Wellpoint will try out "medical tourism"

[antigop]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811120380

WellPoint is testing the concept of arranging and paying for you and a companion to travel to India for a joint-replacement procedure that could cost a fraction of what it would at your local hospital.

Think of it as a form of medical outsourcing.

Indianapolis-based health insurance giant WellPoint is jumping into the emerging world of "medical tourism" -- the practice in which U.S. patients cross international borders in search of cheaper medical care.

It is a trend that, if it spreads, is likely to create even more friction between insurers and health-care providers when it comes to the contentious point of reimbursement rates.

[Celebration]

1. oh, man

This could get interesting.

[Hannah Bell]

2. Medical outsourcing! Or is it patient outsourcing?

Either way, it pretty much highlights the idiocy of our current brand of capitalism.