| Pages:
1
2
3
4 |
micah202
Super Nomad
Posts: 1615
Registered: 1-19-2011
Location: vancouver,BC
Member Is Offline
|
|
.
....^^....probably a large-part why the costs are so high!
.
|
|
|
EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
|
|
It's wonderful that we have Nomads to communicate and convey important information like this. Unfortunately many Americans that venture into Baja
don't care to investigate healthcare coverage in Mexico which is understandable, they want to sigh that breath of relief that I feel and so many
others do while crossing the border and relax. Unfortunately, these incidents do happen and some of them serious enough to cause loss of life.
In summary, there are private hospitals and public hospitals in Mexico. If you go to a private hospital as apparently this person did, they can and
will charge whatever they want and no, you cannot be released unless the bill is paid in full. So your job as a Nomad and as a fellow American and
Mexican or whatever your nationality might be, is to spread the good will by telling anyone you know that if they cross South of the Border to secure
either Seguro Popular or IMSS (which has many restrictions including pre-existing conditions) or expect to pay their bill in a private hospital or not
be released. Yes there are plans that cover some private hospitals but you need to investigate the special clauses thoroughly. DAN seems to be a
great program to invest in if your goal is to return back to the US but if the condition is so serious that transporting might jeopardize the person's
life then that would not be an option. The more you know, the more prepared you will be.
Any way we can reroute this discussion under the category Baja Health and Wellness?
[Edited on 6-14-2014 by EnsenadaDr]
|
|
|
wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by mtgoat666
| Quote: | Originally posted by monoloco
He may have been overcharged for treatment, but in the US, being overcharged is certain. I suspect that most of the people who complain about being
gouged for medical care in Mexico have never paid for their own treatment at a hospital in the US where a room is $2000-$12,500 a day, over the
counter drugs are marked up 1000%, and stitches can cost $500 EACH.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/health/as-hospital-costs-s... |
Thankfully here in the USA we have employer medical insurance for many, and obamacare for the rest. Insurance is nice way to handle urgent care!
Urgent care without insurance will bankrupt you! |
Would offer, that doesn't do much for keeping "Costs" down ... with both the Medical Care and Insurance ... just saying
[Edited on 6-14-2014 by wessongroup]
|
|
|
Katiejay99
Nomad
Posts: 429
Registered: 9-3-2008
Location: Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
Mood: it is what it is
|
|
EnsenadaDr: You make it sound like if you don't have insurance your only option is a private hospital and that just isn't the case. The word should be
spread that if you don't have insurance, go to the public hospital! Their prices are based on a sliding scale, not on your nationality. I have been to
public hospitals several times here without insurance and the cost was minimal and the care was good. Just don't expect them to be anything like the
US and you will be fine.
|
|
|
Katiejay99
Nomad
Posts: 429
Registered: 9-3-2008
Location: Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
Mood: it is what it is
|
|
i want to say something else about the public hospitals. Every time I have been in one, they have striven to be sure that I had access to someone who
spoke English even though I speak Spanish. They had social workers come in and they acted like they cared very much that I was happy and everything
was well with me. I was very happy with them. The only thing is that with a public hospital you have to buy your meds from the pharmacies close by
because they don't supply them unless you have their insurance. You must have someone with you 24/7 - it is one of their rules. That person is
responsible for purchasing your meds, etc.
|
|
|
EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
|
|
That's not what I said at all. I have continuously encouraged everyone on this board to sign up for Seguro Popular or IMSS. I am addressing the fact
of this unfortunate person that had no public insurance and if he did he wouldn't have quite the bill he has now. | Quote: | Originally posted by Katiejay99
EnsenadaDr: You make it sound like if you don't have insurance your only option is a private hospital and that just isn't the case. The word should be
spread that if you don't have insurance, go to the public hospital! Their prices are based on a sliding scale, not on your nationality. I have been to
public hospitals several times here without insurance and the cost was minimal and the care was good. Just don't expect them to be anything like the
US and you will be fine. |
|
|
|
EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
|
|
What do mean you have to have someone with you 24/7? They give you a prescription and you go to their pharmacy and pick it up. The public hospitals
are very accomodating. I have had no problem with them. | Quote: | Originally posted by Katiejay99
i want to say something else about the public hospitals. Every time I have been in one, they have striven to be sure that I had access to someone who
spoke English even though I speak Spanish. They had social workers come in and they acted like they cared very much that I was happy and everything
was well with me. I was very happy with them. The only thing is that with a public hospital you have to buy your meds from the pharmacies close by
because they don't supply them unless you have their insurance. You must have someone with you 24/7 - it is one of their rules. That person is
responsible for purchasing your meds, etc. |
|
|
|
Katiejay99
Nomad
Posts: 429
Registered: 9-3-2008
Location: Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
Mood: it is what it is
|
|
With Insurance, yes I have been able to get my prescriptions filled in the Hospital Salvatierra, but when I did not have insurance or if the pharmacy
does not have the meds then they must be purchased by you at a local pharmacy. Maybe it is different in your area.
|
|
|
bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
|
|
Insurance
Anyone who travels to (or lives in) Baja/Mexico should have travel and or evacuation insurance. If you don't, you are gambling with your life.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Seguro Popular hospitals, Seguro Social (IMSS) hospitals
It's my experience, too, that in the two public hospitals noted above each in-patient must have someone over age 18 in attendance 24-hours a day.
Nurses do very little hands-on care. One's attendant may sleep in a chair or on the floor but may not bring a pillow or bedding for themselves.
Medications are prescribed by the attending doctor but it's the responsibility of the patient to obtain the medicine. Additionally, some lab work that
cannot be done in-facility must be mailed or otherwise couriered to an appropriate laboratory by the patient's representative.
The hospital one goes to correlates with the insurance the patient has; someone with Seguro Popular goes to Salvatierre Hospital in La Paz for example
while someone with Seguro Social insurance goes to the IMSS facility. It's interesting to note that most of the same doctors serve both facilities.
The difference is in what treatments are covered by each insurance, not the quality of care.
Note: Your insurance policy must be renewed each year in advance of its expiration date.
Anyone can elect to go to the Seguro Popular hospital for care or can go to a private doctor or private hospital.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13195
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
I am glad to see this, every ti e we learn a little more. I had no idea anyone could go to a public hospital and be seen to in an emergency.
When we were in La Paz, we got ourselves signed in to seguro popular. Just seemed so easy to do, and it was.
It is not unreasonable for the private hospital to charge what they wish and to ask for payment, as cruel as this seems.
|
|
|
redmesa
Senior Nomad
Posts: 580
Registered: 3-12-2008
Location: Van Isle and Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
Actually, I think it is unreasonable. What if a person can never pay the bill, do they keep them forever or send them to debtors prison?
|
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13047
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
depending on the hospital, they may relax some of the rules about what you can bring in the room. I had to spend a week taking care of Sirena's
newborn and her after the dangerous birth and they allowed me to bring a camping matress, my pillow and blankets and I slept a bit under her hospital
bed and yes patients are required to have someone with them all the time.
|
|
|
gnukid
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4411
Registered: 7-2-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Nomads understand if you do not have insurance and you are taken to a hospital in Cabo you may be ripped off. Better to carry travel or local
insurance for Baja when you travel, it is possible you will require a hospital visit out of your control.
Report of this incident:
http://colectivopericu.net/2014/06/13/denuncia-abuso-en-hosp...
|
|
|
Kgryfon
Senior Nomad
Posts: 624
Registered: 1-27-2009
Location: East Bay, CA
Member Is Offline
|
|
What if you have no one to stay with you? They just leave you there to rot in your own feces until you die? What if you have two broken legs, or a
heart attack and can't walk to the pharmacy? No meds for you so you writhe in pain or die?
|
|
|
Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by redmesa
Actually, I think it is unreasonable. What if a person can never pay the bill, do they keep them forever or send them to debtors prison?
|
This reflects your experiences with the US Medical system which uses the emergency room or other clinic options to get treatment but basically no one
is turned away. Here the system is different but you would do better to try to understand the system and not get stuck in a comparison.
In the US, hospitals have had to write off huge non-paid bills for people who could not pay for care and that is normally reflected in charging $25
for an aspirin and the kind of overcharges that are reported by many consumers. It is just the way that has evolved for a hospital to stay afloat.
In Mexico, the system is much different and the costs are much lower usually but are a more accurate reflection of actual costs than a contrived cost
sharing basis. In more rural area like Santa Rosalia, I have gone in to the emergency room for an embedded fish hook and ended up paying nothing.
Now because Cabo and tourist destinations have a big influx of tourists who have accidents and get sick, the market has developed tourist facilities.
Many have been reported as gouging and overcharging for treatments. That may well be true as they pretty much have a monopoly for those who happen
to need their services, but it is unfair to put those facilities in the same basket as the general hospital or IMSS hospitals. It does point out the
glaring differences between public and private health care in Mexico and an educated consumer can make appropriate choices.
The biggest problem is the short term tourist who thinks things are the same in Mexico as the United States only cheaper.
|
|
|
redmesa
Senior Nomad
Posts: 580
Registered: 3-12-2008
Location: Van Isle and Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
Pescadora, I understand the reason they do this but the reality is "How can they make that work?". They can not chain you to a bed or maybe they do?
I do not use USA medical, I am Canadian. I have used Baja clinics before. I always have travel insurance and my Canadian medical covers me in
Mexico, also..
|
|
|
Katiejay99
Nomad
Posts: 429
Registered: 9-3-2008
Location: Todos Santos
Member Is Offline
Mood: it is what it is
|
|
I had a friend who got drunk, got in a fight and ended up with a badly broken femur. A local Mexican rushed him to La Paz and the Salvatierra
hospital. He had to have surgery but did not have the money so he had to call his sister to have the money wired here - $5,000 usd total. No
insurance.They scheduled the surgery as soon as the money was paid.
|
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by baja Steve
Have them check with their insurance company. When I am out of the country I have to pay the bill but my insurance company reimburses me after the
deductible. |
Kaiser has reimbursed me at least 80% on two different occasions.
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
Not all medical care is that way in Mexico
A friend here in Punta Banda was extremely ill last week so Cruce Rosas was called and their ambulance transported her to the new International
Hospital (downtown Ensenada on Lazaro Card##as behind the DHL office) at no charge. At that hospital she was treated and stabilized in ICU for about 4
hours ($500 US) and then transported by THEIR private ambulance to secondary at San Ysidro with one of their doctors on board, as well as her
husband.($800 US) and they accepted a US credit card for the whole bill.
At secondary she was transferred to a US ambulance and driven to Scripps hospital in Chula Vista (about 8 miles) for $2,200 and the ICU there runs
$3,800 / day.
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2
3
4 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
