With 46 million U.S. citizens living without health insurance--and millions of others underinsured or unable to get adequate care--a growing number of U.S. women are flocking to a Thai hospital for treatments they can't afford at home.

Suffering from a severely herniated spinal disk, with little savings and no health insurance and earning less than $10 an hour as a part-time cafeteria cashier, she couldn't afford the $30,000 operation her doctors said she needed.

"On good days, I could barely stand or walk," says Flowers, 46, a resident of Huron, S.D. "On bad days, I couldn't even get out of bed."

It didn't make sense to buy private health insurance, because her back problem would be considered a "pre-existing condition" and exempted from treatment for two years. Flowers feared having to file for bankruptcy. Then came the quirk of fate that sent her halfway around the globe and solved her health and financial troubles in one go.