A common conservative meme is to claim that US health care is superior to other countries by telling stories of people coming here from abroad to seek medical care. Often the stories of people coming here because of inadequate care at home are distorted. After all, while the US does provide excellent care in many areas, overall it does have the worst health care delivery system in the industrialized world.
If conservatives are right that a health care system should be judged based upon citizens who feel compelled to travel to other countries, our system also shows problems. Medical tourism is becoming increasingly common. While people in countries such as the UK sometimes travel because of long waits (making me relieved that a system such as they have in the UK is not being considered in the United States), many Americans travel to other countries because of cost. According to Newsweek, more than twenty percent of American medical tourists surveyed had no medical insurance.
For the real bargain hunters, USA Today provides a nearby option:
It sounds almost too good to be true: a health care plan 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, you just have to 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.
The system has flaws, the facilities aren’t cutting-edge, and the deal may not last long because the Mexican government said in a recent report that it is “notorious” for losing money. But for now, retirees say they’re getting a bargain.
“It was one of the primary reasons I moved here,” said Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora. “I couldn’t afford health care in the United States. … To me, this is the best system that there is.”
It’s unclear how many Americans use IMSS, but with between 40,000 and 80,000 U.S. retirees living in Mexico, the number probably runs “well into the thousands,” said David Warner, a public policy professor at the University of Texas.
“They take very good care of us,” said Jessica Moyal, 59, of Hollywood, Fla., who now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a popular retirement enclave for Americans.