Over two billion people cannot afford surgery if they needed it today, and, of those who get surgery every year, an estimated 33 million of them will undergo financial hardship from its direct costs—81 million when the ancillary costs of care like transportation and food are included.
The cost of surgery, then, is not just a barrier to care. It can cause toxic, downstream side effects. Impoverishment is a side effect of surgery for the equivalent of the entire population of Germany, every year.