To cut its insurance costs, a U.S. papermaker plans to let workers seek medical care abroad in 2007

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Garrett's medical care alone may save the company $50,000. And instead of winding up $20,000 in debt to have the operations in the U.S., he may now get up to $10,000 back as a share of the savings.

Carl Garrett, a paper-mill technician in Leicester, N.C., is scheduled this month to travel to New Delhi, where he will undergo two operations. Though American individuals have gone abroad for cheaper operations, Garrett is a pioneer of sorts.

He is a test case for his company, Blue Ridge Paper Products in North Carolina, which is set to provide a health-benefit plan that allows its employees and their dependents to obtain medical care overseas beginning in 2007.

"It's brand new, and nobody's ever heard of going to India or even South Carolina for an operation, so it's all pretty foreign to people here," says Garrett. "It's a frontier."

Garrett's medical care alone may save the company $50,000. And instead of winding up $20,000 in debt to have the operations in the U.S., he may now get up to $10,000 back as a share of the savings. He'll also get to see the Taj Mahal as part of a two-day tour before the surgery.

His two operations could cost $100,000 in the U.S.; they'll run about $20,000 in India.

Risky business

With U.S. health insurance costs soaring, cash-squeezed companies such as Blue Ridge and poor states such as West Virginia are considering affordable plans that may require their employees to travel to India, Thailand or Indonesia.

Critics say that limited malpractice laws in foreign countries make such travel risky as does as the prospect of spending 20 hours on an airplane after invasive surgery. Despite the concerns, "medical tourism" is morphing into "global health care."

"Global health care is coming and American health care, which is pricing itself out of reach, needs to know there are alternatives" in order to improve, says Alain Enthoven, senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy in Stanford, Calif.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insur...e.aspx?GT1=8581

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

Interseting. Very interesting.

So, if you interview with this company and the conversation turns to benefits, how does it go? "Well, Mr. So-n-so, our insurance wil pay up 20k, anything over that, we will fly you or your loved one to India/wherever to have the medical stuff done."

Daniel

:energetic:

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Interseting. Very interesting.

So, if you interview with this company and the conversation turns to benefits, how does it go? "Well, Mr. So-n-so, our insurance wil pay up 20k, anything over that, we will fly you or your loved one to India/wherever to have the medical stuff done."

Daniel

:energetic:

I'd enjoy the trip.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

Interseting. Very interesting.

So, if you interview with this company and the conversation turns to benefits, how does it go? "Well, Mr. So-n-so, our insurance wil pay up 20k, anything over that, we will fly you or your loved one to India/wherever to have the medical stuff done."

Daniel

:energetic:

I'd enjoy the trip.

a co-worker recently had his gallblader removed. cost was way over 20k. I am not sure he would of felt comfortable on that long of a flight.

I'd rather be treated there and then, as my co-worker did, than have to fly to some far of country.

Do not get me wrong, I definitely see the draw. Maybe for "non-emergency" cases. Whatever those may be.

Daniel

:energetic:

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Exactly. There's a time and place for everything. A friend had a ruptured appendix and his bill was over $20K. Luckily he had insurance.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Could this be the start of a general outsourcing of healthcare jobs? If it means that the insurance companies risk losing their profits you can bet that some special interest group will lobby the government to legislate against it.

After all, hasn't the government already stepped in to clamp down on the practice of allowing people to buy prescription drugs more cheaply through the canadian public system, rather than at the up to 10X markup that they would pay in the US.

Perhaps we should wonder why it is that having a procedure done in the US costs so damned much, not least the prescription drugs - which the government has already stepped in on to stop people acquiring the same drugs more cheaply through the canadian system.

Not to mention there are issues with using another country's health service. Britain for instance, has and ongoing shortage of nursing staff, because in addition to the long hours, the government pays them a pittance for their hard work. Many of them discovered that they could make far more money (and get sponsorship) working for the private system in countries like the US. Britain's solution was to do the same with nurses from countries like the Phillipines (for whom 18-23k per year is a fortune), and it has been suggested that the health services of those countries have suffered as a result, as their skilled professionals are recruited by foreign employers.

Cuba for instance, which has its own public health system for the general populace has also offered a sideline in providing high-quality private care for foreign citizens. But the truth is that the care given to someone paying $10,000's or $100,000's is not equal to the care that an average cuban citizen might receive on the cuban NHS.

Exactly. There's a time and place for everything. A friend had a ruptured appendix and his bill was over $20K. Luckily he had insurance.

My 1 hour exploratory neck surgery (to remove a couple of lymph glands for biopsy) cost about that too. Amazing eh?

In those hospitals, if a nurse says "hello" to you, they bill you for it.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Amazing but not surprising. I'm actually planning some dental work in Thailand this year. I have dental insurance but have not been happy with the dentists on Long Island. My wifes friend works for a Dentist in Bangkok and he went to dental school in California.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A good dentist is hard to find

[Heracles 417]

In those hospitals, if a nurse says "hello" to you, they bill you for it.

Who is earning the money though because the doctors, nurses and paramedics are certainly not??

The government should consider building public hospitals. They don't have to necessarily be free but at least they can regulate the cost.. They could probably also purchase equipment for less as they would be buying it in larger numbers than most other places. You would think healthcare should be cheaper in the US in comparison to other countries with less people..

[Dr_LHA 3]

"It's brand new, and nobody's ever heard of going to India or even South Carolina for an operation, so it's all pretty foreign to people here," says Garrett. "It's a frontier."

Not that brand new, I remember hearing an article on it on Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondant" about a year ago. Apparently there are beautiful large hospitals in India, where only foriegners and the rich can afford to go, where people in the UK were going to avoid NHS long waiting lists. The reason is different (cost vs wait), but the effect is the same, we're outsourcing healthcare to India.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

In those hospitals, if a nurse says "hello" to you, they bill you for it.

Who is earning the money though because the doctors, nurses and paramedics are certainly not??

The government should consider building public hospitals. They don't have to necessarily be free but at least they can regulate the cost.. They could probably also purchase equipment for less as they would be buying it in larger numbers than most other places. You would think healthcare should be cheaper in the US in comparison to other countries with less people..

I'm all for regulation of the health industry. There's no justification two people buying the exact same prescription medication should pay vastly different amounts for it. Similarly, the care I received (to quote my own experience) in the US was not significantly different to that I received in the UK - for which the amount of tax I paid per year to the government sure as hell doesn't come to $20K/Yr

Similarly, why is it that a lot of banks in the US charge you a loyalty fee for using another bank's ATM, why do you have to pay for cheques (they have been free in the UK for as long as I can remember)? On that ATM charge - its interesting to note that UK banks did the exact same thing up until a few years ago when a european consumer study determined that it was a completely frivolous charge, and your use of an 'unaffiliated' ATM costs the banks virtually nothing. It's now unlawful for the banks to apply that charge.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

"It's brand new, and nobody's ever heard of going to India or even South Carolina for an operation, so it's all pretty foreign to people here," says Garrett. "It's a frontier."

Not that brand new, I remember hearing an article on it on Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondant" about a year ago. Apparently there are beautiful large hospitals in India, where only foriegners and the rich can afford to go, where people in the UK were going to avoid NHS long waiting lists. The reason is different (cost vs wait), but the effect is the same, we're outsourcing healthcare to India.

Foreign travel is new for North Carolina

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

"It's brand new, and nobody's ever heard of going to India or even South Carolina for an operation, so it's all pretty foreign to people here," says Garrett. "It's a frontier."

Not that brand new, I remember hearing an article on it on Radio 4's "From Our Own Correspondant" about a year ago. Apparently there are beautiful large hospitals in India, where only foriegners and the rich can afford to go, where people in the UK were going to avoid NHS long waiting lists. The reason is different (cost vs wait), but the effect is the same, we're outsourcing healthcare to India.

Foreign travel is new for North Carolina

nonsense, foreign travel is going to a wal mart in south carolina

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I'm all for regulation of the health industry. There's no justification two people buying the exact same prescription medication should pay vastly different amounts for it. Similarly, the care I received (to quote my own experience) in the US was not significantly different to that I received in the UK - for which the amount of tax I paid per year to the government sure as hell doesn't come to $20K/Yr

Similarly, why is it that a lot of banks in the US charge you a loyalty fee for using another bank's ATM, why do you have to pay for cheques (they have been free in the UK for as long as I can remember)? On that ATM charge - its interesting to note that UK banks did the exact same thing up until a few years ago when a european consumer study determined that it was a completely frivolous charge, and your use of an 'unaffiliated' ATM costs the banks virtually nothing. It's now unlawful for the banks to apply that charge.

I agree on both points (see, I don't automatically disagree with you). I just posted info on foreign ATMs. ATM fees are totally frivolous.

"When using an ATM, you may get hit with an ATM owner fee, but those are VERY uncommon overseas. The only ATM owner fee I've ever seen outside the USA was in Canada. I've never seen one in Asia, Europe, or the Middle East."

http://www.flyertalk.com/wiki/index.php/Cr...29_transactions

[Heracles 417]

There's no justification two people buying the exact same prescription medication should pay vastly different amounts for it.

I'll give you an example. I visited a specialist in the US and was told to buy a nose spray. In the US it is only available by prescription and cost $63USD. I managed to get a larger bottle sent via express post from Australia for $27USD..