SAND, SUN AND SURGERY

摘要

Shaun Reese's Bum Knee had been nagging him for months. He had torn a ligament a couple of years earlier that never healed properly, and the pain was getting worse. But the 48-year-old building contractor from Wyoming didn't have health insurance, so he kept putting off dealing with the problem. Then a friend suggested he fly to Thailand for some sun―and a spot of surgery on the side. After some investigation, Reese took the advice, and in January he hopped a plane for Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital, where he had arthroscopic knee surgery. Total cost: $5,000―half for the surgery and the rest for airfare and three weeks recuperating on the beach. Back home, he would have paid $6,500 for the operation alone. In Thailand, he says, "the people are super nice, and the facilities are nice and clean and convenient." So nice, clean, and onvenient, in fact, that Reese says he may return next year for a hip replacement.