News:
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Mexican Response to U.S. Health Care
The U.S. health care system is overpriced and out of reach for millions of Americans…and Mexico has the answer.
According to Mexican news sources, Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate and second-richest man on the planet, is planning a system of high-quality hospitals in Mexico specifically to cater to U.S. baby boomers.
One of Slim’s companies, Ideal, has purchased a 49% stake in Grupo Star Medica, a Mexican national hospital chain. Plans are underway for new, high-quality medical centers in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, and Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula to cater to U.S. baby boomers who are buying second homes in Mexico…or who simply want to come to Mexico for cheaper health care than they can find in the United States.
It is estimated that vacation homes sales in Los Cabos increased 30%, and in Puerto Peñasco increased 45% in the last three years. Claudia Velazquez, an analyst for Softec, a real estate market analysis firm, said companies like Grupo Star Medica are just filling niches created by those new homeowners and vacationers. And, she adds, "[Baby boomers] are also choosing Mexico because its health system is much cheaper than in the United States.”
Slim isn’t the only Mexican businessman who sees an obvious opportunity in the failing U.S. health system. And plans are underway to get more U.S. private insurance companies to pay for medical treatment in Mexico.
"For a U.S. insurance policy to pay for medical treatment, the treatment has to comply with certain quality control standards, and we are going to participate with products to serve this niche," said Jaime Jimenez, general director for Mexico Trane, another company following Slim’s lead.
It’s hard to blame smart Mexican businessmen for capitalizing on such an obvious opportunity. If the United States hadn’t let its health care system get so bloated and profit-hungry that 40 million Americans can’t even afford health insurance, there wouldn’t be a need to outsource it.
Remember what your dentist used to say? “Ignore your teeth, and they will go away.” Well, the United States has neglected health care reform for so long that its users really are going away…to Mexico!
Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living