Insurance Company to Test Insurance Coverage for Medical Tourism
The health insurance company Wellpoint is currently testing insurance coverage for medical tourism particularly for employees of Serigraph Inc and for cardiac and joint-replacement surgeries in India. Wellpoint is taking advantage of the lower healthcare costs in the said country. Generally, healthcare costs in India are about 80% cheaper than in the United States because of the lower cost of labor and cheaper medicines. The quality of healthcare in India particularly in top hospitals is comparable to the quality of healthcare in the US and other developed nations.
Serigraph Inc is a multinational graphics company that operates in the US, Mexico and India. This pilot project makes sense for Serigraph because the company has a number of employees that originated from India. Wellpoint will provide insurance coverage for non-emergency surgeries performed in India on employees of Serigraph.
This pilot project is expected to change the way insurance companies and employers operate in terms of medical tourism and insurance coverage. Indian health institutions are also welcoming this development and actively seeking the support of medical insurance companies in covering the costs of healthcare of patients from the US. One such medical institution is the hospital chain Apollo which approaches insurance companies for special arrangements regarding insurance coverage of patients treated in its hospitals.
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