Whenever conservatives start telling me what a great healthcare system we have, I say, "Yes, and we make very nice yachts, too. What's your point?" Because what earthly difference does it make to you when you're priced out of that system?

I've known Americans who've gone to Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and Austria for medical and dental treatment they couldn't afford here. (In fact, Logan wrote about this a few weeks ago.) If people are getting on a plane to go somewhere to get treatment, that's got to tell you something:

MEXICO CITY — It sounds almost too good to be true: a health care plan with no limits, no deductibles, free medicines, tests, X-rays, eyeglasses, even dental work — all for a flat fee of $250 or less a year.

To get it, you just have to move to Mexico.

As the United States debates an overhaul of its health care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute.

The system has flaws, the facilities aren't cutting-edge, and the deal may not last long because the Mexican government said in a recent report that it is "notorious" for losing money. But for now, retirees say they're getting a bargain.

"It was one of the primary reasons I moved here," said Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora. "I couldn't afford health care in the United States. … To me, this is the best system that there is."

It's unclear how many Americans use IMSS, but with between 40,000 and 80,000 U.S. retirees living in Mexico, the number probably runs "well into the thousands," said David Warner, a public policy professor at the University of Texas.

"They take very good care of us," said Jessica Moyal, 59, of Hollywood, Fla., who now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a popular retirement enclave for Americans.

The IMSS plan is primarily designed to support Mexican taxpayers who have been paying into the system for decades, and officials say they don't want to be overrun by bargain-hunting foreigners.

"If they started flooding down here for this, it wouldn't be sustainable," said Javier Lopez Ortiz, IMSS director in San Miguel de Allende.

As the mind-numbing stupidity rages on in the debate over health care reform, there has been one booming industry that has gotten little attention as of late -- Medical Tourism. Fox News has tried to trash the industry, but it's becoming more and more popular.

We've heard the right wing talking points about how people from all over the world come here for medical treatment, but what rarely, if ever gets pointed out in response is that each year, tens of thousands of Americans travel outside the U.S. in to get medical treatment, sometimes life-saving procedures. Many of these people have health insurance, but they make the trips because their insurance companies won't cover the whole procedure, if they cover it at all. According to Newsweek, 60% of Americans find medical tourism appealing:

A new survey funded by Your Surgery Abroad, an online directory of medical tourism, found that more than 60 percent of Americans are willing to leave the country for cheaper medical services. “As people’s budgets in America are getting tighter, they’re much more inclined to start thinking about going abroad to save money,” says Adam Nethersole, the managing director of Your Surgery Abroad.

Wealthy patients have always crossed international borders (even the Nomads took trips to health spas), but the decreasing cost of travel has encouraged Americans of more moderate means to whip out their passports for medical procedures. And while more elective procedures like rhinoplasty and face-lifts used to attract consumers to exotic lands, a growing number of Americans are now traveling abroad for essential procedures like cardiology and cancer treatments. Read on...

If our health care system is so fantastic, why do thousands of Americans leave the country to get treatment elsewhere? Should we be surprised when we live in a country ranked 37th in the world by the World Health Organization? This isn't an indictment on our health care professionals, it's a testimony to the skyrocketing costs of medical care in this country and greed and rationing on the part of insurance companies. Perhaps some of our Democratic representatives and pundits might start picking up on the medical tourism business when talking about health care reform?