Healthbase Collaborates with WellPoint to Bring Affordable Medical Tourism Solutions

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Healthbase collaborates with WellPoint to bring affordable healthcare benefits to Americans through an international medical tourism pilot program. Members will now have more choices regarding where to receive care and a greater involvement in the care they receive.

Healthbase Online Inc., a Boston-based award-winning medical tourism facilitator, has collaborated on a pilot basis with WellPoint, Inc., an Indianapolis-based health benefits company to provide global health care coverage to members of WellPoint’s affiliated health plan in Wisconsin. Healthbase will handle all the medical travel logistics and arrangements for WellPoint members.

According to Saroja Mohanasundaram, CEO of Healthbase, "Healthbase is committed to providing high quality medical travel services at affordable cost. Healthbase will assist WellPoint members with coordination of the trip, medical appointment scheduling, digital medical records transfer, and concierge travel service.

Under this program, effective from January 2009, members who travel for certain non-emergency elective procedures like joint replacement and spinal fusion , will have access to Joint Commission International accredited healthcare providers in India . This will result to lower out-of-pocket costs for members translating into thousands of dollars in total savings. A hip replacement surgery , for example, costing over $60,000 in the US, costs less than $8,000 at an accredited hospital in India.

"We are pleased to work collectively with Healthbase to deliver an international medical tourism pilot product to our clients who are interested in exploring a medical tourism solution," said Dr. Razia Hashmi, vice president and medical director for WellPoint's national accounts division. "Medical tourism is a promising option for improving access to affordable, quality health care. Working with Healthbase, our case managers will coordinate all steps of the medical tourism process for members interested in receiving care overseas."

About Healthbase:
Healthbase is a one-stop source for global medical and dental choices, connecting patients to internationally accredited providers in 14 countries including India, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. Healthbase caters to individual consumers, self-funded businesses, insurers, benefit consultants, third party administrators and those using Consumer Directed Healthcare Plans (CDHPs) or voluntary benefit plans. More information at http://www.healthbase.com.

About WellPoint, Inc.:
WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health benefits company in terms of medical membership in the United States. WellPoint is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.