Just this week I got a 2-month wait from a US hospital for a scan I got a 1-month delay outside the US. And that's a major, top ten US hospital, not some dinky place no one has heard of (but it's a non-standard scan setting, I'll grant you that). And the out-of-pocket (despite having insurance) is almost as high as the entire scan if I did it privately in the other place (which I pay zero for - it's all covered)

> That money is going somewhere.

Mostly to the pockets of the health insurance companies, which rake in ridiculous profits for providing services which are essentially non-existent and not needed almost anywhere else in the world.