An article in Newsweek chronicles a new phenomenon: outsourcing US health care to Mexico. People have been going abroad to save money on cosmetic procedures for quite some time (Brazil is an infamous destination for this) but this is something different:
Dorthea, 72, a retired bank teller, lives in Harlingen, Texas, a city of about 67,000 in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley. Like a lot of Texans, she's crossed the border to Mexico a few times to buy cheap medication. But she'd never considered undergoing complicated medical procedures there--at least, not until she was quoted the prohibitive price of $30,000 for a gastric-band procedure, a treatment for obesity in which a band is placed around the stomach to limit food intake. It wasn't covered by her insurance, so Dorthea, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, opted to drive south and pay less than $10,000 for the outpatient operation at an American-owned hospital in Reynosa, Mexico, 10 minutes over the border and about an hour from her home. The outpatient surgery was a success, and she's planning on returning for follow-up care. "It was very good treatment," she says.
We all know there are obvious gaps and fissures in the US health care system, even for those who are insured. Particularly with the economic climate, people are going to come up with inventive solutions to get the care they need. But now as Newsweek reports even US hospitals are getting in on it by building facilities across the border and charging far less for the procedures there. We need some serious solutions for lowering health care costs inside the US. Not everyone has the luxury of going to Mexico.
When you pair these types of cross-border transactions with projects like a new border fence and super-stringent immigration laws, you start to see the contradictions of a global free market that allows goods and services to cross borders, but not people.
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When you pair these types of cross-border transactions with projects like a new border fence and super-stringent immigration laws, you start to see the contradictions of a global free market that allows goods and services to cross borders, but not people.
Only if you're ignorant of the trade restrictions actually in place. Free trade is what exists between, say, Austin and San Antonio. If you look at so-called "International Free Trade Agreements," like NAFTA, it's obvious that this isn't what we have. Present limits on the movement of people are entirely consistent with present limits on the movement of products.
In fact, the two often intersect. The US could easily attract far more foreign, qualified medical personal than it currently does if there were not so many arbitrary restrictions on them coming here and working at their trade. This is no small contributor to the local expense of health care in the first place.
When you pair these types of cross-border transactions with projects like a new border fence and super-stringent immigration laws, you start to see the contradictions of a global free market that allows goods and services to cross borders, but not people.
This is not a contradiction.
Hi, Miriam, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. Surely the problem is the lack of affordable healthcare in the US, independent of what goes on at international borders. And given the lack of affordable healthcare in the US it's a very good thing that top-notch care is available for less (sometimes far less) elsewhere.
This has been going on for quite awhile, BTW. Do a web search on "medical tourism" (unfortunate description, but that's what it's called).
Surely the problem is the lack of affordable healthcare in the US, independent of what goes on at international borders.
Not at all. Trade restrictions reduce wealth, so people are able to afford less health care than they otherwise would because of that alone. Then, you get restrictions against the health care industry in particular. Considering just how much cheaper health care is elsewhere, one immediately wonders why more doctors and nurses don't learn English (if they don't know it already) and come over here, where they can charge so much more. The answer is largely because they're just not allowed to, which results in the incredibly steep price gradients described here. Whenever someone saves that much money by traveling such a short distance, you can be certain its because they crossed a political border.
Though, that's probably not how Miriam meant to approach the situation.
Alice, that's certainly the case that Dean Baker's been making for some time now and I think it's generally true. It's true inside the US, as well, although here it tends to be around scarcity rather than cost (not that the two are unrelated). If you're not familiar with the fight to allow trained technicians to provide some routine dental procedures in bush Alaska, it's pretty interesting and worth checking out.
I'm certainly not an expert in this area but it's not my impression that licensing and visa restrictions are primarily responsible for the cost of healthcare in the US, though. Canada is somewhat more liberal in both regards but not a lot.
There can be complications with having serious procedures done in foreign countries that might play out differently if they occurred in the country in which you're a citizen. A friend of mine had an aunt who lived in Laredo. She went to Nuevo Laredo (in Mexico) to have plastic surgery (it was significantly cheaper) and died because of a mistake with the anesthesia. Her family (according to my friend) apparently has no legal recourse because they're not citizens of Mexico.
Keep in mind that not every country has a litigation culture like the United States. In many countries, if something goes wrong during a medical procedure (particularly when the risks are clear (hence being the risks), but even when a mistake has been made), it is an unfortunate outcome, after which one/the family goes on to deal with them personally.
Going abroad for cheap 'serious plastic surgery' is one thing, paying no attention to the different legal system and -culture one is entering is another.