Health care in Mexico
Posted on: Tue, 2006-08-29 04:39
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Health care in Mexico
I was told today by a friend of mine that if you travel to mexico pray that you dont get sick. For if you dont have insurance you are left out in the hospital grounds to die? Is this true is it that bad? This sounds pretty harsh to me
I cannot imagine this. It may be true for the poor population, but I would say a tourist shouldn't be too worried. Just have a credit card with you and be prepared to pay everything yourself until you get reimbursed from your travel insurance.
In this case, I see no reason for them to leave you out in the cold.
Andre
Travel Photos
There was an article about this in the Washington Post. It can be found here.
I will quote from the article:
The little bag of blood Ruiz had just given up would pay for the Caesarean section that made his friend a father, and it was part of an elemental ritual of life here. In Mexico, patients who have no health insurance or who are covered by bare-bones government plans are required to recruit two to six blood donors -- friends, relatives, even total strangers -- in order to receive free or discounted medical care.
So you can pay for healthcare with the blood of others. They shouldn't have a shortage in blood supplies.
It is an obligation accepted matter-of-factly. Nearly half of the population had no health insurance in 2005, and almost everyone -- except for the estimated 5 percent of the population that can afford deluxe private insurance -- can readily spool off a list of surgeries that their blood has made possible.
Alvarez had previously given blood to pay for both of his brothers' kidney surgeries and for some procedure that his brother-in-law needed but that Alvarez never quite understood. Somewhere in between there was a cousin who hit him up for half a pint, too. On this day, he was here for his sister's heart surgery.
This system seems to have some benefits:
The announcement put Morales in a fix. His wife has rare O-negative blood, and he had to find someone with matching blood.
In some places, this might have been a daunting task. But in Mexico, where the World Bank estimates half the population lives below the poverty line, a person's blood type is essentially common knowledge. It's the sort of thing that gets talked about at sidewalk taco stands and, thankfully for Morales, at bars.
Morales's aunt is a regular at a bar near her home and she just happened to know that her favorite bartender -- Reyes Trujillo -- had O-negative blood. She made the introduction, and Reyes Trujillo agreed without hesitation. Someday, he figured, he might need the same.
It seems to me that Tay heard right. You should be able to avoid this with proper health insurance.
There is no mention of people being left out to die though. It sounds like you can repay the debt later and many of the poor repay by donating blood. You should be able to repay with your travel insurance.
CY
i was watching a us program where a couple had to pay in the regions of 20, 000 because the wife was sick and she wasn’t properly insured, they wouldn’t allow her to leave the hospital until the husband found all the money, he had to call home and borrow money from friends and family to get the money.
Was that couple getting medical help in Mexico or in the United States?
There are a lot of people in the states who cannot afford insurance either.
Wow I believe we are very lucky over here in Australia when it comes to medical. We do not have to have Medical Insurance if we do not want to or cant afford it and we have what is called Medicare Where the Government pays for the medical Care.
I heard that medical is "free" in Great Britain too, but the quality and experience of the doctors is really bad. Thats just heresay for me, but I guess there is no such thing as free medical. You will pay for it one way or another, either through taxes or through medical insurance.
Andre
Mexico Photos
In almost any third world country, you can't leave if you can't pay. That's true here in Thailand, too. In the US the problem goes the other way. They are required by law to keep you from dying if you are uninsured, but they don't have to actually treat you. And my last visit to an emergency room, that resulted merely in being given an antibiotic, cost over $3000.
At least in Mexico you can get good treatment, and the medical care here in Thailand is excellent. If you are elsewhere in SE Asia and have a serious problem, you will be med-evaced to Chiang Mai, Bangkok, or Singapore.
In the US the problem goes the other way. They are required by law to keep you from dying if you are uninsured, but they don't have to actually treat you.
Not exactly. They have to stabilize you, until they can transport you to another facility (they have hospitals for the uninsured). They may also get you started on a treatment, but all of this is only to keep you from dying as you said. Once you are in a condition to be transfered you will be sent to another hospital.
However, they do have hospitals (like Alliance Community Care Centers) that take care of the uninsured.
Andre
Mexico Photos
Where I live, there aren't any hospitals for the uninsured. You are in California, Andre, which provides much more for its residents than most other states. Florida is more of an "It's your fault you aren't rich" state.
For instance, they have a medical insurance program for children, but authorized it for only 25,000 children. It filled up immediate, and the rest went without. But if you look it up, Florida looks as if it has insurance for the poor.
Maybe I should move to Massachusetts or California.
By the way, Mexico is in North America. And there is another post for Costa Rica, which is in Central America. Maybe this forum should be renamed Latin America, which would cover everything from Mexico down.
Where I live, there aren't any hospitals for the uninsured. You are in California, Andre, which provides much more for its residents than most other states. Florida is more of an "It's your fault you aren't rich" state.
I know. California is a good state to live in. However I am not 100% sure how the community hospitals really work. It may be you come out of it with a lot of debt (but alive).
By the way, Mexico is in North America. And there is another post for Costa Rica, which is in Central America. Maybe this forum should be renamed Latin America, which would cover everything from Mexico down.
Yeah I know. This post should have been moved immediately. I can still move it and leave a forward in its original place though.
Somehow, lots of people confuse south of the border with South America.
Andre
Mexico Photos
Geography is sort of hard to grasp when you haven't been somewhere. Geography is (or used to be) a one-year subject taught in the fifth or sixth grade, depending on the state curriculum. A friend told me that one day her daughter asked her, "Is France in Europe?" My friend was horrified, and told her daughter so. The young woman then pointed out that when she was in fifth grade, they lived in Tennessee, where geography was taught in the sixth grade. That summer they moved to Pennsylvania, where it's a fifth grade subject. She'd never had geography.
Thats pretty sad but it explains things. A long time ago I was in an online chat. It went something like this:
me: So tomorrow I am going to fly to Germany
other person: I thought you said you are going to Europe
Even worse then in your example, the person thought that Europe is a country.
In Germany (where I grew up) Geography was taught from the 5th to the 10th grade (I believe) but definitely longer than 1 year. Most people in the USA don't think beyond their own borders.
It doesn't help that everyone calls people from the US Americans.
Andre
Travel Photos
Well, the name of the country is the United States of America. What else should we be called? Just because our country happens to have the same name as the region we are in doesn't mean we shouldn't call ourselves that. Should people from New York City not be allowed to call themselves New Yorkers because that's the name of the state, too?
Bck before reunification, would a West German citizen have specified West Germany? I never met anyone from West Germany who didn't say they were German and expect it to be understood that they were from the west. And I suspect they would have been offended if they were told that they were wrong, and should say which Germany they were from.
I really would like a suggestion for what we should call ourselves. Or should we rename our country to please everyone else?
Sorry, but I've been talking to a guy who ranted on about American dominance and hating McDonald's and all things American. Of course, he accepted some Pringles when I offered them. Thought they were an English product, I guess. I have noticed that nobody ever complains about having a Baskin Robbins, or Snickers bars.
Mexico has some of the highest quality health care in the world. The great majority of people seeking health care in Mexico do not have health insurance. Thousands of Americans with no or inadequate insurance in the U.S. cross the border every month to get health care in Mexico. I tis high quality and for most people quite affordable as an out-of-pocket expense. I know people who were quoted $9000 for dental work in the U.S. and had the identical work completed flawlessly in Mexico for about $1000.
Here are some links:http://www.mexicomike.com/Health/mexico_medical_tourism.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Medical-Tourism-In-Mexico---An-Overview&id=585841
according to MedTogo: Many foreigners that don’t pay into Mexico’s Social Security system or purchase a private medical plan attest that Mexican health care is so affordable that they will pay out-of-pocket for basic medical needs and only return to the U.S. for serious health problems. An office visit to the doctor in Mexico runs between US$30-40 in most cities, and a hospital room US$90-100.
I have a health travel business and have found the Mexican doctors I work with to be caring, professional, and as high quality as any in the U.S.
What good is a good health care system if nobody is insured or can afford insurance.
I have never been to a doctor in Mexico, but some rural areas seem very underdeveloped to me. I wouldn't expect great doctors there.
What good is a good health care system if nobody is insured or can afford insurance.
You are talking about the US, right? Most Americans who seek medical in Mexico do so because they are not insured, and often not insurable in the US. Or they are there to buy medicine because Medicare either doesn't pay for it or has a lousy payment schedule.
And you do all know that Mexico is in North America, right? But then there is a Las Vegas thread here, too.
Maybe I was a bit negligent. I moved it now.
Sometimes people select the wrong category by accident.
And sometimes they don't know where things are. My geography is pretty good as long as I have been to a country, or planned at one time to go. But then I will know nothing about some areas of the world.
And you aren't going to catch everything, anyway.