It would probably be worthwhile for them to lease a 747 that leaves from LAX, Detroit, St Louis and Atlanta once a week full of GM retirees and employees, fly them to India, Thailand etc (they could decide which place offers the best procedures – Thailand for knees and hips, India for hearts etc.) and have them get their procedures and a vacation and bring them home.

Here are the numbers –

If GM flew out 400 people on a chartered 747 $1,000,000 — could be less, to fly from UK to New Zealand is ~$900,000

400 1 week resort stays – $4,000,000

400 Angioplasties @ $6,000 each – $2,400,000

Total cost – rough estimate – $7,400,000

Total cost in U.S. – 400@$50,000 – $20,000,000

$20,000,000-$7,400,000= $12,600,000 savings

For GM chartering a 747 and flying a group to India every week would save them 60%+ on their heart procedures alone!!

Multiply that savings by 50 weeks and voila – >$500,000,000 in savings a year. If GM didn’t have that many angioplasties to do (I bet they do) they could share with Ford.

Mark