[tialaramex]

Here "Not uncommon" means "Very uncommon" because of course as this story illustrates US medicine is _ludicrously_ expensive and so the only reason you'd _travel_ there to get medical treatment is because that's the only place offering some obscure treatment you want.

Also is that list of really weird stats "all objective measures" ? No. It's just "Here are some numbers somebody seemingly randomly picked from a _vast_ array of statistics kept for the OECD".

[dhuduehe]

>... so the only reason you'd _travel_ there to get medical treatment is because that's the only place offering some obscure treatment you want. <

When is this not true though? Of course traveling farther would be less desirable when moving between developed countries, it adds burden and costs on top of whatever you were already going to have to pay without offering much opportunity for recouping costs. The only exception might be traversing the EU but that's because of geographical convenience more than anything else. America is literally across the sea, if we're cheaper for someone in the UK then someone fucked up somewhere at the NHS.

[tialaramex]

My point is, if you're sat in say, Liverpool, and you see the elective surgery you want is six to nine months out but that seems forever, you don't go "Oh, let's fly to San Francisco and get it done privately there, we can spend the kids inheritance" you start looking at private providers in Liverpool (there are several) or maybe Switzerland. You are attracted by a good price in say, India, or a friend recommends somewhere in Eastern Europe.

The US is very expensive compared to other private options is my point.