01/03/2012 | By: Guest Contributor
US-based Mexicans travel back home to escape the rising cost of health care in the US.
Healthcare in Mexico is best-known for its value for money and high quality medical care. Mexico is one of the most affordable destinations for medical tourism countries, offering top-rated hospitals are internationally accredited clinics and medical institutions.
American patients routinely cross the border into Mexico for in expensive health care that is spanning all medical specialties; from plastic surgery in Guadalajara to dental implants in Cancun.
Amid the rising cost of health care in US, the Mexican government is not only targeting American patients to take advantage of its affordable health care services but also Mexicans living the US- as part of a new medical marketing campaign to extend affordable health care access to more patients overseas.
According to Chicago Tribune, “About a dozen Chicago health professionals and several others embarked on a health care tour of Mexico City, part of a campaign to raise that city's profile as a center for medical tourism.
The campaign is aimed at residents in Chicago and other cities with large Mexican immigrant populations who need cancer treatment, heart surgeries, dental procedures and other health care.”
To Americans, Mexico is a close-to-home health care haven offering the same quality and accreditation available in US hospitals for a third of what would cost them in the US.
More Mexican patients in the US are realizing the fact that the cost of healthcare in their home country is cheaper than in US; even some of them delay their medical treatment for their seasonal visit to Mexico.
"We have many hospitals of great prestige," said Dr. Ricardo Garcia Cavazos, undersecretary of health for Mexico City, to Chicago Tribune whose agency has sent delegations to meet with health care providers in Chicago several times during the last year.
Dr. Tariq Butt, a family practice physician told Chicago Tribune that a number of patients treated at clinics operated by Access Community Health Network are traveling to Mexico for some of their medical care.
In many cases, they have family there. "We are aware of other options in other countries, Mexico specifically," said Butt, deputy medical officer for Access, which operates more than 50 community health centers in Chicago and surrounding suburbs.
"In the cases where people go to Mexico for treatment, we invite transparency with other health care providers so that information is shared both ways, so both sets of clinicians are in tune with that particular patient's health care needs and procedures that may have been done."
Among important medical services being promoted by Mexico City are infertility treatments in Mexico, plastic surgery and weight loss Tijuana.
One of the first potential patients on the medical tour in Mexico, Anna Levit, of Arlington Heights, has scheduled a bone graft in her jaw during, part of an extensive dental work. She was quoted about $40,000 in Chicago but closer to $13,000 in Mexico City.
With the rise in quality care and low cost of medical treatment in Mexico, the country will appeal to Americans, Mexican-Americans and global medical tourists as well.
