&gt; I&#x27;d claim (and bet, if we could settle) that a wealthy informed person would rather by randomly dropped into the top X% of hospitals in the US than the top X% of hospitals of any other country, for X &lt; 10.<p>This isn&#x27;t an argument that has to take place in the hypothetical. When King Abdullah (Saudi Arabia) had to get open heart surgery, he booked it in the US[0]. This is not an isolated case, just the most famous one. I have a lot of personal stories about this, but I&#x27;ll just leave it at this.<p>Medical tourism actually runs in both directions. In the US, people often go to other countries for cheap, routine surgeries. Many Middle Eastern countries, on the other hand, are forming partnerships with US hospitals to bring their (American) doctors to the Middle East for effective &#x27;tours of duty&#x27;, as their solution to equalizing access to health care. (The very wealthy people living in the Gulf already come to the US for their planned treatments, but the middle class[1] can&#x27;t quite afford it).<p>If you talk to the most prestigious physicians and surgeons[2] at the top hospitals in the US (like the very, very top physicians at  Mass General or NewYork-Presbyterian), you&#x27;ll find that a sizeable number of their patients are foreigners - often living in the Middle East.<p>There is some medical tourism from the Gulf to Europe, but it&#x27;s nowhere near as widespread, and the general impression in the Gulf is that the US is the pinnacle of care quality, which is why they&#x27;re chasing US practitioners and practice groups so aggressively.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pagesix.com&#x2F;2010&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;saudi-king-takes-up-the-entire-vip-wing-at-new-york-hospital&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pagesix.com&#x2F;2010&#x2F;11&#x2F;30&#x2F;saudi-king-takes-up-the-entire...</a><p>[1] Yes, contrary to popular belief, there <i>is</i> a sizeable middle class in the Gulf.