$250 per year health care solution: Move to Mexico!!!!

From The Arizona Republic: Mexicare: $250 a year covers it all

by Chris Hawley - Aug. 29, 2009 07:36 PM

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.

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

at all...

these days, the Heart Lung Institute in Mexico City, and the Social Security Hospital in Monterrey, for example are world class. They are Tertiary level specialist centers.

Hell Mexico has done some procedures for Parkinsons that are cutting edge...

part of the system for ten years, but as a former medic, I know we took our job seriously and the patient came first. ALWAYS.

Imagine this... in ten years of EMS I never asked... how do you intend to pay for this. or what is your insurance?

.... or tourist taxes. Actually, having seen some of their phone and hotel bills, almost any of their consumption taxes would do the trick I would think.

every pay check, like social security does in the states.

Hell, my dad, for example, put into the system every year of his working life and these days he has a pension... meager as it is... (and not his main income)

He has chosen NOT to use it, his choice.

I have other family members in Mexico who put money into the system every year and now as retirees use the system as well. Why people are having some issues with all these gringos. In Mexico there is this misunderstanding that all gringos have access to health care (yes start the laughter now) and all gringos are swimming in wealth... please I will here all week.



That said it does have many issues and don't get me started on some of the issues.

Now one of the alphabet soup of health systems (Hospital de los trabajadores del Petroleo) is partially supported with oil revenue.

Just saying. The ones in the travel brochures know that they're in the travel brochures.

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.



Hahahahahaha. Its like every right wing talking point about illegal immigration in reverse. The Americans are coming down here and using our tax money for health care. Someone post this on freerepublic and watch their heads explode, or offer explanations as to why its not the same thing.

On another note, this is a pretty good idea. I think outsourcing of medical care is becoming necessary in the US. You can get surgery in an OECD nation for about 30-60% the cost of surgery in the US, and in developing nations the cost is even lower. I don't think our system is sustainable much longer.

Life expectancy in mexico is only 5 years shorter than here. And I'm sure diseases of poverty play a role in that 5 year gap, which wouldn't be a problem for US citizens visiting.

Can a US citizen use this plan as a backup for emergencies (ie catastrophic health coverage)? Or do you need to be a resident of mexico? Ie, can I as an American citizen living in America choose to pay the annual fee (which I assume would be $150 or so since I am fairly young) and not use it unless I have a severe health problem, or do I need to live there? I assume I need to live there. Damn.