I Was Blown Away by My First ‘Medical Tourism’ Experience | So where did I go to receive top-notch healthcare at a bargain price? Mexico!

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I Was Blown Away by My First ‘Medical Tourism’ Experience | So where did I go to receive top-notch healthcare at a bargain price? Mexico! (www.zerohedge.com)

I didn’t want just ANY checkup. I wanted the full 100,000 mile tune-up.

So where did I go to receive top-notch healthcare at a bargain price? Mexico!

After doing some research, I booked an appointment at a popular Mexico City hospital which caters to foreigners.

I say ‘appointment’, but it was actually more than a dozen appointments in one, everything from dental, abdominal ultrasound, blood work, and more. But everything was finished in just a few hours.

Here’s how it went.

After flying into Mexico City I arrived at the Medica Sur complex and checked into my hotel — there is a Holiday Inn in one of the several buildings on campus.

At 7am I headed into the check-up center.

My broken Spanish prompted them to assign me a translator at no extra cost, even though most of the doctors spoke perfect English anyway.

The hospital runs these check-ups extremely efficiently; there was shockingly very little down time in between appointments. I never waited for much more than ten minutes between tests and consultations.

Doctors came to get me from the central waiting room and walked me to each exam. This included:

The typical triage where they take your blood pressure and listen to your heart and breathing with a stethoscope Blood draws for a very wide range of laboratory tests

Vision check Audio check Dental x-rays and cavity check An ear, nose, and throat exam An electrocardiogram stress test Upper abdomen ultrasound Chest teleradiography Forearm densitometry Orthopedic consultation Nutritionist consultation Rectosigmoidoscopy

For anyone unfamiliar, a rectosigmoidoscopy is one step down from a colonoscopy. It doesn’t require anesthesia, but confirms that you don’t have colon or prostate cancer.

I probably didn’t need to do that until my 40s, but it never hurts to do an examination early.

Speaking of which, I’m specifically describing the male ‘under 40’ exam. The male ‘over 40’, and all female exams, include even more tests.

Each doctor explained what they would be doing and why. Everything was impeccably professional.

After the blood draw and proctological tests that required fasting, they served us a very nice meal.

And by 1pm, I was all done.

They meet with patients in person again within two weeks for an in-depth discussion of the results. Since I left Mexico City before that, we set up an appointment for a video call.

I paid out of pocket 23,405 pesos, or $1,196 including the English translation of the results.

The price tag at a US Mayo Clinic for that type of service is typically closer to $5,000.

What’s really interesting is that, in addition to having international accreditation, Medica Sur is also a member of the Mayo Clinic’s hospital network. So there’s a high quality medical brand that has put its seal of approval on Medica Sur.

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**I didn’t want just ANY checkup. I wanted the full 100,000 mile tune-up.** So where did I go to receive top-notch healthcare at a bargain price? Mexico! After doing some research, I booked an appointment at a popular Mexico City hospital which caters to foreigners. I say ‘appointment’, but it was actually more than a dozen appointments in one, everything from dental, abdominal ultrasound, blood work, and more. But everything was finished in just a few hours. Here’s how it went. After flying into Mexico City I arrived at the Medica Sur complex and checked into my hotel — there is a Holiday Inn in one of the several buildings on campus. At 7am I headed into the check-up center. My broken Spanish prompted them to assign me a translator at no extra cost, even though most of the doctors spoke perfect English anyway. The hospital runs these check-ups extremely efficiently; there was shockingly very little down time in between appointments. I never waited for much more than ten minutes between tests and consultations. Doctors came to get me from the central waiting room and walked me to each exam. This included: The typical triage where they take your blood pressure and listen to your heart and breathing with a stethoscope Blood draws for a very wide range of laboratory tests Vision check Audio check Dental x-rays and cavity check An ear, nose, and throat exam An electrocardiogram stress test Upper abdomen ultrasound Chest teleradiography Forearm densitometry Orthopedic consultation Nutritionist consultation Rectosigmoidoscopy For anyone unfamiliar, a rectosigmoidoscopy is one step down from a colonoscopy. It doesn’t require anesthesia, but confirms that you don’t have colon or prostate cancer. I probably didn’t need to do that until my 40s, but it never hurts to do an examination early. Speaking of which, I’m specifically describing the male ‘under 40’ exam. The male ‘over 40’, and all female exams, include even more tests. Each doctor explained what they would be doing and why. Everything was impeccably professional. After the blood draw and proctological tests that required fasting, they served us a very nice meal. And by 1pm, I was all done. They meet with patients in person again within two weeks for an in-depth discussion of the results. Since I left Mexico City before that, we set up an appointment for a video call. **I paid out of pocket 23,405 pesos, or $1,196 including the English translation of the results.** The price tag at a US Mayo Clinic for that type of service is typically closer to $5,000. What’s really interesting is that, in addition to having international accreditation, Medica Sur is also a member of the Mayo Clinic’s hospital network. So there’s a high quality medical brand that has put its seal of approval on Medica Sur. ...

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Not impressed. Except for the sigmoidoscopy, those are all simple non-invasive tests that can be done by a technician with limited training. You don't even need to be nurse. The sigmoidoscopy could be done by a third year med student. All those tests would be covered by basic health insurance in US. Someone under 40 shouldn't even get a sigmoidoscopy unless they have symptoms of colorectal cancer because there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of a perforated colon, which is a serious complication. So the writer paid $1200 for a bunch of tests he probably didn't need or could have gotten under his insurance. But then he also had a nice lunch. Sure it's fine to get an eye exam and EKG in Mexico but I wouldn't want to be there for a life-saving surgery or complicated procedure.

The writer is such an idiot that he doesn't realize that the paragraph below shows the problem with socialized medicine.

But their [Canadian] system is so slow and bureaucratic that these Canadians felt it would be more efficient to fly down to Mexico and have their full health work-up conducted at Medica Sur, rather than wait months and months for the ‘free’ check-up in Canada.

Not impressed?

Well to me a 50% discount for the exact same services doesn't sound like nothing, but that's just money, who cares?

>So the writer paid $1200 for a bunch of tests he probably didn't need or could have gotten under his insurance.

Could, probably... I'm not impressed

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