[PASSED] Patient Travel Freedoms

[Cretox State]

OOC: Expanded on the protections in the proposal.

Patient Travel Freedoms

Category: Health
Area of Effect: Healthcare

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The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole,

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation, and

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual, hereby:

1. Defines a "patient" as a citizen or permanent resident of a member nation seeking medical care within another member nation;
2. Declares that, subject to this and extant World Assembly resolutions, member nations shall not obstructively interfere with the ability of their patients to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign member nation;
3. Clarifies that member nations may implement reasonable restrictions on the ability of their patients to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign member nation to the extent necessary to address circumstances where:
   1. seeking medical care within the territory of said nation would present a severe threat to the safety of the patient, excepting potential complications caused by the medical care being sought;
   2. the patient in question is legally unable to make the decision to seek medical care in the territory of said nation due to incarceration, ongoing legal proceedings, or lacking legal competence; or
   3. there exists a compelling public interest similar in nature to the above, which clearly and demonstrably warrants restricting a patient's ability to seek medical care pursuant to this resolution and definitely outweighs the benefits to the patient in allowing such seeking of medical care;
4. Prohibits member nations from retaliating or taking legal action against a patient for seeking medical care in a foreign member nation, except as necessary to enforce restrictions implemented pursuant to clause 3 of this resolution;
5. Subject to other World Assembly resolutions, mandates that member nations implement clear and effective policies for providing necessary medical care to their incarcerated populations;
6. Declares that patients within the territory of a foreign member nation have the right to:
   1. receive appropriate continuing or follow-up medical care upon returning to their member nation of origin, should providing such care not place an undue burden on the healthcare system of that member nation;
   2. receive, to the extent requested by those patients, accurate information concerning all medications prescribed to them, including their ingredients and known side effects; and
   3. be informed of available resources for resolving disputes arising from the medical care in question, including applicable domestic and foreign legal representatives, and to have potential disputes resolved in as timely a manner as can reasonably be provided, and to be made aware of their outcome;
7. Subject to other World Assembly resolutions and other provisions of this resolution, requires member nations to collect and compile accurate and actionable data concerning their patients' reasons for seeking medical care in a foreign member nation, to such a degree that does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, and to use said data to identify and address weaknesses in their domestic healthcare systems; and
8. Urges member nations to further improve domestic access to medical care.

Patient Travel Freedoms

Category: Health
Area of Effect: Healthcare

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The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole,

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation, and

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual, hereby:

1. Declares that, subject to this and extant World Assembly resolutions, member nations shall not prohibit or obstructively interfere with the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign member nation;
2. Clarifies that member nations may implement reasonable restrictions on the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign member nation to address circumstances where:
   1. seeking medical care within the territory of said nation would present a severe threat to the safety of said citizens or permanent residents, excepting potential direct complications of the medical care being sought;
   2. the citizens or permanent residents in question are legally unable to make the decision to seek medical care in the territory of said nation due to incarceration, ongoing legal proceedings, mental incompetence, or being below the age of majority; or
   3. preventing said citizens or permanent residents from seeking medical care within the territory of said nation serves a compelling public policy interest similar in nature to the above, which clearly and demonstrably warrants restricting the ability of those citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of said nation and definitely outweighs the need to protect the right to seek medical care abroad;
3. Prohibits member nations from taking legal action or retaliating against their citizens or permanent residents for seeking medical care in the territory of a foreign member nation, except as necessary to enforce restrictions implemented pursuant to clause 2 of this resolution;
4. Subject to extant World Assembly resolutions, mandates that member nations implement reasonable and thoroughly developed policies for providing domestic and foreign medical care to their incarcerated populations, for situations in which such care should be required;
5. Declares that the citizens or permanent residents of a member nation, when seeking medical care within the territory of a foreign member nation, have the right to:
   1. receive appropriate continuing or follow-up medical care upon returning to their home nation;
   2. not be discriminated against in terms of quality or cost of care solely due to their status as a foreign citizen or permanent resident;
   3. receive adequate emergency care if necessary;
   4. request and receive, prior to medical care, an accurate and complete estimate of charges for said care;
   5. receive accurate information concerning all prescribed medications, including their names and alternate names as commonly known in said citizens' or permanent residents' nation of residence, their normal actions, and applicable side effects;
   6. receive reasonable accommodation concerning the scheduling of medical care when bound by work and travel constraints; and
   7. be reasonably informed of available resources for resolving disputes arising from the medical care in question, including applicable domestic and foreign legal representatives, and to have potential disputes resolved thoroughly and in a timely manner, and to be sufficiently informed of their outcome;
6. Urges member nations to further improve domestic access to medical care; and
7. Clarifies that "medical care" as used in this resolution also includes medical treatment.

Patient Right to Travel

Category: Civil Rights
Strength: Mild

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The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole,

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation, and

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual, hereby:

1. Declares that, subject to this and extant World Assembly resolutions, member nations shall not prohibit or obstructively interfere with the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign nation;
2. Clarifies that member nations may implement reasonable restrictions on the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign nation to address circumstances where:
   1. seeking medical care within the territory of a foreign nation would present a severe threat to the safety of said citizens or permanent residents, excepting potential direct complications of the medical care being sought; or
   2. the citizens or permanent residents in question are legally unable to make the decision to seek medical care in the territory of a foreign nation due to incarceration, mental incompetence, or being below the age of majority;
3. Prohibits member nations from taking legal action or retaliating against their citizens or permanent residents for seeking medical care in the territory of a foreign nation, except as necessary to enforce restrictions implemented pursuant to clause 2 of this resolution;
4. Subject to extant World Assembly resolutions, mandates that member nations implement reasonable and thoroughly developed policies for providing domestic and foreign medical care to their incarcerated populations, for situations in which such care should be required;
5. Urges member nations to further improve domestic access to medical care; and
6. Clarifies that no part of this resolution applies to military deserters.

Medical Tourist Protection Act

Category: Civil Rights
Strength: Mild

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The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole;

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation;

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual, hereby:

1. Declares that, subject to extant World Assembly resolutions, member nations shall not prohibit or unduly interfere with the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to seek medical care within the territory of a foreign nation, unless:
   1. seeking medical care within the territory of a foreign nation would compromise the safety of said citizens or permanent residents; or
   2. the citizens or permanent residents in question are legally unable to make the decision to seek medical care in the territory of a foreign nation due to incarceration, desertion, mental incompetence, or being below the age of majority;
2. Prohibits member nations from taking legal action or retaliating against their citizens or permanent residents for seeking medical care in the territory of a foreign nation, so long as said citizens or permanent residents are not in violation of policies implemented pursuant to clause 1 of this resolution;
3. Mandates that member nations implement reasonable and thoroughly developed policies for providing foreign medical care to their incarcerated populations, for situations in which such care should be required.

The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole;

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation;

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual;

Concerned by the dangers, restrictions, and financial costs often faced by individuals seeking foreign medical care, hereby:

1. Declares that member nations shall not prohibit or unduly interfere with the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to travel to another member nation's territory for the purposes of seeking medical care, except as otherwise provided by this and prior World Assembly resolutions;
2. Clarifies that member nations may restrict the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to travel to another member nation's territory for the purposes of seeking medical care, so long as that travel would compromise the safety of said citizens or permanent residents by exposing them to:
   1. armed conflict;
   2. man-made or natural disasters; or
   3. other risks to their safety of equal or greater magnitude than the above;
3. Permits member nations to:
   1. place reasonable restrictions on travel for the purposes of seeking medical care within the extent they may already do so, for the purpose of combating the spread of infectious disease;
   2. set their own policies regarding the intake of foreign citizens or permanent residents seeking medical care within their borders;
   3. set their own policies regarding the coverage of costs for medical care provided to foreign citizens or permanent residents within their territory;
4. Prohibits member nations from taking legal action or retaliating against their citizens or permanent residents for seeking medical care within the territory of a foreign nation;
5. Encourages member nations to further fund the development of effective medical infrastructure.

[Araraukar]

OOC: So how is it better that you're recreating the issues from the first of these, while trying to fix some of what you think are issues in the second one?

Also, if you DO keep the original problem (current clause 5), this is definitely Health/Healthcare, but if you instead just try to fix the problems of the second of these without creating or recreating new ones, you could literally strip out everything else but current clause 4, and call it Civil Rights, probably Mild, given how tiny percentage of people it is going to touch in most of the member nations.

Medical Tourist Protection Act

Category: Civil Rights (Possibly Health?)
Strength: Mild (Possibly AoE- Healthcare?)

The World Assembly,

Noting that adequate and affordable medical care is necessary to ensure the health of individuals and society as a whole;

Understanding that the unique medical needs of individuals can and do vary greatly, as does the medical infrastructure available within any given nation;

Recognizing that there are occasions in which seeking medical care in a foreign country is in the best interests of an individual;

Concerned by the dangers, restrictions, and financial costs often faced by individuals seeking foreign medical care, hereby:

1. Declares that member nations shall not prohibit or unduly interfere with the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to travel to another member nation's territory for the purposes of seeking medical care, except as otherwise provided by this and prior World Assembly resolutions;
2. Clarifies that member nations may reasonably restrict the ability of their citizens or permanent residents to travel to another member nation's territory for the purposes of seeking medical care, so long as that travel would reasonably compromise the safety of said citizens or permanent residents by exposing them to:
   1. armed conflict;
   2. man-made or natural disasters; or
   3. other reasonable risks to their safety;
3. Permits member nations to:
   1. place reasonable restrictions on travel for the purposes of seeking medical care within the extent they may already do so, for the purpose of combating the spread of infectious disease;
   2. set their own policies regarding the intake of foreign citizens or permanent residents seeking medical care within their borders;
4. Prohibits member nations from taking legal action or retaliating against their citizens or permanent residents for seeking medical care within the territory of a foreign nation;
5. Obligates member nations to cover the direct medical costs of medical care provided within their territory to foreign citizens or permanent residents seeking medical care within their territory, to the extent that such costs would, given all else equal, be covered for native citizens or the foreign citizens within their home countries, whichever is higher;
6. Encourages member nations to further fund the development of effective medical infrastructure.

[Kenmoria]

“Remove the ‘reasonably’s in clause 2. The first can just be excised, and the second can be replaced by adding ‘of a similar magnitude or greater’, or any more concise wording you can find, to the end.”

[Honeydewistania]

might wanna add provisions for convicted prisoners or similar to return after their medical care is complete

[Picairn]

So Clause 5 means that a nation has to provide free healthcare to foreigners now?

[Graintfjall]

“This seems a much more suitable topic for international law than some of those pursued by your delegation. We’re generally supportive.

“Article 2 (c) would read ‘member nations may reasonably restrict … so long as that travel would reasonably compromise … other reasonable risks’. We are all very reasonable people here, I’m sure, but this is possibly taking it to extremes – and even risking opening a gateway to any unreasonable people who may be lurking in the shadows.

“Can you talk us through the justification for Article 5? Given 3 (b) it doesn’t seem as though nations actually have to allow foreign citizens in to undertake medical care. Yet, if they choose to, they’re suddenly on hook for the costs?”

-- Júlía Maria Jónsdóttir
Economic Advisor to the Græntfjall WA Mission

[Cretox State]

So Clause 5 means that a nation has to provide free healthcare to foreigners now?

"Yeah; that clause was a bit ridiculous. We changed it to mean that member nations must cover the costs of foreigners to the same degree they would be covered for natives, ceteris paribus."

Edit:

“Remove the ‘reasonably’s in clause 2. The first can just be excised, and the second can be replaced by adding ‘of a similar magnitude or greater’, or any more concise wording you can find, to the end.”

"Done."

might wanna add provisions for convicted prisoners or similar to return after their medical care is complete

"Wouldn't prisoners be transported for such purposes under the authority of the state, not of their own judgement?"

Edit 2: I could change clause 5 to read:

Permits member nations to set their own policies regarding the coverage of costs for medical care provided to foreign citizens or permanent residents within their territory;

[Grays Harbor]

... must cover the costs of foreigners to the same degree they would be covered for natives, ceteris paribus."

“Why? This makes no sense. National healthcare is paid for from citizens’ taxes. Why should a non citizen and non taxpayer receive paid services they have not invested in?”

[Cretox State]

... must cover the costs of foreigners to the same degree they would be covered for natives, ceteris paribus."

“Why? This makes no sense. National healthcare is paid for from citizens’ taxes. Why should a non citizen and non taxpayer receive paid services they have not invested in?”

"Changed it."

[Cretox State]

OOC: Taking Araraukar's criticisms into account, I gutted much of the draft.

[Honeydewistania]

"reasonable justification" could be expanded upon.

Also, provisions for people to return after seeking their medical care (like those prisoners, deserters, minors etc as per 414)

[Cretox State]

"reasonable justification" could be expanded upon.

Also, provisions for people to return after seeking their medical care (like those prisoners, deserters, minors etc as per 414)

OOC: How does it look now?

[Flying Eagles]

Where's the provision that stops us from having to pay for the healthcare of our citizens that got injured by being dumb aboard?

[Cretox State]

Where's the provision that stops us from having to pay for the healthcare of our citizens that got injured by being dumb aboard?

"In the absence of such a provision, wouldn't member nations be free to make their own policies on the matter?"

[Morover]

"Would the phrasing of 1b not make it legal for nations to simply outlaw seeking medical care abroad?"

[Kenmoria]

“What is the goal of clause 3? It would be incredibly challenging for a member state to provide, for all incarcerated persons, all the different standards of medical care across all foreign nations.”

[Cretox State]

"Would the phrasing of 1b not make it legal for nations to simply outlaw seeking medical care abroad?"

"Hopefully this phrasing works better."

“What is the goal of clause 3? It would be incredibly challenging for a member state to provide, for all incarcerated persons, all the different standards of medical care across all foreign nations.”

"The intention of clause 3 is to force member nations to give their incarcerations access to foreign medical care when there is no alternative. I do understand that it can be phrased better."

[Morover]

"Would the phrasing of 1b not make it legal for nations to simply outlaw seeking medical care abroad?"

"Hopefully this phrasing works better."

"It does. You may wish to add in a clarification that legal guardians of those who are unable to make decisions for themselves can make that decision for them."

[Araraukar]

"It does. You may wish to add in a clarification that legal guardians of those who are unable to make decisions for themselves can make that decision for them."

"Isn't that a given, though, given the Legal Competence and Patient's Rights Act resolutions?"

[Cretox State]

"It does. You may wish to add in a clarification that legal guardians of those who are unable to make decisions for themselves can make that decision for them."

"Isn't that a given, though, given the Legal Competence and Patient's Rights Act resolutions?"

"Exactly our thinking. In that event, the legal guardians would be seeking medical care on behalf of the minor, etc."

[Kenmoria]

“I would like for clause 3 to have some sort of limitation based on practical reality. It may be that the cure for a particular disease is held only by a nation which is completely isolationist, necessitating an armed intervention to retrieve it.”

[Cretox State]

“I would like for clause 3 to have some sort of limitation based on practical reality. It may be that the cure for a particular disease is held only by a nation which is completely isolationist, necessitating an armed intervention to retrieve it.”

"Such a course of action would be considered unreasonable, would it not?"

[Kenmoria]

“I would like for clause 3 to have some sort of limitation based on practical reality. It may be that the cure for a particular disease is held only by a nation which is completely isolationist, necessitating an armed intervention to retrieve it.”

"Such a course of action would be considered unreasonable, would it not?"

“My first reading was to consider ‘reasonable’ as referring only to how a member state must procure medical aid. However, your interpretation is one that it makes far more sense for a member state to follow, so consider the objection withdrawn.”

[Tinfect]

“I would like for clause 3 to have some sort of limitation based on practical reality. It may be that the cure for a particular disease is held only by a nation which is completely isolationist, necessitating an armed intervention to retrieve it.”

The Imperial Delegation, which of course holds no relevance to any such matters, and surely would not be counted among the number of such Member-States, looms in the background.

[Barfleur]

"Perhaps you should add a clause clarifying that nations can hold medical tourists accountable for any crimes they may commit while seeking care in another country. If a person travels from Bigtopia to Maxtopia to seek medical care, and there commits a crime, the Maxtopian government should be able to prosecute such tourist like they would prosecute any criminal suspect. But other than that I support."