict the insurance needs of visiting students, but will also be useful in identifying sources of comparative advantage for individual institutions and for Taiwan generally in the increasingly competitive export market for medical services.
