Wellpoint soon will offer some medical travel benefits

Would you get on a plane to India for surgery? What if your employer made it worthwhile?.

Now the nation's second-biggest health insurer, Indianapolis-based Wellpoint Inc., is dipping a toe in the medical tourism marketplace.

Starting in January, Wellpoint will offer employees of Wisconsin-based Serigraph Inc. the option of traveling to India for nonemergency procedures such as joint replacement surgery. Serigraph will waive the insurance deductible and coinsurance for employees who agree to go, paying all medical costs as well as travel expenses for the patient and a companion.

"This is a leap of faith, obviously, to say if you go to India, we'll pay for the whole shebang," said Linda Buntrock, Serigraph's senior vice president of human resources.

"But the cost difference is so monumental."

Knee replacement surgery that costs between $60,000 and $70,000 in the United States can be done in India for $8,000 to $10,000, said Jill Becher, a Wellpoint spokeswoman.