Best health care in the world, eh? Then why are so many Americans traveling to Mexico for surgery?

[KamaAina]

Mexico: It's not just for spring break anymore....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/09/22/mexico_mix_medical_tourism.DTL

What did you bring back from your last trip to Mexico? A blanket from Oaxaca? Criollo chocolate from Chiapas? Leather boots from Valladolid? A growing number of U.S. visitors are coming home with a new hip, a repaired hernia, capped teeth, a lap band or a rejuvenated face....

A 2010 survey by the Medical Tourism Association, an international nonprofit made up of international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical travel facilitators and insurance companies, found that a dental implant typically costs $1,800 in Mexico, compared with $2,800 in the United States; at the other end of the scale, a heart bypass costs $27,000 as opposed to $144,000....

The perception of Mexico as a third-world country with incompetent doctors who speak only Spanish is dying, but slowly. The fact is, private hospitals in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City offer some of the most advanced care in the world. In many other hospitals throughout the country, care equals or surpasses that available in the United States. Some Mexican hospitals are U.S.-owned, and many doctors trained here. Some are board-certified in the United States as well as Mexico....

Still, Birdwell admits, "I had visions of being wheeled into someone's garage. Everyone I talked to, I asked for credentials." She found the doctor she thought could handle her "enormous" fibroid in Hermosillo. "They have a million and a half dollar DaVinci machine, a robotic surgery machine — only 9 percent of hospitals in the U.S. have it. They don't do a bikini cut, they just poke three tiny little holes. I only had to stay in the hospital one day. This was the perfect doctor for me. He had the right equipment, and he's a great guy. His father was a gynecologist before him."

[speppin]

1. Myths are so lard to toss away.

[derby378]

2. It's happening in India, too

Sometimes, the cost of the round-trip ticket is more than the bill for surgery at a Mumbai hospital. That appeals to a lot of Americans who are healthy enough to make the flight.

[supernova]

3. And IIRC, Goa partly advertises as

a place to recuperate after whatever treatments you have.

Hey, I could get into that, combine needed surgery with a nice weeks long vacation by the sea afterwards. Sounds good to me.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. When I think of surgery, I think of Mexico.

[appleannie1]

5. My Daughter in law flies to France every year for her yearly checkups. It is cheaper & more thorou

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Ironic as many Mexicans who can afford it

go to Boston, Cleveland and yes Houston, for check ups...

I know that my dad's ortho recommended the physical therapy that has solved most of my knee issues. Why oh why a US based ortho could not I got no clue.

Oh and I gotta point this out though... the IMSS has major issues, as well as the ISSSTE, Americans are comming into the very expensive (from the mexican POV) medical system.