Republican cites health care costs as she leaves country for cryptic 'medical tourism'

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced Thursday she had left the United States for what she described as a "medical tourism" trip — citing the same broken American health care system she repeatedly hammered during her final months in Congress.

"I'm 52 and enjoying a weekend out on medical tourism for my health," Greene wrote on X. "It's a damn shame that not only do Americans pay absurd amounts for health insurance and healthcare, we also don't have access to incredible treatments at home. More to come on this."

She did not disclose the country, the treatment, or the provider.

Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman had a two-word reply one minute later: "What treatments?"

Greene is hardly alone.

The CDC estimates millions of Americans travel abroad for medical care each year, driven primarily by cost. A November 2025 West Health-Gallup survey found nearly half of U.S. adults — 47% — worried they couldn't afford health care in the coming year, the highest level recorded since tracking began in 2021. A separate West Health-Gallup report found 35% of adults, roughly 91 million people, said they could not access quality care if they needed it at all.

The post landed with particular punch given Greene's record. During the 2025 government shutdown, she broke sharply with Republican leadership and President Donald Trump over the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, warning that her own adult children's premiums were set to double. "Everyone's just getting destroyed," she told CNN.

Trump responded by publicly labeling her "Marjorie Traitor Greene," a moniker Greene said prompted threats against her. She pushed back hard. "I haven't lost my way — I'm for the American people only," she told CBS Mornings.

The feud, compounded by her push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files over Trump's objections, culminated in her November 2025 announcement that she would resign from Congress, which she did in January 2026.