Ed_The_Gypsy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
For those with an interest in spending time or retiring South Of The Border, this book is a must.
One of the important things to me is the cost of health care as we wear out and the quality that we can get when we need it. This is one of the main reasons I am considering retiring outside my country. I am not happy with the prospect of being unable to pay for life-saving treatment or long-term care up here in the Land of the Rich and the Home of the Slave.
This book has parts on Preparation, Symptoms, Medical Conditions, a pharmaceutical guide, a translation guide and a large section on Mexican Health Care.
The authors, doctors, have managed to review the hospital care available in about 40 towns and cities in Mexico of interest to expats and tourists. They review individual hospitals and clinics and give thumbnail personal notes with photographs of individual doctors with special note of those who speak English. (It took an effort for me not be put off by some of the photos. Some of these doctors look very indigenous, like they belong in an East LA street gang. My bad. )
They use a scale from 2 (or less) to 5; 5 being as good as any anywhere. The criteria used are interesting and worth considering for evaluating where to live up here in North America.
The cities having hospitals of rank five are
Mexico City
Guadalajara
Merida
Villahermosa
Leon
Monterrey
Hermosillo
Cities with rank of 3 to 4.5 are
Cabo San Lucas
La Paz
Ensanada
Tijuana (!)
Mazatlan
San Miguel de Allende
Queretaro
Puerto Vallarta
Puebla
Cuernavaca
Veracruz
Acapulco
Progresso
Cozumel
Cancun
Cities with only basic facilities include
Bahias de Huatulco
Palenque
San Cristobal de las Casas
Isla Mujeres (makes sense)
Cities reviewed with “less than basic” (to “none”) include
Playa del Carmen
Tulum
Puerto Escondido
Xalapa (sad)
Puerto Penasco
They warn of places such as Cancun and Mazatlan where hotels refer to expen$ive doctors. They advise to go to their listed doctors or to the emergency room (or airport).
Not on the list, but of interest to me, are Zacatecas, Tepic, Morelia. From my cruising of the web, I have found several comments on the Mexican health care system. The author of one web site originating in Tepic is very happy with IMSS, the public health system, which transported him to Guadalajara for major health problems. One resident of Morelia had local treatment for breast cancer there and gave a very favorable account of her treatment. She had family members in the health care business in the US who confirmed that her treatment was state-of-the-art. In addition, they do not mention the military hospital in Mazatlan, where some expats have received excellent emergency care for heart attacks, etc. Still, there are many who return to the States for serious medical care for such things as cancer (the well-known Mexico Mike, for example).
A couple of gaffs in the book remind us that doctors don’t walk on water. On page 22, a drawing of a “tick” is clearly a flea. On page 241, we learn that the charges at one hospital are “…30% lower than the neighboring hospital and 300% less than the majority of US hospitals.” (How do they DO that? PAY you to go to their hospiital?) The [-]golf partners[/-] editorial board consists of six MDs and 3 osteopaths. Did any of them actually read the book? Oh, well.
They have a web site, Home :: MedToGo Travel Health & Safety
All this suggests that one should
a)learn Spanish,
b)know where the closest “5” hospitals are,
c)know how to get to the airport,
d)have medevac insurance.
Ed (where did my avatar go) the Gypsy
One of the important things to me is the cost of health care as we wear out and the quality that we can get when we need it. This is one of the main reasons I am considering retiring outside my country. I am not happy with the prospect of being unable to pay for life-saving treatment or long-term care up here in the Land of the Rich and the Home of the Slave.
This book has parts on Preparation, Symptoms, Medical Conditions, a pharmaceutical guide, a translation guide and a large section on Mexican Health Care.
The authors, doctors, have managed to review the hospital care available in about 40 towns and cities in Mexico of interest to expats and tourists. They review individual hospitals and clinics and give thumbnail personal notes with photographs of individual doctors with special note of those who speak English. (It took an effort for me not be put off by some of the photos. Some of these doctors look very indigenous, like they belong in an East LA street gang. My bad. )
They use a scale from 2 (or less) to 5; 5 being as good as any anywhere. The criteria used are interesting and worth considering for evaluating where to live up here in North America.
The cities having hospitals of rank five are
Mexico City
Guadalajara
Merida
Villahermosa
Leon
Monterrey
Hermosillo
Cities with rank of 3 to 4.5 are
Cabo San Lucas
La Paz
Ensanada
Tijuana (!)
Mazatlan
San Miguel de Allende
Queretaro
Puerto Vallarta
Puebla
Cuernavaca
Veracruz
Acapulco
Progresso
Cozumel
Cancun
Cities with only basic facilities include
Bahias de Huatulco
Palenque
San Cristobal de las Casas
Isla Mujeres (makes sense)
Cities reviewed with “less than basic” (to “none”) include
Playa del Carmen
Tulum
Puerto Escondido
Xalapa (sad)
Puerto Penasco
They warn of places such as Cancun and Mazatlan where hotels refer to expen$ive doctors. They advise to go to their listed doctors or to the emergency room (or airport).
Not on the list, but of interest to me, are Zacatecas, Tepic, Morelia. From my cruising of the web, I have found several comments on the Mexican health care system. The author of one web site originating in Tepic is very happy with IMSS, the public health system, which transported him to Guadalajara for major health problems. One resident of Morelia had local treatment for breast cancer there and gave a very favorable account of her treatment. She had family members in the health care business in the US who confirmed that her treatment was state-of-the-art. In addition, they do not mention the military hospital in Mazatlan, where some expats have received excellent emergency care for heart attacks, etc. Still, there are many who return to the States for serious medical care for such things as cancer (the well-known Mexico Mike, for example).
A couple of gaffs in the book remind us that doctors don’t walk on water. On page 22, a drawing of a “tick” is clearly a flea. On page 241, we learn that the charges at one hospital are “…30% lower than the neighboring hospital and 300% less than the majority of US hospitals.” (How do they DO that? PAY you to go to their hospiital?) The [-]golf partners[/-] editorial board consists of six MDs and 3 osteopaths. Did any of them actually read the book? Oh, well.
They have a web site, Home :: MedToGo Travel Health & Safety
All this suggests that one should
a)learn Spanish,
b)know where the closest “5” hospitals are,
c)know how to get to the airport,
d)have medevac insurance.
Ed (where did my avatar go) the Gypsy