If a US ambulance ride for 15 minutes costs $1,722 [1] then how much does evacuation via an Ecuadorian navy helicopter and then a jet back to a US hospital cost the insurer?
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/health/think-the-er-was-ex...
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/health/think-the-er-was-ex...
One thing to note is that there is a hospital at the location he was evacuated from, so if it was a true emergency, they could have operated right there.