Medical tourism: Deal-seekers flock to Mexico for health care

[Liberal_in_LA]

Medical tourism: Deal-seekers flock to Mexico for health care
Christine Delsol

SFGate September 22, 2010

"I don't have health insurance, never have," Parecki says. "I'd have to charge 5 or 10 cents more for every part to pay for it. People don't realize that ... every time you buy a gallon of milk, probably 5 cents is going to pay somebody's health care."

When he learned that he needed hip surgery, he faced a $50,000 tab for the hospital stay alone, not including surgery, anesthesiology and physical therapy. Instead, he contacted MedToGo International, one of a growing number of medical tourism facilitators who work with medical facilities abroad and coordinate travel arrangements for patients. Parecki had his surgery at Hospital CIMA in Hermosillo. Nine weeks into the typical recovery period of six months to a year, he has graduated from a walker to occasional use of a cane, his range of motion has progressed from 60 percent to more than 90 percent, and he's walking 2 to 3 miles a day with "some discomfort" instead of excruciating pain. Grand total for travel costs — including a day at the beach — stress test, surgery, hospital stay, anesthesiology, and doctor visits in his hotel: $13,700.

Medical tourism is becoming a greater force in Mexico's economy as efforts to reform the U.S. health care system fall victim to political maneuvering. As the tenacious recession leaves more Americans without jobs — or working for employers who can no longer afford to provide insurance — adding a medical procedure to the vacation itinerary looks increasingly attractive. The U.S. government doesn't keep statistics, but based on trends in the past several years, the Mexican government is expecting the number of visitors seeking medical treatment there to reach 650,000 annually by 2020.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/09/22/mexico_mix_medical_tourism.DTL#ixzz10HzJtLHk

[KaryninMiami]

1. Great information- will file it for future use!

The best part is being able to coordinate follow up treatment back home which is a huge relief and important for many procedures. We have a few physicians here in Florida with offices in Mexico and some in Costa Rica.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. lots go there for dental care also

[Yavapai]

3. True, but you have to watch out for the death panels.

who are comprised of drug cartels, the municipal police, the federales and kidnappers, etc.

[eridani]

4. Mexican goevernment is getting pissed at US seniors retiring there, though

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/08/29/20090829biz-mexicare0830.html

It sounds like the perfect health plan: medical care with no limits, no deductibles, free medicines, tests, X-rays, eyeglasses, even dental work - all for a flat fee of $250 or less a year. To get it, all you have to do is move to Mexico.

As the United States debates an overhaul of its health-care system, thousands of American retirees in Mexico have quietly found a solution of their own, signing up for the health-care plan run by the Mexican Social Security Institute.

"It was one of the primary reasons I moved here," said Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora. "I couldn't afford health care in the United States. . . . To me, this is the best system that there is."

<snip>

American enrollees have generated some resentment among Mexican taxpayers who have been paying into the system for decades, and IMSS officials say they don't want to be overrun by bargain-hunting foreigners.

"If they started flooding down here for this, it wouldn't be sustainable," said Javier Lopez Ortiz, IMSS director in the popular retirement enclave of San Miguel de Allende.

The medical care doesn't cost a dime after paying the annual fee, and it is usually good, retirees and health experts say. Word of the plan has spread through chat boards and in the "retire in Mexico" books that have multiplied in recent years.