I'd Love To See This Catch On........

[Bisbee Gal]

First I've heard of US medical insurance company arranging and paying for non-emergency surgery in Mexico for US patients.  Maybe Medicare will get the hint 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/business/medical-tourism-mexico.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&

Quote

 

CANCÚN, Mexico — Donna Ferguson awoke in the resort city of Cancún before sunrise on a sweltering Saturday in July.

She wasn’t headed to the beach. Instead, she walked down a short hallway from her Sheraton hotel and into Galenia Hospital.

A little later that morning, a surgeon, Dr. Thomas Parisi, who had flown in from Wisconsin the day before, stood by Ms. Ferguson’s hospital bed and used a black marker to note which knee needed repair. “I’m ready,” Ms. Ferguson, 56, told him just before being taken to the operating room for her total knee replacement. For this surgery, she would not only receive free care, but would receive a check when she got home.

The hospital costs of the American medical system are so high that it made financial sense for both a highly trained orthopedist from Milwaukee and a patient from Mississippi to leave the country and meet at an upscale private Mexican hospital for the surgery.

Ms. Ferguson gets her health coverage through her husband’s employer, Ashley Furniture Industries. The cost to Ashley was less than half of what a knee replacement in the United States would have been. That’s why its employees and dependents who use this option have no out-of-pocket co-pays or deductibles for the procedure; in fact, they receive a $5,000 payment from the company, and all their travel costs are covered.

 

 

[Jreboll]

Thanks, but no thanks.  A few years ago my sister-in-law threw a blood clot while vacationing in Cancun. Not only were they not able to help her, they gouged her for 10000 dls for an overnight stay.  They shipped her to Merida the following day where she lingered for a few weeks before finally dying.

Any medical institution that does major surgery should have capabilities to take care of any complications that might occur.  Having a good surgeon is not enough.

[Kyle]

Bisbee,. I had read that article before and I hope the US health care is waking up to this option. Hospitals here are as good as US hospitals if not better.

 

jreboll, sorry about your sister but not sure that is the norm.  Bisbees article says they used US doctors.

[Jreboll]

Again, good doctors is not enough. If you’re ever in Cancun you should go check out the facilities. Good hospitals in GDL or DF doesn’t mean Cancun has good hospitals.

[Bisbee Gal]

@Jreboll Sorry for your loss.  

When I said I'd hope this would catch on,  I am hoping the concept would spread throughout Mexico including at GDL hospitals.  And of course that Medicare would be interested in taking advantage of these savings quoted in the article.  

 

Quote

The standard charge for a night in the hospital is $300 (USD) at Galenia, Dr. Flores said, compared with $2,000 on average at United States hospitals.

 

Quote

The other big savings is the cost of the medical device — made by a subsidiary of the New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson — used in Ms. Ferguson’s knee replacement surgery. The very same implant she would have received at home costs $3,500 at Galenia, compared with nearly $8,000 in the United States, Dr. Flores said.

 

[Jreboll]

The point I was trying to make is that a lot of us older folk carry a lot of health baggage with us. Most of us have problems with medical issues that have nothing to do with the surgery being performed but many times cause flare ups in times of stress or other medical alterations. It can be something simple from a diabetes exacerbation to some thing life threatening like a pulmonary embolus. In times like these it is nice to be in a full service medical center that has capable personnel to draw from.

[happyjillin]

I don't need no NOB doctors thanks. I have full confidence in my go to Mexican Ortho for example, and have had excellent experiences in every Guadalajara hospitals that I've been in.

[gringal]

2 hours ago, happyjillin said:

I don't need no NOB doctors thanks. I have full confidence in my go to Mexican Ortho for example, and have had excellent experiences in every Guadalajara hospitals that I've been in.

AMEN  to that.  Once in a while, you get one here (same as in U.S.) who rushes you in for an "emergency" procedure you could have done without, but so far here, I've had the best of care including that of a neurosurgeon who saved me from the full back surgery I've dreaded and avoided.  I can't say enough good things about a few others, too. Best of all, you don't find yourself sitting half naked in a cold room waiting for a doc who usually consults his watch every other minute while he's with you.

For those with doubts, look up where the U.S. stands in the world ratings for quality of care given.  Then see where they stand in cost of care...Number one!!! 

[pappysmarket]

12 minutes ago, gringal said:

Best of all, you don't find yourself sitting half naked in a cold room waiting for a doc who usually consults his watch every other minute while he's with you.

So generally true NOB but we have been lucky with our GP here.  Oh...did I mention he's from Mexico?

[Bisbee Gal]

I posted the article because it was the first time I heard of a US insurance company sending patients to Mexico for medical services and paying for their care here.  I found that a hopeful sign that perhaps one day Medicare would see the cost savings in allowing expats in Mexico to be covered for medical services here.  I really don't care if it is a US doctor or a Mexican doctor; I have seen excellent doctors and gotten great care on both sides of the border.  

I just saw it as a sign that if one insurer is doing this, others may follow with the ultimate hope that Medicare would get in on the action.  Given that Mexican doctors would be even more cost-saving (no transportation costs, lower wages), it may dawn on US insurers to expand the program to include Mexican doctors.  

Yeah, yeah....pie in the sky.  

[pappysmarket]

The problem seems to be with all the dishonest people who generally realize how easy it is to scam any government funded plan and especially Medicare. Do a search on Medicare fraud and you will see how big a problem it is. Maybe if we put a bounty on these low-lifes the rest of us could have everything at a lower cost. But then some people would complain we are abusing "the poorest among us". Right, if you buy that I have this bridge that I really need to sell, and today only....

[SWhitehead]

On 8/21/2019 at 3:32 PM, pappysmarket said:

The problem seems to be with all the dishonest people who generally realize how easy it is to scam any government funded plan and especially Medicare. Do a search on Medicare fraud and you will see how big a problem it is. Maybe if we put a bounty on these low-lifes the rest of us could have everything at a lower cost. But then some people would complain we are abusing "the poorest among us". Right, if you buy that I have this bridge that I really need to sell, and today only....

I believe it is already catching on. I'm still in the US, not retired yet. Plan on being retired and at Lakeside by November 1. Was going to retire earlier this year although my local US doctor kept making me wait for a knee replacement. Went back after much research and told him if he wasn't going to perform the replacement then I am having it done in GAD for about the same as my total out of pocket expense.  Hmmm, all of a sudden, they got me in and had it replaced on July 8th. Recovering well, all household items sold or in storage, house for sale and have a place rented in Ajijic November 1 through January. My biggest fear is the American mentality, (a cancer) appears to be spreading into Mexico. I wish people would just chill and forget their past values and establish better values? Just a thought.