When I first gave the practice of law in Toronto for the benefit of early retirement in Oaxaca, I assumed that the years of my life, I would like to add that would be leading a lot of stress being in Mexico, lost the lower health care system, to which I will be exposed, subjected and restricted. So that is my assessment of the extent to which my assumptions are accurate, together with the information and advice for both vacationers and would-be ex-PatriotResidents of Oaxaca.
Apart from the small private hospitals, which are often referred to as clínicas, there are four publicly funded and insurance - to hospitals in the city, and a hospital on the outskirts of the city, offers special treatment for a range of serious diseases. There is a Red Cross facility for those who frequently used only for emergency treatment. The civic community hospital provides free services or treatment with a low cost, based on a sliding scale attentionmeans. ISSSTE is a publicly funded institution officials, members of a union are restricted. Finally, there is IMSS, a federal insurance program available to the ex-pat residents and Mexican citizens alike, with an extensive network of doctors and hospital a great hospital. It's funding is provided to a large extent by the operators available. Apart from these hospitals, there are several small, easily accessible clinics scattered in suburbs and rural areas.
Forthe tourists and the ex-pat with a visa will allow residents of the country, the most common means of keeping the emergency treatment is through Red Cross, IMSS (which accepts patients without coverage of a pay-per-service basis) or one private hospital. But the last of these three is the only one where you can be reasonably reassured time visited by extremely competent and efficient staff.
WHAT to do, what a holiday
If you do notOut-of-country have a comprehensive health care, by all means go and buy it before your trip. However, it is advisable to first ask for your credit card company, in fact, if you already have at least one coverage simply by identifying, for example, with a gold or platinum card. You can then concerned a more informed decision whether to buy coverage, and if so, at what level. On the other hand, a broken leg, gastrointestinal --Problem or other life-threatening illness can not made by a private doctor or clinic without being visited a fortune. Of course, for an amount of more than $ 100, it's nice to report back.
If you intend to make a claim for private carriers, credit card companies or the government-funded health plan ensures that you will not only keep all receipts, but request a written diagnosis and treatment plan and that the rules will enter for what purpose each medicineprescribed (eg antibiotics, analgesics, etc.). Many doctors provide all required information simply as a matter of course. Accepted practice, at least unless prescribed narcotic drugs, is for the pharmacy prescription forms back to you. Often medical plans require translations of each document that is presented to them as a condition for processing and reimbursement. If you have doubts, you should submit any documentation with your claim, making sure thatto determine if the originals are required, and keep copies. Often, as is the case with Ontario, it is a two-step process. Revenue treatment and diagnosis is presented to the provincial plan. As soon as you are not the portion not covered, prescription receipts together with a request for reimbursement of the amount reported to fall from the province, is submitted to a private plan. In theory, between the two plans, a 100% refund will be achieved.
Can you at the manager of yourHotel or Bed & Breakfast and experience a by translating each of your evidence in order to save you the trouble on your return home. Note the exchange rate at that time, and place a bill on your plan with your documentation to facilitate easier payment. If a member of staff processing your request, it will be less inclined to sell aside for another day or ask a week if they already contains all the necessary and relevant data in an organizedreadable format.
In going where in the event of illness or emergency, you should be your hosts, accommodations in a position to make recommendations for English-speaking doctors in private practice, and for private clinics. With respect to the competence of the former, while it is a medical school in Oaxaca, many doctors travel out-of-state for their postgraduate training, such as universities in Mexico City or the United States, and regularly attend conferences and modernization courses. Itinerary Ideasabroad as part of their specialist training. In fact, the people of Oaxaca seems to take note of and prefer doctors who are able to display foreign diplomas.
Our personal experience with emergency treatment in the last 10 years has been nothing but positive for us, our family and our guests, in hospitals and Carmen Molina, the city ... in terms of competence, speed with which they visited, and the presence of English speaking ER doctors. On theOn the other hand, we can not recommend the emergency departments in hospitals or civic IMSS because of delays in treatment, and at minimum in the case of IMSS unavailability of competent medical personnel 24 hours a day to visit) an emergency even commonplace (eg sewing. After this, many excellent doctors in private practice surgical procedures on the non-private hospitals, said, where it tended to have more state-of-the-art and sophisticated equipment.
The normal rangeThe price for a consultation with a family doctor, specialist or dentist, is $ 20 - $ 50 (All amounts are stated in U.S. dollars and are approximate for the year 2008 unless otherwise specified).
REIN election and cosmetic surgery
In recent years Oaxaca has become a popular destination for Americans and Canadians want both plastic surgery and extensive dental work. Word has the expertise and the quality of the work of both nip-tuck-and-spread and dentists, andof course, paid by their extremely low fees compared to those of the native practitioners. Many foreigners and Mexicans from Mexico City and other regions of the country come to Oaxaca for face lifts, breast reduction or enlargement, liposuction and other appearance enhancing procedures. A friend remarked the plastic surgery in Oaxaca, which was also a renowned plastic surgeon a few years ago that she had read an article in a Canadian magazine indicatingthe cost for the same procedure that she had done for $ 500, was $ 3500 - $ 5000 at home. In fact, they had a free trip to Oaxaca, and returned home with extra money in your pocket.
Our personal experience with dental treatment has been extremely positive. Costs tend to about one third to one half of American and Canadian prices, for example, for crowns and bridges, implants, root canals, gums and bones, etc. While the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) is notarrived in most Mexican cities, can make up for a dentist with a touch more than that the lack of temporary high while in the chair.
SOLUTION OF THE EX-PAT puzzle
Added Get whatever coverage is available, you are both in your home country and in Mexico, although of course the affordability.
In my opinion, with IMSS coverage will cost under $ 400 a year for a married couple, why not go independent of the other coverage you already have. Then supplement IMSSwith international coverage for catastrophic injuries unless you have similar insurance from another source. Our friends from Oaxaca, not more, but they have a different mindset where insurance has not historically charged, as a rule, or be assessed, it is home, car or health.
Some American acquaintances swear by IMSS since it provides regular care including preventive procedures, all dispensed by government employed physicians includingSpecialists together with the laboratory tests, medication and hospitalization. There are restrictions the first year of registration, and there are caveats. The degree of cleanliness in the hospital environment rather than the standard have been accustomed to most of us are growing in the U.S. and Canada. Many doctors have not received, the quality of medical education of their private counterparts. The medications are provided by the hospital pharmacy is often not the best in theMarket for the treatment of a particular disease, because of the cost. Often, you called your doctor or laboratory tests can be long wait, going a half day commitment for each step in the process: visiting a general practitioner for a series of tests and then for others, and finally seeing a specialist.
So why even bother with IMSS, all these drawbacks? It is a failsafe, another form of insurance that you want to be cared for in case of a long and difficultDisease. As already indicated, it is often the largest hospitals, such as IMSS which have the best equipment and make surgeons with private practices to some of the operations. And there are no additional costs for hospitalization, if you have full IMSS coverage. While he is a private clinic rather to their experiences, before moving to Mexico, if you stay in hospital for a long time, the cost could be prohibitive in a hospital ... as backHome.
Visiting private physicians, and even bite the bullet and getting your tests conducted at private laboratories, adequately secures you a familiar quality of care. Together with IMSS coverage, you can be sure you're covered in almost every respect to be. In the case can be a lengthy hospital stay, you afford to be there as long as necessary. The best locally available equipment will be used in the diagnosis and treatment, and you have a reasonableProbability of attending surgeons who are divided her time between private practice and hospital work, and the conduct of proceedings in one or more major hospitals.
We maintain IMSS coverage, but rarely use, they prefer our Oaxaca social networks for remittances to specialists, if they do not open up too. And in any case, after residing in Oaxaca have a couple of years, those of us in our fifties or older have already been introduced on a wide range ofSpecialists. So strange that I had a Canadian and subscribe to the pay-as-you-play philosophy of medical care, it serves our purposes, with the IMSS safety net in case.
In certain circumstances, you may want to continue to leave even the best Oaxaca has to offer. For the stream of travelers Oaxaca to Mexico City flows strong and broad. The middle and upper classes with contacts in the capital of the nation, it quickly search for the best in terms of doctors andState-of-the-art equipment for diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases.
Even doctors working in Oaxaca at the IMSS and ISSSTE hospitals have arrangements for patient treatment is not available here, into Mexico City or to visit other major centers, making preserved. However, the process can only slowly. We know of a case which is two months old baby with heart problems, which finally sent to Puebla for surgery at ISSSTE, only to die before the procedure couldperformed.
The solution, unless you have quality foreign coverage, perhaps as part of your pension plan is the insurance to pay for treatment in Mexico City, or better yet in the whole world as long as you can your way to one of the participating wants to buy top-of-the-line hospitals. In my case, I have a small annual premium, high deductible, which is waived in the case of an accident. Again, it is a failsafe mechanism, for example, a serious car accident or cancer, stroke, heart attack or other catastrophic illness that would otherwise not be affordable. Oaxaca has less than the best diagnostic equipment and treatment facilities. My plan provides for a $ 10,000 deductible, $ 2,000 annual premium, with member private hospitals in Oaxaca, Mexico City and other parts of the republic, and of course abroad including the U.S., with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, one participant said.
In summary, my medical> Detection and treatment planning is the following. We have our regular family doctor, pointing, together with our friends from Oaxaca forward to specialists, where we have the greatest confidence and to whom we pay per visit. The same goes for dental treatment. We IMSS coverage which we reluctantly (because we believe it does not use) to renew on an annual basis, but that it extends the value for money in case we need hospitalization or surgery not carried out in private clinics. And I have my cover catastrophic, I'll hopefully never need to access.
Medical care and coverage is not expensive, and as well it can be expensive. It is a matter for the individual or family, a philosophy, or set priorities, before the election to move Oaxaca. You have to determine how you live your life in the form of a settlement with less disposable income as a result of the medical cause and want to> Insurance premiums, with more calm knowing that everything is, what is thrown their way will be considered after as much as possible get your new life in a foreign country. If you are not at a level of comfort in addressing these issues and decisions, then perhaps the move is not for you.
