>> If US has only average quality health care, why do all those billionaire sheiks come to the Cleveland Clinic for their heart operations?

Because Cleveland Clinic has superb quality. But Cleveland Clinic is not the USA.

I'm cognizant that you're about to be on the receiving end and don't need the idea that you're about to hit mediocrity. Well, you're not. Having had the privilege of wandering around the place looking at healthcare systems and models for 21 years now, I'm content that the US still is up there. It also has the lion's share of centers of excellence such as Cleveland Clinic. In addition, quality of orthopedics can be exceptional but buried in aggregated figures that hide it from view- which is a definite observation, btw. Numbers are just numbers and you need to treat the patient, not just a test result.

Statistically you are going to have a great result, especially since you're smart enough to listen and do as you are told until you can get the heck out of there. ;-) May not be as painful as you think either- today's anesthetic dudes and dudettes are mighty clever. ;-)