When Godfrey Davies learned he needed surgery to remove polyps blocking his nasal airways, the self-described bargain shopper set out on a mission to find an affordable surgeon. He quickly learned a good deal is hard to find.

“The total numbers they were throwing at me were just incredible. I couldn’t believe it,” he says.

Davies, who is semiretired from his real estate business and uninsured, says he received estimates from two surgeons. When hospital, anesthesia and incidental fees were all tallied, the cheapest price he could find in Indianapolis, Indiana, was $33,127 — which he would need to pay out of pocket.  Read more…

From the USA Today top 10 travel trends for 2010:

9.  As Washington lawmakers continue to grapple with health-care reform, more Americans — an estimated 1.6 million by 2012, according to Deloitte Center for Health Solutions — will combine foreign vacations with carpal tunnel surgery, dental crowns and other short-stay, outpatient procedures that cost 30%-70% less than U.S. prices. Driving the trend: more coverage of overseas medical care by major U.S. insurers, an increase in individual insurance policies that typically carry a high deductible, and a marketing push by companies that combine travel and medical services.

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