Twenty years ago, an American with a bad knee probably wouldn’t think of jetting off to India for the surgery.
Twenty years ago, an American with a bad knee probably wouldn’t think of jetting off to India for the surgery. But now health insurance costs have shot up, making visiting India an option worth considering.
US’ largest health insurance company WellPoint is running a pilot programme that offers “medical tourism” as part of its benefits package. It has partnered with Serigraph, specialty graphics firm, to provide medical services for the latter’s staff.
While Serigraph will pay the health insurance claims (and travel costs) for its employees to fly to India for non-emergency medical procedures, a WellPoint case manager will take care of the details. “We handle all the travel, medical and post-operative care arrangements a member needs,” said Jill Becher, a spokesperson for WellPoint.
“Our client, Serigraph in Wisconsin has 700 employees in the US. Right now, this pilot programme is only available to their employees and we have Apollo Hospital in New Delhi and Bangalore that are part of the programme,” Becher said.
“Once the pilot is up and running, we can look at the findings like quality outcomes,
member satisfaction and cost savings. After we work the wrinkles out, we will look at possibly expanding (the service) to other clients across the US,” she added.
Becher cited a statistic that makes India an unbeatable option. “The price for a knee replacement surgery in the US would be about $60,000 (Rs 30 lakh) to $70,000 (Rs 35 lakh),” she said. “The same procedure will cost between $8,000 (Rs 4 lakh) and $9,000 (Rs 4.5 lakh) in India.”
Despite the savings, why are US companies and insurers reluctant to send policyholders overseas? Lawyers warn about lawsuits from botched surgeries. “They have to ensure the medical service providers overseas have the credentials to provide adequate care,” said medical malpractice lawyer Scott Lynch.
WellPoint said the Joint Commission International accredits the Indian hospitals the insurer is working with. “Some of the factors impacting sending members overseas for medical care are distance, complexity, unfamiliarity with the foreign country and its medical system,” said Becher. “The cost benefit is not the same for all types of procedures,” she added.
Meanwhile, the US medical insurance industry is focused on the results of WellPoint’s pilot programme as it is likely to play a role in the future of medical tourism for other insurers.
Another major insurer, Aetna Inc, started a pilot programme for medical tourism this year. Other companies such as Cigna Corp and United Health Group Inc are also looking into medical tourism’s possibilities and could take a leaf out of WellPoint’s playbook.
US experts say 700,000 Americans travelled overseas for medical tourism mostly at their own expense.
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