Should You Go To Mexico for Affordable Health Insurance?
Posted: Thursday, September 23, 2010
by Yamileth Medina
VitalOne Health
Medical care can be very expensive, especially for the uninsured. Hospitalization and surgery in an American hospital can cost tens of thousands of dollars. An increasing number of people are looking to reduce that expense, especially in a recession.
Buying health coverage could help, but some people either cannot afford or do not want to spend their money on the monthly premium. One of their solutions is medical tourism: traveling to other countries for cheaper procedures. It is a growing trend among Americans today.
Medical tourism facilitators, such as MedToGo International and BridgeHealth, plan entire trips that combine beach vacations with major surgery for a lower out-of-pocket cost than the latter alone would cost in the United States.
Understandably, many will worry about the risks associated with foreign medical care. Granted, an increasing number of Mexican hospitals are internationally accredited, and some are even staffed by American doctors. Reliable accreditations include those from the Joint Commissions International, which has endorsed nine hospitals in major Mexican cities. If there are complications, a patient will often be stuck in a foreign location. Moreover, if they suffer complications after returning to the United States, American hospitals may fear medical malpractice reprecussions and refuse to treat the patient. There is also the threat of drug cartel-related violence in certain areas.
A good, affordable health insurance policy should effectively cover most procedures. It is recommended that a person shops around for the lowest co-payments and co-insurance percentages for certain procedures in the United States before resorting to going out of the country.
Yamileth Medina is an up and coming expert on Health Insurance and Healthcare Reform. She aims to help people realize that they can find affordable health insurance right now. Yamileth lives in Miami, FL.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Yes. And India and Thailand as well. Americans are paying ten times what they should, and this is the reason for the health care crisis.
My uncle who is a resident of Ohio State have recently visited Chandigarh in India for heart surgery in International Fortis Hospital and Fortis have confirmed hospital is on the approved list of USA insurance company. Here surgery is less than 25% charge and servises at par.
Many medical insurance in the United States have tried to open office here, but fail, there is verification of the costs of their services and unauthorized bonuses inflated as the United States are not permitted.
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