Health Care in Mexico
June 29th, 2010 -- Posted in Health And Fitness | No Comments »
One of the questions that I get asked all the time about living in Mexico is ” How is the health care down there?” Well, my initial thought is that it is much less expensive than the United States, and the drop off in quality is not as dramatic as I had feared it would be. The following insights are based on my personal health care experience here in Merida, Yucatan Mexico.
My experience here is contrasted between the US and the Canadian health care systems. I lived in both of those countries prior to moving to Mexico. The first 20 years of my life were spent in Canada. The last 15 years I spent in the United States. In some ways, Mexico’s health care system seems to be a combination of the two countries. Several different levels of private insurance are available in Mexico. Every possible range of insurance seems to be available from basic catastrophic to something that would be similar to a US plan.
There also is a Mexican government insurance available to expats through the Mexican Social Security agency called IMSS. Coverage is free for anyone who works for most Mexican corporations, and is available for a low annual fee for everyone else, including expats, as long as they can prove permanent residency (FM2 or FM3 visas). To insure children through IMSS its approximately $75 usd per year for each child. For my wife and I its about $100 usd per year each. IMSS is inexpensive national health care, and while it has its downside, it is certainly better than nothing.
At this point in our current situation we have decided to go with IMSS, in case something major happens, and just to pay as we go for everything else. Pay as you go medical care is certainly an option here, as it is very inexpensive. We had to take our 13 month old to the Doctor since we moved here, and it was surprisingly inexpensive to do so. We showed up at the Doctors office, and it was 30 pesos, that’s about $2 usd with the exchange rate as of this writing, and he prescribed a couple of medications the total cost was about 100 pesos about $7 usd, so $9 to see the Doctor and get a couple of prescribed medications.
I will be writing more about my experience on the Mexican health care system.
By: Chris G Clarke
Does the Canadian Health Care System Cover Those Visiting Canada?
June 26th, 2010 -- Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
The Canadian Health Care System is based on several socialized health insurance plans providing full coverage to Canadian citizens and a model to follow that the American Health Care System has been analyzing for a while.
In Canada, federal government set the guidelines that apply to the different provinces and territories of the country in health matters, but the system comes from public funding on a territorial or provincial basis.
Because every Canadian region manages its own health care system, there is too much controversy and debate in relation to health care coverage for both locals and people visiting the country.
People who want to access the Canadian Health Care system must apply for a provincial health card and wait for no longer, than three months to obtain their health card in the case of new immigrants.
While the Canada Health Act guarantees that all residents of a territory or province will be accepted for health coverage, temporary visitors can only access this system purchasing insurance by themselves.
However, there are also Public Health Care Providers that ruled under the same act, providing services such as hospitals, dental surgery, ambulatory services, primary care doctors, and specialists to cover provincial insurance policies.
As a visitor to Canada, you can purchase a health care insurance policy and benefit from these public services during your stay in the Canadian territory.
Canada counts with about 30,000 primary care doctors, who account for over half of all Canadian doctors so you will not have a problem finding a physician that can provide you with preventative care or basic medical treatment.
Specialist doctors account for 28,000 all over the country and there are countless private clinics operating in the country offering specialized medical services, although under federal law they should not provide those services covered by the Canada Health Act.
Even though, most clinics offer such services regardless the legal limitation, they are covered by private insurance policies to provide health care assistance to people that otherwise would be left without medical protection.
Private insurance in Canada may cover up to 80% of medical cost and it is available to visitors and local residents unsatisfied with their provincial or territorial health care system.
In terms of medical availability as of 2007, there is one primary care doctor for every 1000 Canadians, who spend nearly $3,300 per capita on health care attention every year.
Keep in mind that the Canadian Health Care System does not provide basic services to residents, and some of them are those that visitors usually require, such as optometrists, dental services, and prescription medication, which people have to pay.
By: Amy Nutt