India's Philanthropist-Surgeon Delivers Cardiac Care Henry Ford-Style

These guys are using the same "pay what you can" model that Dr. V is using to treat eyes at Aravind. Amazing that two separate hospital systems in India are able to offer free or cheap surgeries to poor people, while very few hospital systems in the US can say the same:

<< "We do about 30 to 35 major heart surgeries a day. And we have never refused a single patient because they have no money."

The fees from the rich offset the costs for the poor. Patients with money pay several thousand dollars for open heart surgery. But patients with little money — and little hope of raising any — pay very little. They are 60 percent of the cases. >>