My wife sent me this article:

Anthem, Serigraph unveil 'medical tourism' health plan
By Guy Boulton < mailto:gboulton@journalsentinel.com > of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Nov. 12, 2008

Serigraph Inc., a specialty printer in West Bend, soon will be offering its employees expense-paid vacations for two to a foreign country.

The only catch is one of them has to have surgery while there.

The company has agreed to participate in a pilot project with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin that will allow employees to have certain elective medical procedures, such as joint replacements or back surgery, done in designated hospitals in India.

Serigraph estimates that those procedures can be done for 40% to 50% less, including travel costs, than in the United States.

The incentive for employees is the company will cover the full cost of the medical care, travel and lodging, said Linda Buntrock, senior vice president of Serigraph. Employees will not have to pay any deductibles, potentially saving them thousands of dollars.

The project, which will start in January, will let Anthem Blue Cross gauge the interest in what is now called medical tourism.

"We don't know how many people will elect to do this," said Michael Jaeger, managing medical director of Anthem Blue Cross in Wisconsin. But he added, "We truly have employers who say they want to take advantage of the savings."

An estimated 750,000 Americans now travel to foreign countries for medical care, according to a report released this year by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. That figure includes people who return to their native country for care.

Although countries such as India, Thailand and Singapore are often cited as destinations, they account for only a small part of the market. The largest destination is Latin America.

Most people travel for elective procedures, such as dental work, arthroscopic knee surgery and plastic surgery, that can be done in outpatient settings, said Paul Keckley, the center's executive director.

Medical tourism has generated a fair amount of interest of late. Companies have begun offering complete packages that include travel arrangements.

But Keckley said, "I don't think anybody knows where it is going to take us."

Serigraph is contracting with Anthem Blue Cross and its parent, WellPoint Inc., for a set price that includes the medical care as well as travel and lodging.

The surgeries will be done in hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission International. A team from WellPoint also has evaluated hospitals.

"We wouldn't do it if we weren't comfortable with it," said Jaeger of Anthem Blue Cross.

Serigraph, which employs 1,200 people in the United States, Mexico and Asia, has been at the forefront among Wisconsin employers in working to rein in health care costs. John Torinus Jr., the company's chairman, is a columnist for the Journal Sentinel.

The company - like most large employers - pays most of the medical bills of its employees and their families as opposed to buying insurance. For this reason, the company could save money by persuading employees to get less-costly care in a foreign country.

Just how many employees will opt to travel to India for health care is unknown.

"It's going to be interesting," said Buntrock of Serigraph.

Among the unknowns is whether people who have recently had surgery
will want to spend 13 hours or more on a plane - Buntrock said she doesn't like to spend that much time on a plane even when she is healthy.

"This is uncharted territory certainly," she said.

Funny - last time I went to the ER I thought I was in India already.

Matthew

May I be to helping you please.

If you are having non-elective surgery say or press 1.

Breast augmentation using 100% yak muscle press 2.

Pig eye implant press 3.

Excess skin donor program press 4.

Bat wing ear drum replacement press 5.

All others press 6 or wait for our next available elective surgery technician.

Hmmm...

Let's see what we've got here:

Widgedohickeys cost too much to make here, cause Mr Widge CEO has to pay labor and benefits.

South Viet BFEkistan name your 3rd world has cheap/low cost labor, but there's a catch. Mr Widge has to pay export tax to ship raw materials there, and import tax to bring em back.

Unless he can get NAFTA passed. And GATT, and CAFTA, and FTAA, and WTA. Then, NO TAXES for Mr Widge. And cheap labor.

Of course, lower cost does not get passed to us. What happens is increased profit, and an increase in the DOW from 5k to 14k in less than 15 years. Not so bad, if you're IN

And conversely, Mr Widgesakimoto does the same thing, setting up Saki Motor Co production over here.

Now Mr. Cigna is wonderin' how he can pull the same Houdini act with healthcare.

What took them so long???

I saw a bit on 60 Minutes some time ago, talking about the high quality of treatment in India - spa-like, they claimed. I think it is not so much that the labor is so much cheaper, but that they don't have such a heavy layer of malpractice/legal costs to contend with.

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You are 100% right. If there's one thing that's sorely needed in this country it's tort reform.

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Did someone say tart reform?!




Seriously, most Americans are either too stupid, or uninformed due to lack of interest to even know what tort reform is about.

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I had a torte once. It was delicious. I don't know why anyone would want to reform it, I liked the shape it was in.



Matthew

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield are the used car dealers of the health insurance industry. They rip people off right and left.

Fantastic. Now I can go on vacation to get my shoulder surgery, and come back with gonorrea.


Maybe instead of outsourcing patients, they should explore why healthcare is soo much cheaper in India than here. None of the answers are good.

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It's because 3rd parties are payin' the bill. Just like college - no one pays out of pocket anymore, it's through loans (3rd party money).

Basic economic principles go out the window when 3rd party money is involved.

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Care to elaborate?

Another trend:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/10635 ... les-are-becoming-punitive

I know in my company's case, we will now have a deductible where there was none before, but it isn't outlandish. The high deductible options supposedly will make consumers more price-conscious about services.

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I don't want to reform her, I want to further corrupt her!

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Didn't want to because it pisses me off, but here goes.

Lost my corporate job in engineering sales because og a hearing disability, can barely use a phone.
Cobra was reasonable but of course ran out.
Went online, got the quotes, went with Anthem, $280/month.
After a month, emailed Anthem, where's my card, am I insured? No answer. Did it again the next month, no answer.
In the third month I do get the card and the packet with the cover stating that previous conditions and prescriptions won't be covered for 12 months.
A week later, I get a bill for $1,000, yea, well you've been insured since you applied, we just didn't tell you.
A month later - We're raising your premimum $100/month.
3 months later, We're raising your premimum $100/ month because you're a year older. This was a form letter that had 2 reasons for the raise, you could pick one or the other.
At 12 months, I went to get a prescription for a previous condition. The pharmacy says "you're not covered". Called Anthem, Oh yea, you have a lifetime exclusion for previous. Why didn't you tell me? Oh, it's in your contract. What contract, you mean the one on the front of my coverage booklet that doesn't state anything like this? No, your contract, if you don't have a copy we'll send you one. Never comes.

I was talking to my doctor about this and he said "I can't tell you how many people have told me the same thing about Anthem.

Sucks