salud Popular

[geromio]

Since I can't go to the States anymore, because I can't buy medical travel insurance and the astronomical cost of hospital and doctors in the Us, I was wondering if anyone has ever been to Mexico and spent some time for treatment in the General Hospital in the country.
Apperently they have an Universal Medical System like in Canada. Anyone is treated regardless of insurance coverage or not.
I know that George the Vagabonder Suprime used once or twice the service of their Salud Popular at no cost other for his food and medication.
I would appreciate very much anyone feed back on this.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Hokay by me. I want your parking spot and seat in the restaurant.

[geromio]

Thank you all for your great input. I think I will stay home. I have a nice 5th wheel sitting in Tampa East RV Park for someone interested.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

tepetapan wrote:
Ahhhh, the lies and the stories. I guess it is for entertainment along the lines of Tom Sawyer.

Are you playing the part of "Jim"?


Many years ago I figured out

He who flings disparaging remarks about others is almost always a master in the art...

[Almot]

I don't think Mex is lying.

Or that the story about private insurer not paying directly to hospital is a lie, either. Canadian Medicare - MSP - covers you out of country, though coverage is very low. So when you buy private insurance, the Primary Provider is MSP. If insurance company has no agreement with MSP (many companies don't), then you pay FULL AMOUNT out of pocket and later file a claim.

The fact that MSP will stop after 6-7 months of absence you can verify in govt documents. You "might" sneak in and out of Canada without them noticing, but if they catch you, the stakes are too high. This is why Canadians in Mexico are mostly snowbirds, going back every 6 months.

[tepetapan]

Ahhhh, the lies and the stories. I guess it is for entertainment along the lines of Tom Sawyer.

[Almot]

For a Canadian living permanently in Mexico (ie more than 7 months a year), Evac home simply won't work. Our Medicare stops after 7 months absence (in those provinces that I know about), and then they will re-instate it after you've lived in Canada for 3 months. Stupid system "wants" seniors to stay in Canada and use Medicare, how about that?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I tried to start a KrAp game with some of the infermeros (male nurses) but hallway stalking La Paz cops soon put a stop to that. My room mate was a living corpse for the first nine days, then strike living for the tenth day. I wandered the halls I haunted the farmacia, the surgeon never showed until I believe day 11 or 12. He marched into the room followed by the goon squad of orderlies, rolled me over onto a gurney, and we hauled donkey to the operating room. A mask was strapped to my face and three hours later I came to with gigantic stainless steel spikes sticking out of my wrist. They did not. Let me clarify this. DID NOT EVER give me so much as a single Tylenol. So I a0sked. No hay!" came the response (there is none). Pain killer injection? Jajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaja

I checked with a hospital in Zapopan Jalisco just for drill. Eleven thousand eight hundred and some odd dollars. A private hospital in Mexico (city) wants 830,000 pesos to do the surgery on my spine + whatever days recovery in hospital costs. Plus medicine + anesthesiologist + cardiologist consultation.

Air EVAC to a home HMO is the hot setup.But get stabilized and get an attending physician's opinion FIRST before heading to the airport

I do remember the cruz roja searching everywhere in Zihuatanejo for two hours for a pulse oximeter for me. 2008. And 2009 in Lazaro Cardenas rooting around to finally find the only place that had an electrocardiogram was a private practice cardiologist. Seguro Popular did not have one. In a city of 200,000

[Almot]

Beans... In Mexico it's good enough if some freezer in store "works". Don't ask what temperature.

Inexpensive, yes. In public hospital, if you are not covered, you'll pay 15-20K for a major surgery with a week long stay, but this is cheap if they fix you. Provincial and/or private plan will cover some of that (maybe "most" - I perused provincial schedules and noticed that they have low rates for hospital stay but high rates for surgery). But... patients laying in Mexican public hospital for days without anything being done - Mex isn't the first one that I hear this from.

On the bright side, you'll pay 10-15K for a few days stay in private hospital (not the most expensive one), when they run all the tests and diagnostics and tell you that you don't need an operation, or not urgently. They will have CT Scan, and MRI, and ECG, and big flat screen TV, yes. And your private insurance won't cover anything - because it wasn't really an emergency. Most private plans are emergency type, defined as "will lose life or a limb or organ if not treated within 24 hours". READ THE FINE PRINT. Policies are written in such a way as to make it difficult for you to understand. Triple that amount if you need a surgery (and then your insurance and/or provincial plan will cover "something"). They'll get you either way.

I can't really contribute anything here, sorry. Just trying to figure out these things myself.

PS: Taking chances to upset Moisheh again, here is some read on Provincial coverage out of country. Not in Mexico though. It almost looks like the system would work better if she only had her private insurance, and didn't have BC MSP plan.

[Naio]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Did I forget to mention the stiff tortillas, luke warm beans, rice mound clump and half an orange?

Honestly, it sounds better than Wonder bread and Jello.

I'd be afraid of how long the beans had been at room temperature, though.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Did I forget to mention the stiff tortillas, luke warm beans, rice mound clump and half an orange?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

OK I tried and cannot provide an answer to the meds $ issue. I am a citizen as are my kids and grandkids and friends. The Rx formulary is so basic the medicines cost next to nothing if the person hospitalized has friends or family that can get meds other than what's available next door to the hospital. Those farmacias sell only medicamentos patentes, flagship name brand medicines at astronomical prices. Like many other things - the farmacia pays a huge bribe to government to get the concession to be guaranteed the sole farmacia in a two block radius.

If you don't mind laying in a hospital bed with absolutely zero to do you can tolerate a Mexican health care hospital. Television? Radio? WiFi? Shirley You Jest! If you do not speak Spanish when a nuse shows up with a six liter enema, you might as well bend over - even when they make a mistake and the order is for the other patient sharing your room.

[Almot]

Talleyho69 - vast majority of countries will be inexpensive compared to the US. For a particular Joe without private insurance it can be expensive. Depends what you have to treat.

Mex public hospitals start somewhere 3 times of what Canadian plan would cover - and this is just for sleeping there. Private, "inexpensive"?

[Talleyho69]

Clinica Maciel in Zihua, private, we were extremely impressed, and it wasn't particularly expensive compared to the US.

[ToyHauler]

What have we learned here people?

Yes Effck Mexico all the way..
I wont give them a penny