How a broken healthcare system turned me into a medical tourism patient, and then a founder.

$10,000 to Pop a Shoulder Back In

I have a bad shoulder from bouldering. Years ago I had a procedure called an MUA, or manipulation under anesthesia, to break up scar tissue and get my range of motion back. If you're not familiar with an MUA, they basically put you under general anesthesia and then force your shoulder through its full range of motion until the scar tissue tears apart. It's about as brutal as it sounds. That was followed by months of physical therapy, and at the end of it my doctor told me the ligaments were essentially shot. Like an overstretched rubber band, they were never going back to the way they were. I'd just have to be careful.

Fast forward to 4:30 on a random morning. I turned over in my sleep a little too far and my shoulder popped completely out of its socket. I can't really describe what a dislocated shoulder feels like other than a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale. I live alone, couldn't move, and had no one to call for help. Luckily my phone was nearby and I asked Siri to call a friend who could drive me to the ER.

The actual medical part was fast. I was in and out in about 45 minutes. They gave me a shot of Dilaudid, popped the shoulder back in, put my arm in a sling, and sent me home.

Then the bills started.

Before I even left, the hospital told me I owed $4,600 because they were out of network. A few weeks later, a totally separate bill arrived from the ER doctor for $4,800. And then, months later, the sling company sent me a bill for $150. My insurance company actually agreed with me that the surprise charges were illegal, but the hospital and the provider both said it was their policy and wouldn't budge. I spent months fighting all of it and eventually got the total down to about $2,500 with my insurance company's help.

Nearly $10,000 in bills for 45 minutes of emergency care. And I have insurance.

Meanwhile, during a trip to Bangkok (more on that in a second), I ended up in a Thai ER for a GI issue. I was treated quickly, the care was great, and I paid $120 on the way out.

Same planet. Totally different universe.

How I became the medical tourism guy

It actually started with hair loss. For most of my 30s I was the hat guy. I had a hat for every situation. Baseball caps, beanies, the occasional cowboy hat. My friends thought it was a style thing, but the truth is I had a receding hairline underneath all of them and I just didn't want to deal with it.

I finally confronted it during COVID when I was home all day and spotted myself on my own security cameras. It wasn't great. I looked into getting a hair transplant in the U.S. and the quotes came back between $15,000 and $20,000. Insurance doesn't cover it since it's considered cosmetic, so this was going to be 100% out of pocket no matter what.

Then I started researching clinics in Istanbul. Same procedure, same techniques, surgeons who are doing thousands of these a year, and the price was $3,000 to $4,000 all-in, hotel, transfers, aftercare, everything. I figured the worst case was a good trip to Turkey, and I went for it.

It was honestly one of the best decisions I've ever made. The clinic was world-class, the care was unbelievable, and the results completely changed how I felt about myself. I stopped being the hat guy. (Full story here.)

That trip rewired my brain. A couple years later when I needed LASIK (I'd been wearing glasses since the third grade), I didn't even bother getting quotes in the U.S. first. I found an excellent ophthalmology center in Bangkok, got the procedure done for $1,700, and turned the whole thing into a family vacation. The total trip cost including flights, hotels, food, and everything else came to about $6,000, which is roughly what the LASIK alone would have run me domestically. Except I also got three weeks in Thailand. (Full story here.)

Why I built JetWell

After two procedures abroad, I was completely sold on the concept. But the actual process of making it happen both times was kind of a nightmare. Finding a clinic you can trust means spending hours on Google, Reddit, and YouTube trying to separate the real reviews from the paid ones. There's no standard vetting. There's no protection if something goes wrong. There's no one place that handles the booking, the payments, the logistics, and actually looks out for you as a patient.

I kept thinking someone should build this. And then I realized I was probably the someone.

JetWell is a global healthcare network that connects American patients with the world's best clinics for procedures like hair transplants, dental work, LASIK, IVF, and cosmetic surgery. We evaluate thousands of clinics and accept fewer than 5% of them. Every booking comes with transparent pricing, and insurance coverage through JetCover is available for eligible procedures. And from the moment you land on the site, our AI-powered concierge helps you find the right procedure, understand your options, and navigate the entire process from discovery through recovery. It's not a directory where any clinic can list themselves. It's a network that actually takes responsibility for the patient experience.

I'm not just the founder. I'm also the first patient. And I'm building JetWell because people deserve to know that faster, cheaper, and genuinely better care is out there. You just have to get on a plane.

I'm just getting started

The thing about cross-border healthcare that nobody really talks about is what happens once you get comfortable with it. It stops being this big scary thing and just becomes how you think about healthcare.

I'm currently planning trips for proper surgical repair on my shoulder (the same shoulder from the top of this post), a septoplasty to fix a deviated septum that's made it hard to breathe my whole life, and laser treatment to clear up sunspots from too many years in the sun. These are all things I've been putting off forever, either because insurance won't cover them at all, or because the deductibles and copays and coinsurance and preauthorization hoops make it so expensive that it's actually cheaper to fly somewhere, get treated at a center of excellence, and pay out of pocket. Trip included.

I think that's the part that surprises people the most. Cross-border care isn't just for people without insurance, and it's not just for cosmetic stuff. Even with coverage, the math often works out better abroad. And the care, honestly, has been better than anything I've experienced in the U.S. It's not even a close comparison.

Welcome to JetWell

I'm going to use this space to share what I've learned. Patient stories from real people, cost breakdowns that don't sugarcoat anything, guides to different destinations, and probably more than you want to know about what it's like building a healthcare company from the ground up.

If you've been sitting on a procedure because of cost, or because going abroad for medical care sounds like too much to figure out on your own, I was in the exact same spot a few years ago. Check out my hair transplant story or my LASIK experience in Bangkok if you want to see what actually changed my mind.

Joe, Founder & CEO of JetWell