What Happens When You Can't Afford To Be Sick?

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Kara Perez is back to talk about a personal topic that hits close to home for many people: the cost of living with chronic illness. Specifically, Kara is sharing details of her upcoming Crohn's-related surgery, which is going to cost over $10K even with insurance. So she's diving into a question she didn't expect to be asked: why doesn't she just go abroad to get her surgery done? This video is a look at just one aspect of our deeply imperfect, stakeholder-and-profit-first healthcare system.

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Kara is the founder of Kara Explores Money & author of Money For Change. Find more from Kara:
-Follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/karaexploresmoney/
-You can purchase Kara's book, Money For Change, here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/money-for-change-how-to-reduce-waste-build-wealth-and-create-a-better-future-for-all-kara-perez/67361feb311f3e8b

SOURCE LINKS:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/medical-tourism

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/americans-go-latin-america-healthcare

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12306842/

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2026/01/08/op-ed-why-healthcare-is-so-expensive-in-the-u-s-how-we-got-here/

https://www.cbo.gov/topics/health-care

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/02/health-insurance-premiums-2027-inflation-aca-obamacare.html

https://www.mercer.com/en-us/about/newsroom/employers-expect-health-benefit-costs-to-jump-in-2027/

https://www.wtwco.com/en-us/insights/2026/09/us-healthcare-costs-are-projected-to-climb-11-percent-by-2027-is-your-strategy-ready-for-whats-next

https://aon.mediaroom.com/2026-08-20-Aon-U-S-Employer-Health-Care-Costs-Continue-Multi-Year-Climb,-Projected-to-Rise-9-5-in-2027

https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/medicare-program-improper-payments

https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/strengthening-medicaid-program-integrity

https://www.gao.gov/federal-health-care-spending