A few days ago, a friend from San Diego  called to invite me for a visit - a visit to her dentist.  Bubbling  over with enthusiasm, she told me I could get my teeth cleaned for less  than $20 by going to a reputable dentist just across the border in Mexico.

That data point made the following  headline in the May 28 Sacramento Bee not only unsurprising, but redundant:

"Health costs send  many to Mexico, study finds"

The describes the UCLA  Center for Health Policy Research finding that nearly one million Californians  crossed the border for affordable medical and dental care in 2001.   And that's before the latest recession hit the state.  There's  no sure way to know how many of California's 6.6 million uninsured  - not to mention bargain shoppers - have taken advantage of the  low cost and the close proximity of Mexican health providers, but a  spokesman for the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health said in the article,  "We suspect the number has grown by leaps and bounds."

It's the out-sourcing of another  American industry:  healthcare.  And it's happening for  the same reasons that we're losing our manufacturing base - costs  are too high in the U.S., and particularly so for California.

The irony is that major healthcare  breakthroughs are occurring more frequently in America than in any other  country.  But we're also paying for those breakthroughs at the  consumer level.  No other nation puts the burden of profitability  on its health-care providers, nor do they ask their citizens to pick  up the tab.  And in no other country are health care executives  (not doctors) paid so handsomely for bringing riches to their shareholders  at such high costs to the consumer.

The out-sourcing of health care may  not grow as rapidly as did the outsourcing of consumer electronics manufacturing  or call-center staffing.  But capitalism teaches us that you can  stretch demand only so far as prices rise.  Already, a healthy  business exists for cross-border pharmaceuticals, and cuts to the state's  safety net of medical programs is likely to force more Californians  to go to Mexico and beyond for medical and dental services.

Mexico and Canada are not our only  choices - people are going to Asia and South America for bargain priced  surgeries at hospitals that offer state-of-the-art services bundled  with discount plane tickets.

So even as illegal immigrants cross  into America in droves, perfectly legitimate American tourists are heading  the other way, check book in hand, to lower their health care bills.   The new underground railroad is carrying the sick to financial freedom  rather than the enslaved to political freedom.

Of course, it is much safer to stay  under the wing of our protective agencies such as the Food and Drug  Administration when seeking medical help.  But it's the Securities  and Exchange Administration that we have to run from, because as long  as medical providers are held to the same shareholder protecting standards  as, say, banks and retailers, we will continue to see health care costs  rise dramatically.  Our nation will either price itself out of  the market, or price itself out of good health unless there is a change  in our health care policies.

So if you have a trip planned to Mexico  anytime soon, add to your itinerary a visit to a local doctor or dentist  - because it's not just about shopping for bargain jewelry, perfume  and liquor anymore.