US insurers eye India to cut costs

Thursday 04, December, 2008 NEW DELHI: The US health insurance companies are tying up with Indian corporate hospitals for flying down patients order to cut costs. Wellpoint, the largest health insurance company in the US, and Bluecross Blueshield have joined hands with Apollo Hospitals to treat the US citizens. Wellpoint and Apollo Hospitals are set to start a pilot project next month to treat the US insurer’s members in Apollo’s hospitals in Delhi and Bangalore, which was approved by the Joint Commission International (JCI), the US-based hospital certifying agency. Apollo Hospitals president (corporate development) Anil Mani said: “The pilot project will run for 6-12 months.” The Wellpoint’s website says it has around 35 million members. In other words, one in every nine Americans is affiliated with the company. Apollo, the country’s largest hospital chain, was in discussions with Wellpoint for around two years. Mr Mani said that it has also tied up with another health insurance firm, Companion Healthcare, the South Carolina subsidiary of another leading US insurance company BlueCross Blueshield. Similarly, Wockhardt Hospital, which tied up with Companion Healthcare last month, hopes to ink similar deals with the other US health insures to treat the insured citizens. Wockhardt Hospitals CEO Vishal Bali said, “Wellpoint has already completed assessment of Wockhardt Hospitals. We are also in talks with few other health insurance companies and exploring the possibility of expanding our tie-up with Bluecross Blueshield to other US states.”

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