I have written several times about Mexican health care. From the minor inconvenience of de-worming to major surgery on my fractured right ankle.
Health care easily tops the list on my choice of Mexico as a retirement spot.
For about a week now, I have been restrained by a minor medical issue. On Tuesday, I was sitting on my couch in the living room. I started to stand up and felt a pain in my lower left back. Now, I know "as if stuck by an ice pick" sounds like a terrible cliché. At the time, if felt like a terrible reality.
I caught my breath and eventually stood up. The pain was very localized on my lower left side between the hip and the rib cage.
Several friends have described the exact symptoms to me. So, I immediately concluded I had a kidney stone. Either that or I was giving birth to an alien.
By the next morning the pain had generally subsided. But I decided to see a doctor. After talking with me and examining my back, she concluded it was not a kidney stone. But she wanted to be certain.
She asked me to drive to the lab about twenty minutes away. And said she would have the results on her computer by the time I returned.
A quick drive and an even quicker urine sample had me ready to leave. But not before I paid my bill. And I pause here for you folks north of the border to savor this number. The full charge for the lab test was $6.70 (US). Total.
When I returned to the doctor's office, she had the results. No blood. No kidney stone. Because my blood pressure was well within range, she diagnosed a sprain.
Mexican doctors are really big on vitamin B injections. And she was more than happy to give me one right in the left hip.
To fight the sprain, she sold me a ten-day supply of prescription anti-inflammatories, and I picked up a packet of Advil (having discovered the bottle I brought south with me had expired in 2005). All of that, plus the office visit and a bottle of water that helped me pass my urine test with flying colors, set me back only $80 (US). Most of that was for the drugs.
I am not really concerned about why medical expenses have become so expensive in The States. The situation is complex. But most of it comes down to various factors that have interfered with free market mechanisms between the doctor and patient.
Those forces are in full effect here in Mexico. And, as a result, not only are the services very effective, they are also affordable.
And that is a primary reason I am sitting on a patio in Melaque writing this instead of sitting in a hot tub in Salem.
Health care easily tops the list on my choice of Mexico as a retirement spot.
For about a week now, I have been restrained by a minor medical issue. On Tuesday, I was sitting on my couch in the living room. I started to stand up and felt a pain in my lower left back. Now, I know "as if stuck by an ice pick" sounds like a terrible cliché. At the time, if felt like a terrible reality.
I caught my breath and eventually stood up. The pain was very localized on my lower left side between the hip and the rib cage.
Several friends have described the exact symptoms to me. So, I immediately concluded I had a kidney stone. Either that or I was giving birth to an alien.
By the next morning the pain had generally subsided. But I decided to see a doctor. After talking with me and examining my back, she concluded it was not a kidney stone. But she wanted to be certain.
She asked me to drive to the lab about twenty minutes away. And said she would have the results on her computer by the time I returned.
A quick drive and an even quicker urine sample had me ready to leave. But not before I paid my bill. And I pause here for you folks north of the border to savor this number. The full charge for the lab test was $6.70 (US). Total.
When I returned to the doctor's office, she had the results. No blood. No kidney stone. Because my blood pressure was well within range, she diagnosed a sprain.
Mexican doctors are really big on vitamin B injections. And she was more than happy to give me one right in the left hip.
To fight the sprain, she sold me a ten-day supply of prescription anti-inflammatories, and I picked up a packet of Advil (having discovered the bottle I brought south with me had expired in 2005). All of that, plus the office visit and a bottle of water that helped me pass my urine test with flying colors, set me back only $80 (US). Most of that was for the drugs.
I am not really concerned about why medical expenses have become so expensive in The States. The situation is complex. But most of it comes down to various factors that have interfered with free market mechanisms between the doctor and patient.
Those forces are in full effect here in Mexico. And, as a result, not only are the services very effective, they are also affordable.
And that is a primary reason I am sitting on a patio in Melaque writing this instead of sitting in a hot tub in Salem.
