Elise O’Keefe, a 48-year-old office manager in Las Vegas, was a candidate for a total hip replacement, and while her husband Clark’s health policy would cover the surgery, she was facing paying about $5,400 of expenses herself.

Then Clark overheard a coworker discussing domestic medical travel, the emerging practice of traveling to a U.S. hospital that provides surgery — from joint transplant to heart bypass — at a substantial discount.

In mid-June, Elise and her mother traveled to Newport Beach, Calif., where James Caillouette, M.D., who has performed thousands of hip and knee procedures, implanted the artificial hip.

“It cost me nothing out of pocket, and it could not have gone smoother,” O’Keeffe says. “It really seemed like it was too good to be true, but it was everything they said it would be.”

After an overnight stay at a surgery center, O’Keeffe spent several days resting at a hotel, with daily visits from a physical therapist before flying home.

Read the full story on www.aarp.org…