Last night ( 4/24/2005), "60 Minutes" had a segment on people going

[KlatooBNikto]

to India to get very complex surgical procedures done ( multiple heart bypass, Knee and hip implants, other procedures) at a fraction of the cost here.They showed a person with bypass surgery getting everything done for less than $15,000 and a hip implant for less than $5000.The patients could not say enough good things about the surgeons, nurses and the medical centers.One gentleman who had the multiple bypass surgery said he could not afford to do that surgery here because he did not have any insurance.The surgery in India saved his life and his pocket book.

This should be a warning sign to us that even many skilled professions will be under pressure from India in the years ahead. Already many European and Japanese patients are heading to India for all sorts of procedures because ther is no wait and the surgeons are all trained in some of our own best schools.

I see both pluses and minuses in this.On the plus side it may reduce the costs of medical and surgical procedures.But, if your children, like mine, are in the medical field, they are going to see real depression in their wages or fees.

[acmejack]

1. What do you mean "will be"?

Long term unemployed EE would like to know.

[KlatooBNikto]

4. I am sorry to hear that..But I wasn't aware that even surgery was being

outsourced to India like IT jobs.

[rodeodance]

2. many surgeons from India are trained here-some go back

[orpupilofnature57]

3. The only difference is proximity, they don't move here anymore, hmmmm

THANK YOU ? % for feeding the greed.

[kliljedahl]

5. The original place they referred to

was Thailand. They and other countries are making a concerted effort to get our business. When its cheaper to fly to Thailand and get a procedure done something is totally out of whack.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[KlatooBNikto]

7. I agree.And that is why the Insurance Companies are going to hold

this like a club over the head of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to lower their fees.These professions that have been immune from competitive cost pressures are going to see that hit them like a tsunami in the not too distant future.May be in the next five years.

[kliljedahl]

9. Insurance companies are as much a part of the problem

as all the others, especially HMOs. I don't think that's realistic, unless some day maybe the Earth stands still.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[KlatooBNikto]

12. Countries like India, China and others are making a determined assault

on U.S., Europe, Japan and other advanced nations offering all sorts of incentives including cheap, highly trained manpower, no taxes, no benefits in return for investments.At first it was just jobs for assembling cheap toys for Wal-Mart,then came call center jobs, now more advanced computer work including codes, CAD work are being sourced out.The medical, legal, accounting professions are going to see the flight of their jobs.I also understand many pharmaceutical companies like Lilly, Merck, J&J,are either outsourcing Research and Deevelopment work or locating Research Cnters in India.

The depletion of middle class professional work means that our society is going to move very fast into the have and have not category, a reverse Banana Republic.

[napi21]

6. Yes, I watched that show.

The other thing I found pretty impressive was that the hospital looke like a 5 star hotel, and not a medical facility. They interviewed the hosp. rep, and he said people like it much better that way. Medical facilities are usually depressing and noone wants that.

I do see your point though about the impact on the medical people in the US though.

I'm waiting for the senior exec jobs to start going to India! There's NO REASON why a bunch of those Presidents and VP jobs couldn't be done "long distance"! Maybe THEN we'll some changed attitudes!!!

[KlatooBNikto]

8. I undertsand that the woman who is now Pepsi's CEO was hired out of

India's top management school.

[nodictators]

10. Here's a link to a CBS article about the 60minutes segment

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/21/60minutes/main689998.shtml

Vacation, Adventure And Surgery?
(Page 1 of 4)

April 24, 2005

(CBS) Summertime. It’s almost upon us. Millions will be heading out to foreign lands for vacation, adventure, tourism, or just a beautiful beach. But how about hip surgery or a multiple bypass or a facelift?

A growing number of tourists are doing just that: combining holidays with health care. And that’s because a growing number of countries are offering first-rate medical care at third-world prices.
<much more>

This is different than corporate outsourcing/offshoring. Here the People individually decide to go. We have a medical cartel here. It has sky-high prices which are harming people that can't get health care at reasonable prices.

Paul Krugman had a good article on comparative health care prices. In western Europe they have better health care than we do for less than one-half the cost here.

The US Medical Cartel is a Price-Gouging Monopoly!

[Dr.Phool]

11. Providers are a major part of the problem

I get a bill for a service provided, and paid for by my insurance. It has the cost of the procedure, test whatever. Then it has another price for "Network Negotiated Fee". It's usually 10-20% percent of the original fee.

The provider has agreed to accept this from the insurance company, but if I had to pay it, I'd have to pay the full amount. This is wrong.

The people who can't afford insurance are getting raped by the provider.

Example: I just had a PET Scan done. It would have cost me $6600. The insurance company paid $1400, and I owed nothing.

[EVDebs]

13. CBS supports outsourcing. Viacom outsources to India...

60 Minutes did a piece on it that they repeated at least three times. It implied that Indias IIT was better than MIT, CalTech, UCBerkeley combined.

Now companies are leaving Indian outsourced enterprises ... and going to even cheaper labor sites like China.

It's simply the 'Race to the Bottom' and labor arbitrage. Sooner or later the oil crunch and long distribution supply lines will bring it down.