How much experience have you had with medical care without insurance in the US? An emergency room visit with a bit of lab work and an X-ray and a couple of shots resulted in a bill of $3500. I was there for a total of six hours. Have you checked to find out what an uninsured person pays for a colonoscopy in the US?

I have heard, though, that if you don't get everything agreed to in advance, the doctors can be a bit opportunistic. However, there was a recent article in the New York Times about a common practice among oncologists of putting patients through chemotherapy unnecessarily because the insurance companies cut treatment fees but they can make money on the in-office chemo.

I am another person who is quite disillusioned with Thailand. I spent the winter in Chiang Mai, a place I liked a lot back in the 90's. The first thing I noticed is that it is no longer the land of smiles. After a while the acceptance of corruption and the aggressive prostitutes and the ugly old men with the beautiful young Thai 'girlfriends' got to me. It probably shouldn't as I am an older female and none of it affects me really. But it did start to be an unpleasant aspect of the country. All in all, I've pretty much written it off as a retirement place. But all I had to do was pack my bag, get on a bus, and leave.