Michael Chen’s Brazilian vacation was supposed to end with a tighter waistline. Instead, it ended with sepsis. The 42-year-old marketing executive from San Diego paid $8,500 for liposuction in São Paulo—about a third of what he’d been quoted at home. The clinic looked pristine in photos. The surgeon’s credentials seemed impressive. The reviews were glowing. […]
When Jennifer’s insurance denied her hip replacement, her employer bought her a plane ticket to Costa Rica instead. The 58-year-old warehouse manager from Kentucky was facing a choice: wait two years while appealing her insurance denial, pay $45,000 out of pocket, or accept her company’s unusual offer. They would cover her surgery at a JCI-accredited […]
What if your next vacation included a hip replacement? Sarah Mitchell never imagined she’d be sipping piña coladas on a Thai beach three days after her dental surgery. The 52-year-old teacher from Ohio needed extensive dental work—crowns, implants, veneers—that would have cost her $47,000 back home. Instead, she paid $12,000 in Bangkok, and that included […]