Going to Mexico for medical care

"When they get sick, many try to treat themselves or cross the border to Ju?rez for cheaper medical care. For some, it's been years since they saw a doctor."
...
"She said she's applying for a passport to allow her to travel back and forth between El Paso and Ju?rez so she can get medical care there and avoid a repeat of her experience last year when she fell and broke her ankle.

She waited a week before seeing a doctor out of hope that it was just a sprain. Her brother paid for a visit to a chiropractor, who told her it was broken and referred her to then-Thomason Hospital."

https://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_13280354

Our health care system is so awesome that people are going to Mexico from the United States to get care.

This makes my heart bleed, our government has no excuse. I've thought about this often because of my serious health issues.
It's unfathomable for me to even wonder how we'd survive. I have 6 drs. and my husband had a triple bypass and has 2. When I was teaching, I didn't understand why my college educated assistant would work for so little money. It was for the health benefits. When I retired and had to pay for my own for awhile, it was $1200 a month and that was under the school districts rider. My cousin, also a woman with a Master's Degree, still is teaching at 65, for the benefits.
Some of us take this for granted. My neighbor would drive to Canada for the benefits. She kept her Canadian citizenship for this reason. It became impossible for her to travel during the end stages of cancer and she died a horrible death. These are examples that always cross my mind. These were well educated women who made decent livings, but were just in that bracket to be cut off from anything that might be free. Thank you for reminding me again, it's why I volunteer at the hospital and take nothing for granted. I can't imagine what the life of a person unable to see a dr. is like. You're right, the situation is pitiful. Making sure to follow the politicians who sincerely want to help, may help, I have no answer for this problem. It makes a person want to cry.

Great thread Tino. Most of the people going to Mexico are the elderly on fixed income (SS) and on the government health care known as Medicare.
I agree we have problems with our health care system, but we have higher standards of medicine than Mexico has, and I guarantee you, Americans don;t go there for life saving measures. They go there when already diagnosed by an American doctor and need medication refills.
Our major problem is the pharmacies and drug cartels...... oops, I mean drug manufacturers that rip us off.
Now for one time, I agree with you to some extent, we need to fix our problem, not reinvent another problem.

Did you even read the article? Nobody in the article was on medicare. They are all uninsured.



Again, why don't you read the article. People aren't just going there for prescription drugs. They are going there to get medical care they can't afford in the United States.

"These people earn too much to qualify for programs such as Medicaid or county indigent care, but too little to purchase their own insurance."

"One thing that upsets me is ? (insurance companies) don't accept kids with pre-existing conditions," he said. "These kids did not choose to be born like that."

"I don't mind paying for health care as long as it's reasonable and within my budget and it doesn't take away from my family's food,"

"When she got sick, Sanchez-Miramontez used to go to Ju?rez to buy medicine or to get inexpensive medical care. But those trips stopped in January when the violence in that city became too much....I just want to go across the bridge, get some sleeping pills and come back, but I'm too
scared,"

______

I think these four quotes from the article struck me the most. I do agree something needs to happen because when you make too much to qualify for medicare, yet make too little to buy your own private insurance, a large majority of people fall through the cracks.

And I bet once this reform comes through...politicians left and right will be b****ing and complaining of the high costs of covering individuals with pre-existing and sever medical conditions. Well of course, so many have gone without health care for such a long time, their problems got worse. At least we're putting that to bay now and fixing it instead of ignoring or sweeping it under the rug.

I do relate to the article...didn't have medical insurance for a long time, luckily I hardly ever got sick, but I did have cavities that needed fillings that I would put off. And every time I went abroad, I would get my teeth done for a fraction of what I would get charged here. But I would have to wait a whole year to do so cause I only travel abroad once a year or so.

Even now that I have health insurance...the co-pay is hard enough to pay.

It's not just medical, its dental and vision too. And its not the elderly that go, its the uninsured, and many of them do have jobs.

And its not just those in El Paso, either, it happens to a lot of New Mexico residents, too. Even a 5 or 6 hour drive to Mexico can be "worth it" because otherwise they could not afford treatment.

I'd like to say the stories in the paper surprised me, but I've been seeing that for years. It's sad. People feel "lucky" that they are elderly because then they qualify for some coverage here in our country. That is better than nothing, but sometimes for many its too little to late.

LMAO. I am glad you had me read the article. For one, the black man was the only non-mexican person interviewed. Wonder how many of the others are legal citizens? Another point, no person is ever denied medical treatment when in an accident. Total liberal paper, total propaganda.

You know it is possible to have a Spanish surname and not have any family ties with modern Mexico.

My wife is a retired teacher and she pays five hundred per month for insurance.

The government can do health care cheaper...........

don't think so.
They would hire more people that the people on the plan.

Never said otherwise. I do live close to the border and understand the ratio beteen Mexican Surname and illegals.

P.S. Spanish is from Spain. Mexican is from Mexico.

Excatly, It's like It's my fault because I am hard of hearing.. I'm sorry I can't help it but I'm trying my damn best to ask everyone to speak up when I can't hear

i was born hard of hearing.. 95-98 hearing loss discovered at age 2.5

El Paso is 76% hispanic. Not only that, it is the 2nd safest city in the US with a population greater than 500,000.
https://elpaso.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso,_Texas#Demographics

The notion that all, or even a large amount, of those are "mexican" is ludicrous on its face. I'm not sure how these people would get passports or cross freely across the border for medical care if they were not "legal citizens". Nice way to bring race into this, by the way.

And nowhere does the article state that people involved in accidents are denied medical treatment. It does say however that an accident could "break" them financially.

If it is your assertion that this article is propaganda, please state what part of the article is untrue. Please be specific.

And yet because of the surnames in the article you wonder if they are legal.

and Yes I know its from Spain, Spaniards and the Portuguese people discovered the continent, bringing settlers with them leaving their descendants with their surname behind, in Mexico and in that large part of land they ceded to the US and the part included in the Gadsden purchase. So you would find the same surnames among US citizen and Mexican citizens. Maybe I should have used Hispanic, instead of Spanish, Im just saying its possible to have the surname of Lopez Sanchez or Ramirez and have your family be US citizens back since the 1850's.

To ask if they were legal, based on surnames alone, just seemed a little flawed to me.

I don't know, the peoples in the article family ancestry... Im just pointing out, it could be a flawed assumption to make on surname and ethnicy alone. Especially in the area around El Paso, and since the article made a point to differentiate the percentage of actual Mexican citizens (foreigners) that were "draining" medical services.

People from Canada go to Mexico for health/dental. People with the money to buy surgery go to avoid the long waits here. People with-out dental go because it is far too expensive to have the work done here.