Flutterby™! : Mexico medical tourism

New York Times: A Mexican Hospital, an American Surgeon, and a $5,000 Check (Yes, a Check). American surgeons and American patients flying to Mexico, and the insurer paying some of the net back to the patient.

Given that the staff for this operation was all US, this implies that the problem is hospital overhead. I wonder if the US's insane healthcare costs and awful outcomes relative to the developed world are due to the lack of social safety net that pushes a lot of that bottom tier on to hospitals.

Or whether we've just got hospital administrators who are milking every spare bit of value out of the system...