Uninsured at 52, She Flew to Medellin for a Hysterectomy

Medellin, Colombia.

Cindy Constable had spent most of her adult life fighting endometriosis, ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids — sometimes 10 to 15 fibroids at once — and she had already been through several surgeries.

In 2022, they came back hard. She landed in the emergency room, bleeding heavily, and for the first time a doctor suggested a hysterectomy.

Then came the quote.

Her doctor estimated at least $15,000 if everything went smoothly, and as much as $40,000 with complications.

Cindy was self-employed, and she had no health insurance at all.

So every dollar of that bill would have been hers.

At 52, she told the story to Business Insider.

Online, she went down a rabbit hole… reading hospital pages, patient reviews and forums where travelers traded notes.

She’d heard of people going abroad for cosmetic work, but major surgery had never crossed her mind. Colombia kept coming up.

The price in Medellin was $4,000.

That covered the hospital stay, the surgeon, the pre-op tests and the post-op care.

And she knew that total before she ever set foot inside.

For context, the average self-pay price for a hysterectomy in Florida is $24,470, according to MyCareCost’s 2026 review of hospital price data.

In other words, she paid about a sixth of that.

Spread over five years, $4,000 works out to about $67 a month.

Was she nervous? Very. She booked a consultation before surgery half expecting red flags that would send her home.

There weren’t any. Her surgeon had trained in the US for years, spoke fluent English, and answered every question she had.

On the morning of surgery, she paid the whole bill at check-in. The hospital told her that if any planned services weren’t needed… she’d get the difference back.

She didn’t have to borrow a cent.

Afterward, she spent a month recovering at a friend’s place before flying home.

But her account leaves out one detail: the hospital’s name.

That matters.

So do your own homework. Colombia runs a national hospital accreditation standard through ICONTEC, according to Better by MTA.

Ask for an itemized quote in writing, the surgeon’s training, and what happens if something goes wrong after you’re home.

And find out how long the surgeon wants you to stay before flying. The Medellin–Miami nonstop takes about three hours, Better by MTA notes, but Cindy still stayed a month.

I’d do the same.

She came home owing nothing.