More Americans Drawn by Allure of Cheap Doctors, Drugs and Dentists in Mexico Barrett Newkirk - The Desert Sun
go to original October 26, 2016

Thousands head to Mexicali every year for prescription drugs, doctors and dentists. (Desert Sun)

In Southern California, if people haven't gone to Mexico for health care, they probably know someone who has. People overburdened by the price of getting what's supposed to be some of the best health care in the world are willing to seek out options that would have seemed overly risky not long ago. And while more Americans now have health insurance than ever before, the high price of seeing a doctor, dentist or filling a prescription have not slowed the annual growth in the amount of money Americans spend on health care in foreign countries.

Josef Woodman, the author of the medical tourism guide Patients Beyond Borders, estimated that 900,000 Americans left the country for medical care in 2013, but Woodman is not counting people traveling for prescription drugs, a big draw to Mexico. Another estimate for California only based on a 2001 survey put the number at 952,000 adults heading to Mexico annually for medical care, dental work and prescription drugs.

In the Coachella Valley, the nine-city region that includes Palm Springs, one in 10 adults, or more than 36,000 people traveled to Mexico in the previous year for health care and prescription drugs, according to a 2013 survey.

Americans are spending more money every year on health care in foreign countries. In 2015, the total climbed to $1.8 billion, according to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, up from $585 million in 2006.

Many people who have gone say price was their motivating factor.

Read the rest at USA Today

Related: Mexico Fills Health Needs for Many Latino Americans (The Desert Sun)

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