Need A New Hip? A New Heart? Some Tomatoes?

This seven-minute PBS report will save you a fortune.

And smart U.S. insurers should be giving its patients incentives for getting top quality care 90 minutes off-shore.

Or look at THIS example (thanks, Brian): a Mississippi woman gets paid $5,000 to have her knee replaced by a highly trained Milwaukee orthopedic surgeon, both of whom are flown to Mexico because the hospital is so much cheaper there that her employer saved more than half what it would have cost in the U.S.

And while we’re worried about your health — and the high cost of maintaining it — here’s more on the organic food controversy I stumbled into.  First, Gloria explained why she doesn’t spend the extra money for organics.  Then, a couple of days later, I posted a powerful two-minute video explaining why, well, maybe she should. 

But guess what?  Turns out, Gloria may be right.  The maker of that video is being sued for allegedly misleading the public. First off, the levels of pesticides exposed in the video are judged to pose no risk.  And by the way?  Here’s a list of pesticides used in organic farming.  (Thanks, Matt Ball.)

Doubtless, some organic food may be healthier than its non-organic alternative — and perhaps even vice versa.  I don’t know.  To me, a good tomato is a good tomato, and for now I’ll take my chances.  The main thing is to eat more fruit and vegetables and nuts and seeds — and less meat.  Better for your health, better for the cow, and, as noted yesterday, way, way, way better for the planet.

(Remember the Tony Seba video I posted a few months ago, that starts asking folks if they can spot the one car in a sea of horse-drawn carriages in Times Square?  And then shows the same scene ten years later and asks people if they can spot the one horse amongst all the cars and trucks?  I like to think this is how it will be with four-legged meat.)