Costalegre Jalisco Mexico

Mexico Gets Medical Tourists as Health Net Sends U.S. Patients

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Antonia Siguenza, a 47-year-old purchasing agent living in Los Angeles, visited Mexico in 2006 with only one destination on her itinerary: Sanatorio San Francisco Hospital in Tijuana.

Siguenza made the trip after learning she needed surgery on a cyst. Having it treated in the U.S. would cost $800 out of her pocket under her insurance plan with Health Net Inc., in Woodland Hills, California. The company told her it would pay the entire bill if she had the procedure in Mexico.

Yielding to pressure from employers, health insurers such as Health Net, Aetna Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina are offering cost savings to policy holders who take their ailing backs, hips and knees to foreign countries for non- emergency medical treatment. Mexico has emerged as a favored place for American medical tourists because of its proximity and U.S. insurer incentives.

``People are voting with their feet, essentially,'' said Peter Maddox, 60, senior vice president of business strategy at Christus Health, a nonprofit health chain based in Irving, Texas, that owns six hospitals in Mexico. ``Employers are under huge competitive pressure globally. They are driving insurance companies to find alternative sources of care.''

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Thanks for this information, Sparks. I'm going to look into it because I have Health Net, and get sh$%%? care here. The doctors are more interested in their withholds than anything else. And the incentive is just the opposite when I had an indemnity plan, then they wanted to do procedures and tests that were not required. I can't get what I want, but I get what pays them the most. Forget about trusting them.

Thanks for this information, Sparks. I'm going to look into it because I have Health Net, and get sh$%%? care here. The doctors are more interested in their withholds than anything else. And the incentive is just the opposite when I had an indemnity plan, then they wanted to do procedures and tests that were not required. I can't get what I want, but I get what pays them the most. Forget about trusting them.