Blue Shield of CA HMO outsourcing medical care to Mexico -

Blue Shields' Calif HMO is requiring patients to travel to Mexico to receive non-emergency health care.



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The Gonzaleses are members of a Blue Shield of California HMO that provides all of the family's nonemergency care in Mexico. They are among 20,000 California workers and their dependents in health plans that cost 40 to 50 percent less than comparable care in the United States because the doctor's visits are outsourced south of the border.

With health care costs in the United States continuing to rise, many employers in Southern California are turning to insurance plans that send their workers to Mexico for routine care, plans that are growing by nearly 3,000 people a year. And Gonzales, for his part, is happy about it.

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Five years ago, California became the only state to regulate insurance programs that require border crossing for basic health care. Since then, more than 700 non-agricultural businesses have offered plans requiring treatment in Mexico. Hundreds of farms offer similar coverage for about 120,000 migrant laborers.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501170.html

by Anthem Wellpoint which was created following the merger of Anthem BCBS and Wellpoint. People should be happy to know Leonard Schaefer, former CEO of Wellpoint, made out quite well once the merger was approved. :sarcasm:

Nor do they plan to obey national laws. They (think) they rule the world. They are asking for trouble.