WSJ in a recent published article feels that the only one sector totally unaffected by the recent economic downturn is the Medical Tourism Industry .In fact the WSJ in its artcile claims that increasing healthcare costs are forcing many US Companies to outsource healthcare both elective ad serious surgeries to india.
Earlier medical tourism specially to India was dominated by "uninsured patients" or patients that did not have insurance cover for surgeries like Knee Replacement,Hip Surgery. However in a development that could have far reaching for Indian Corporate Hospitals like Wockhardt Hospitals and Apollo, insured patients too will be coming to India for medical treatements
Next month, Apollo Hospitals, India's biggest health-care company, will for the first time treat employees of a non-Indian company, Wisconsin-based Serigraph Inc., for certain elective procedures.
The costs will be picked up by Serigraph's insurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Employees will receive travel and concierge help, including free plane tickets for patient and companion, plus post-operative care upon return to the U.S. There will be no co-payments.
It's a trial program, but the economic benefits aren't in doubt: A cardiac bypass can cost about $100,000 in a U.S. private hospital. On a purely financial basis, it's enormously appealing. The U.S., don't forget, is where soaring employee health-care costs have helped drive the auto industry into the ground.
"They desperately need to cut costs. And what's true for auto makers is true for corporate America," says Vishal Bali, chief executive of Wockhardt Hospitals, one of Apollo's India-based rivals and a leading Indian Super specialty Hospital.
About 150,000 foreigners sought elective medical treatment in India last year. The numbers have been rising by 15% a year as foreigners gradually come to understand and realize that India's just fine for joint replacements and root canals.
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Young and middle aged Americans with knee arthritis now have another great news. The launch of the Oxinium knee implant from www.kneeindia.com gives them an option to say good bye to their painful knee arthritis.
Sky high cost of Hip resurfacing brings New Yorker Leonard Battipaglia to India for Hip resurfacing. After being neglected in Lennox Hill hospital in New York, Leonard found an Indian Orthopedic surgeon to perform his bilateral hip surgery. He got a hip resurfacing on his right hip which is still not widely available in the US and will return soon for a Proxima hip replacement, another procedure not available in the US.
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