Nov. 03, 2006 - 19:22 MST

CAN'T BE OUTSOURCED

I thought I had read about most anything that can happen, but this takes the cake in my outlook. An article in this morning's Rocky Mountain News written by Malcolm Foster and Margie Mason of the Associated Press, herein -- quoted in full:

NOW EVEN SURGERY IS BEING OUTSOURCED

Employer sends U.S. Patient to India for hip replacement

NEW DELHI, INDIA -- "She's a rodeo barrel-racing champion who runs a 180-acre ranch in Oklahoma when she's not bouncing across back roads selling farms. Dodie Gilmore is a spry 60-year-old who loves the outdooors, but when she could no longer straddle her faithful horse, River, she knew it was time for a new hip."

"But how could she afford it ? As an independent contractor for a small Coldwell Banker real estate franchise in Durant, Okla., she knew her privately purchased health plan would never pay up to $40,000 for the operation."

"So she asked her boss about traveling to India, where hip resurfacing alone would cost just $7,000.

He not only gave her his blessing but offered to foot the bill, minus travel and hotels -- making Gillmore one of the very first Americans sent overseas for surgery by an employer."

"The doctors were wonderful," Gilmore said days after being discharged, sipping coffee at a New Delhi roadside cafe with her sister, Carol, who was slong for the whole trip. "The overall care was pretty darn good."

"With an estimated 45 million uninsured Americans, some 500,000 trekked overseas last year for medical treatment, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. Hospitals in Thailand, India and Singapore have long been swarmed by medical tourists looking for tummy tucks and face lifts, but many glitzy, marble-floored facilities are now gaining reputations for big-ticket precedures including heart, knee and back operations."

"More and more patients such as Gilmore -- who had never held a passport or even tasted Indian food before her trip -- are returning home and spreading the word about an alternative to America's ailing health system. Businesses, insurance companies and even a state lawmaker also are starting to eye the potential savings of outsourcing health from the world's richest country to the developing world."

"It's just one of the many ways in which our world is flattening," said Arnold Milstein, chief physician at New York-based Mercer Health & Benefits, who's researching the feasibiltity of outsourcing medial care for three Fortune 500 corporations. "Many companies see it as a natural extension of the competition they've faced in other aspects of their business."

"Some American hospitals already rely on places like India for X-ray readings and other diagnostics, while also importing foreign doctors and nurses."

"But the U.S. health care industry has been largely immune to overseas competition -- just one reason behind soaring costs."

"Premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage have surged 87 percent over the past six years, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, putting a huge burden on both companies and employees."

"Family health coverage now runs about $11,500 annually with workers themselves forking out nearly $3,000."

"But just as shipping U.S. manufacturing to China and call centers to India initially created loud opposition, some critics are already preparing to fight any mass exodus of Americans packing their bags to go under the knife overseas."

"In September, Canton, N.C.-based Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. was set to send one of its employees to India for a gall bladder operation."

"Carl Garrett would have been the first U.S. employee sent abroad for medical care through an employer-sponsered pilot program, which would have allowed him to share the company's savings."

"Shortly before Garrett was set to leave, the United Steelworkers, America's largest union, pulled the plug."

"We don't want to expose our members to the risks associated with providing health care in the Third World," said Stan Johnson, a union spokesman. "This is perceived to be voluntary, but voluntary programs tend to lead to mandatory programs"

"Blue Ridge ultimately scrapped its plan for union members, but several other U.S. businesses and insurance companies are starting to explore the option of exporting patients."

"I get the impression that they're waiting for someone else to take the first step," said Jason Yap, director of health care service for the tourism board in Singapore, another major medical tourism destination."

"United Group Programs, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based-company that sells self-insurance policies to small businesses, is already offering a plan that sends patients to Bumrungrad International hopsital in Bangkok, Thailand. UGP says the plan will save employers more than 50 percent on major medical costs and slash employeee's out-of-pocket expenses to zero."

"Blue Shield of California and Health Net of California also both offer lower-cost policies allowing members to seek medical care in Mexico."

"In June, David Boucher, an assistant vice president at BlueCrossBlueShield of South Carolina, traveled to Bangkok for a close-up look at Bumrungrad. The Thai hospital began heavily recruiting overseas patients after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It drew 400,000 foreigners last year -- including 55.000 Americans."

"I was thoroughly impressed," Boucher said. "We're taking a serious look at this as an alternative for the health plan's 1.5 million members."

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There is one paragraph that takes my eye, either it is a misprint, typo, editing error or perhaps one by the authors. Quoted in part: "Businesses, insurance companies and even a state lawmaker also are starting to eye the potential savings of outsourcing health from the world's richest country to the developing world." Unquote. Would that it could be so simple -- to outsource HEALTH to the developing world - they are sadly in need of all the help and health they can get.

I continually wonder if any organization, administration or combination thereof can put a stop to the unconscionable rise in prices. It seems to be an endless circle. Anybody remember Big Steel ? Or the big auto companies who seem to be going downhill due to the load of retirees they are paying and trying to compete with foreign companies who have built factories here, employ here, but do not have a load of retirement benefits to pay.

It does appear to me that if the companies and corporations want to foot the bill for the fare to and from, the hotels and so forth entailed in such procedures that perhaps the average insuree will get a fair deal. But who can afford the expenses of travel and hotels ?

Perhaps an overseas airline will jump forward and carry patients by the planeload for a cut rate deal, paid for of course by the employee's company or insurance carrier. The whole thing seems fraught with potential grave problems for us all.

For instance, on return to the States from a foreign medical procedure a complication arises requiring immediate medical attention by experienced medical staff. What then ? Ship the patient EXPRESS - TELEPORT to the country where the work was done ? Do it here and the insurance company swallow the costs ? Or - - - pay for a decent burial in a cemetery of choice ?

Nowadays, here in our country, mowing lawns, mopping floors and a few other things CAN'T BE OUTSOURCED . . . . . . . . . . . .

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