1.2 million Americans travel to Mexico each year for medical tourism
Last week’s fatal kidnapping of Americans who had traveled to the Mexican city of Matamoros to stab a friend in the stomach underscored the booming medical tourism business south of the border.
About 1.2 million Americans travel to Mexico annually to undergo elective surgery at a discount, according to Medical Tourism Mexico, which advertises that patients can save up to 80% on comparable procedures in the United States.
That figure — which represents more than one-third of one percent of the U.S. population — was echoed by Joseph Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders.
Before the pandemic, about 1.2 million U.S. citizens traveled to Mexico for elective medical treatment, Woodman told NPR on Wednesday.
“Today, the market in Mexico is recovering rapidly, almost to its pre-pandemic level,” Woodman reportedly said.
Medical Tourism Mexico boasts that the country has “one of the strongest economies in Latin America” and says that its doctors “have the knowledge, education, skills and expertise to provide services of the highest quality.” The infrastructure is there.”
Foreign patients leave Hospital Oasis of Hope in Tijuana after undergoing surgery. AFP via Getty Images
However, the US State Department has advised against travel to six Mexican states due to “crime and kidnapping” concerns.
One of those states, Tamaulipas, is where Shayd Woodard and Zindell Brown were killed along with two fellow Americans after being kidnapped in a daylight shootout that was caught on camera.
The State Department also advised Americans to “reconsider” travel to seven other states, including Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua, that border the United States.
US citizens are warned to use “extra caution” when traveling to 17 other locations in Mexico, including the international destination of Mexico City and the state of Quintana Roo, home to Caribbean resort destinations such as Cancun.
The Mexican city where the Americans were kidnapped has a history of violent sectarianism.
In only two of Mexico’s 31 states — Campeche and Yucatan on the Gulf of Mexico — can Americans expect to use “ordinary precautions” while traveling, the feds say.
Some border cities – such as Matamoros – are top destinations for medical tourism because of their ease of access, although they are often hotbeds of cartel violence.
In Tijuana, a 33-story medical facility opened last fall, which bills itself as the “best medical tourism facility in the world” and a “one-stop shop” experience, just a stone’s throw from San Diego. .
Despite the safety risks involved, many people also travel to Mexico to get cheap dental and orthopedic work or to buy prescription drugs at a discount.
“North American patients primarily travel to Mexico for care to save 50-70% on elective treatments in the United States,” Woodman reportedly said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, safety risks are not limited to medical tourist stays south of the border.
Four Americans were kidnapped — and two of them killed — on March 3 after traveling to Mexico, allegedly for a tummy tuck.
The agency warns that flying in pressurized airplane cabins can cause complications after surgery, and increase the chances of “acquiring antibiotic-resistant infections.”
“Medical tourists should also be aware that drugs and medical products and devices used in foreign countries may not be subject to the same regulatory scrutiny and oversight as in the United States,” the CDC website reads.
Despite the warnings, more than 90 percent of the group of people who crossed the border into California for medical services said they felt health care services in Mexico were of “same or better quality” than in the United States, and They have no plans to stay at home. procedures in the future.
Doctors at Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana perform bariatric surgery. An estimated 20 million people visit Mexico each year for medical tourism. AFP via Getty Images
The Journal of the American Pharmacists Association interviewed 427 medical tourists for a 2020 research paper. It found that the average profile of a medical tourist was a 65-year-old who earned between $25,001 and $50,000 a year. The study found that the majority of them were motivated by saving money.
Mexico’s homicide rate is four times higher than the U.S. at 28 per 100,000, but only 0.26 of every 100,000 Americans visiting the country were murdered in 2021, NewsNation reported.
In that pandemic year — the last one for which complete statistics were available from the State Department — 75 Americans were killed in Mexico, a tiny percentage of the 29 million who visited.
Despite high-profile cases of violence against Americans and warnings from Washington, D.C., Mexico remains by far the most popular international destination for U.S. citizens, with twice as many tourists as Canada.
