Carol Schmidt
Oct 30, 2003, 9:38 PM
Post #5 of 8
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I'd also consider what kinds of medical problems I'd be most likely to have, if I have pre-existing conditions, and whether they can be handled in a Mexican hospital, and where in Mexico I'll be--near a good medical center in a major city, or in the boonies.
Are you in basically good health so that the most likely thing would be a car accident or a fall or some such? Mexican ER depts are pretty good at routine things like fractures. Do you have some unusual auto-immune thingie where you find it hard to get expert care even in the U.S.? It will be harder to find in Mexico, particularly if your Spanish is not great.
Read some of the other threads in MexConnect on health care in general, and insurance plans in particular. I'm one of those 43 million Americans who had no health insurance at all for 14 years in the U.S. because I couldn't get it, and I survived by using ERs as my medical plan. Now I'm on Medicare which does not cover out of the U.S., at least not yet, though some efforts have been made to extend coverage. I also keep a Point of Service plan supplementing Medicare that does cover emergencies anywhere in the world.
I paid out of pocket for much routine medical care here and found it cheaper than the copayment would be in the States. Three days in an ER here cost U.S. $880, half of that being IV antibiotics--it would have been $5000 at least in the U.S., with the copay being around $800. But when I had a real medical emergency I went back to the U.S. for three months.
Lots of things to consider before you make your decision. First, do read the fine print in your insurance.
Carol Schmidt
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