Patients, Employers Choose Overseas Care

If it costs $12,000 less and offers similar results, why not get your orthopedic surgery done in India? During the past year, some employers, and healthcare intermediaries like Raleigh, NC-based IndUShealth, have begun to encourage this line of thinking. Employers have played an important role in this trend, with some offering their employees hefty bonuses if they voluntarily agree to head overseas for expensive procedures.

The practice is somewhat controversial, however. In September, for example, an employee of Canton, NC-based Blue Ridge Paper Products made national headlines when he voluntarily made plans to get his shoulder fixed in India, but was blocked by a union concerned that future employees would be forced to go overseas for high-ticket procedures.

Nonetheless, even without the encouragement of employers, self-employed patients and other price-conscious buyers began going overseas in growing numbers during 2006. In fact, with consumers sometimes saving 80 percent or more over U.S. fees, they'd be crazy not to consider the idea. Short of a major--and well-publicized--set of accidents or poor outcomes resulting from IndiaCare, expect this practice to grow rapidly next year.