Would you move to another Country for cheap health care?

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Since it doesn't happen to be that easy to move to another country and become either a citizen or permanent visitor status, discussing this as a hypothetical question may not help anyone.

Unless you are married to a foreign-born resident or hold dual citizenship, it can be quite difficult to receive approval to become a foreign citizen. It took friends of ours two years to become permanent residents of Panama, and the wife spoke fluent Spanish (she was born/raised in South America). The basic medical care was excellent - most Americans seem unaware that a large percentage of foreign doctors and nurses receive their training in the U.S.

However, for difficult illnesses/operations and specialist care, Cuba is the center point for all of Central and South America. It's where everyone goes for critical care. It's how Castro's government survived all those decades of US embargo. The medical system for foreigners who pay that much-needed hard cash is extremely important to their economy. Their doctors are esteemed so highly that even Communist leaders from Europe and Asia have secretly gone to Cuba when they needed specialized treatments.
Our city donates medical equipment to Cuba.
Canada does not have an embargo on Cuba. Thanks for the information.
 

Heard from one "old timer" that used to winter in Arizona that he will no longer go there. His reason, it will cost him $10,000 Canadian for 4 months health insurance. Don't know why he doesn't go to Mexico?
Here's the thing Packerjohn. It's not just the insurance cost. I can get insurance but they only cover anything that is not a prior condition. So when you get old what is a prior condition.?
I asked the insurance company. Anything you are taking pills for is not covered. For instance if you are taking blood pressure pills and you have a complication like a stroke, they won't pay.
Some people I know still go and don't take any insurance at all. They plan to be flown back to Canada for treatment.
It's best to make the best of it and try to find a warmer spot in your own country.
The Americans are good about allowing travellers to bring prescription drugs with them for their personal use.
 
I take pills for blood pressure and pills for other stuff. Guess I don't count. It's all a gamble. You pay for insurance & really hope never to need it. Insurance has become a real racket. The companies take in millions but don't pay out unless they absolutely have to. If it is a small claim, they pay & then jack up your premiums because you have made a claim. However, get sick in Arizona, spent a month in the hospital & get a big fat bill from the hospital, then the insurance company will pass your claim through a whole ensemble of lawyers looking for some tiny loop hole in your claim so that they don't have to pay out. How come I imagine a bunch of blood thirsty weasels feeding on a bush chicken ? Furthermore, I have traveled in & used doctors in Spain, South Africa & Mexico. In each case I paid cash to the doctor. Works well but in the USA, WATCH OUT! That's too bad because we have spent 2 winters in Port Isabel, Texas & met a lot of wonderful locals there.
 

I take pills for blood pressure and pills for other stuff. Guess I don't count. It's all a gamble. You pay for insurance & really hope never to need it. Insurance has become a real racket. The companies take in millions but don't pay out unless they absolutely have to. If it is a small claim, they pay & then jack up your premiums because you have made a claim. However, get sick in Arizona, spent a month in the hospital & get a big fat bill from the hospital, then the insurance company will pass your claim through a whole ensemble of lawyers looking for some tiny loop hole in your claim so that they don't have to pay out. How come I imagine a bunch of blood thirsty weasels feeding on a bush chicken ? Furthermore, I have traveled in & used doctors in Spain, South Africa & Mexico. In each case I paid cash to the doctor. Works well but in the USA, WATCH OUT! That's too bad because we have spent 2 winters in Port Isabel, Texas & met a lot of wonderful locals there.

As far as insurance for US residents, what you post is completely wrong. There has never been nor is there now a company that raises your rates because of claims. It's something told to us by those who want single payer as a scare tactic. Obama did that VERY well.

Companies don't look for loopholes to avoid paying. That's really such a load of garbage I don't know why I bother responding.

Rick
 
Wow !! such vitriol, about a country you don't live in..:oops:. !! we don't pay any higher taxes than you in the USA (yes waiting lists are long and ''staying in corridors'' isn't ideal but it's only while waiting for admission, and simply because this is a very small Island we just don't have the space to build more and more hospitals for the influx of Immigrants who want to come here for FREE medical) ...and really you shouldn't believe everything you read in the media .

Do you see any of the Brits on here any more unhealthy than the average American?.. no, because our health care is just as good if not better than the USA at point of source....and we don't have to pay High insurance premiums to get it or have people so poverty stricken they cannot afford to have a much needed operation without potentially losing their home as happens in the USA .

Also remember many people have never worked a day in their lives, either through disability or sheer laziness, they get exactly the same quality of care that everyone who has paid into the Tax system gets, no difference.. does that happen in the USA..?

Equally we have an excellent Private medical system here too if we choose to pay out of pocket for our care, and no long waiting lists , and I can assure you our medical Insurance premiums would even scratch the surface of what you have to pay!!



Well Said Holly....I totally Agree.....👏👏
 
Heard from one "old timer" that used to winter in Arizona that he will no longer go there. His reason, it will cost him $10,000 Canadian for 4 months health insurance. Don't know why he doesn't go to Mexico?

I know a number of people who go to Mexico for certain things, like dental work, for instance. But you have to really know what you're doing to be sure you get good health care there. There are undoubtedly good health care facilities and practitioners there, but also many not so good and it's not like you can just walk down the street and tell which is which.
 
A friend who lives in Arizona got dental implants in Mexico. She said the cost was about 1/3 what it usually is, including travel and lodging. She and her DH did a lot of research and talked to people who had it done years ago, she is very pleased.
 
No I wouldn't. Don't need to because I have an excellent medigap plan through my retiree benefits. I haven't had to pay for my procedures/surgeries nor the first post op visits. After that, there's a $10 co-pay. But I've been reading about medical tourism that people take to get surgeries done. Some of the facilities in these places looked very nice and are supposedly quite good and the savings is substantial (eg 75 - 90% in India). I no longer have access to older articles I've read but this article I just found lists some popular destinations, including India.
https://www.mappingmegan.com/popular-destinations-medical-tourism/
 
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Wow !! such vitriol, about a country you don't live in..:oops:. !! we don't pay any higher taxes than you in the USA (yes waiting lists are long and ''staying in corridors'' isn't ideal but it's only while waiting for admission, and simply because this is a very small Island we just don't have the space to build more and more hospitals for the influx of Immigrants who want to come here for FREE medical) ...and really you shouldn't believe everything you read in the media .

Do you see any of the Brits on here any more unhealthy than the average American?.. no, because our health care is just as good if not better than the USA at point of source....and we don't have to pay High insurance premiums to get it or have people so poverty stricken they cannot afford to have a much needed operation without potentially losing their home as happens in the USA .

Also remember many people have never worked a day in their lives, either through disability or sheer laziness, they get exactly the same quality of care that everyone who has paid into the Tax system gets, no difference.. does that happen in the USA..?

Equally we have an excellent Private medical system here too if we choose to pay out of pocket for our care, and no long waiting lists , and I can assure you our medical Insurance premiums would even scratch the surface of what you have to pay!!

Respectfully, I don’t believe that people who don’t work a day in their lives due to laziness should get anything. Why should I have to pay for a person who wants to sit on their tush and live off of my families hard work? That is wrong.
 
Healthcare is not free, either in a socialist country or capitalist country. Personally I prefer my liberty and do not want to be told by the government what I must do.
 
Well we get our health care FREE so there is nowhere cheaper..
Amazing! So you don't have to pay taxes to support your healthcare system?

Economics 101, nothing is "free"

Germany has the best healthcare system in the world, but Germans pay an 8 percent tax that is dedicated to it. And there is no cap - if you make $1 million in a year, you pay $80,000 in taxes just for healthcare.
 
As far as insurance for US residents, what you post is completely wrong. There has never been nor is there now a company that raises your rates because of claims. It's something told to us by those who want single payer as a scare tactic. Obama did that VERY well.

Companies don't look for loopholes to avoid paying. That's really such a load of garbage I don't know why I bother responding.

Rick

My sister is one of those who seriously believes that stuff and gets all riled up about it, She is also convinced that any error in medical billing is an attempt to cheat her out of her money. It gets very old. I do not know where she gets those ideas, but I wish she would stop. I get very tired of having to talk her off the ceiling about stuff like that.
 
Hubby and I have private health insurance @ $A398.00 per month but we also have a universal scheme called Medicare. Everyone is covered by Medicare, with or without health insurance for public hospital treatment and for doctor's visits where the practice bulk bills Medicare. Pensioners are usually bulk billed. If they don't bulk bill there may be a gap that has to be paid. This can usually be claimed against insurance.

To give you an example - I have had both knees and one hip replaced by the same orthopedic surgeon. I am due for a check up soon and he sent a reminder letter with referrals for X rays and requesting a new referral letter from my GP. Saw the GP this week and was bulk billed. As well as the referral letter, I received a new script for my blood pressure medication - no charge for any of it. Today I went down to an X ray centre and walked in without an appointment and only waited about 10 minutes. They had my details in the system so I did not have to produce any card or identification, just the referral letter from the GP. X rays finished, I didn't have to sign anything, not was there any charge.

Would I go anywhere else for medical treatment? Not on your nelly**. I am too well served at home.

** For those not familiar with this phrase

not on your nelly
cockney rhyming slang for not on your life. nelly rhymes with smelly, which leads to smelly breath, breath leads to breathing to keep alive, leading to not on your life.
 
Respectfully, I don’t believe that people who don’t work a day in their lives due to laziness should get anything. Why should I have to pay for a person who wants to sit on their tush and live off of my families hard work? That is wrong.
I feel that many tax paying hard working people in the UK feel the same.

My husband who pays mega tax every month definitely feels that way... and I agree in some ways, why should my money go not only to pay for these people of which believe me there are many, ( of course we're only talking about adults who have never worked through sheer laziness) and who clog up the whole system making waiting times for essential treatment for people who pay taxes, much, much longer and at the same time we're paying for their Dole money as well as other benefits... . however I also battle with the thought that I'd be horrified to see someone dying in pain and agony in a free country , just because they couldn't get the meds that they desperately can't afford..

In retrospect perhaps if they knew they wouldn't get free treatment then magically they may be able to find a job, instead of making excuses about benefits paying more than a minimum wage..

I have a whole ton of things I could say on this subject but I won't because the discussion of politics is not permitted here..and that subject is definitely one hot potato. ...so I will leave it at that!!
 
Me to... I avoid them like the plague. However, if I need them, I know where to find them. This is just my humble opinion but when you get to a certain mature elder age, they find reasons to test you on different meds... no thanks, I'm good.
I had huge issue with Mercy Hospital here in May. The nursing staff, you have no way to protect you from abuse authority.
 
Canada and Australia have similar health-care programs, and they are the best, in my opinion.
I have a friend in the BC area, that has been in pain, has bled a lot from her uterus and has an abdominal hernia that has been approved for an operation, but has been waiting for months and months because its "not life threatening". This I do not personally call good medical care. The way to make a non life threatening issue a life threatening issue is to do nothing about it. Really do feel for her.
 
I have a friend in the BC area, that has been in pain, has bled a lot from her uterus and has an abdominal hernia that has been approved for an operation, but has been waiting for months and months because its "not life threatening". This I do not personally call good medical care. The way to make a non life threatening issue a life threatening issue is to do nothing about it. Really do feel for her.

Every Province handles medical conditions differently. BC Med, for instance, would not had the same guidelines as OHIP in Ontario. I can't slam our system here in Ontario. I've had numerous tests and surgeries through my 50+ years in this Province, and have only had to pay for one specialist appointment which is now covered. We did pay extra for a private room when I had my caesarean 36 yrs. ago. Even when I had a problem renewing my card not too long ago (due to not changing my name again after divorce), my doctor did not refuse to see me, and told staff to book my appointments as usual. This went on for months. I'll keep our health system, thank you.

I hope your friend gets adequate treatment through her Provincial Health system, soon.
If not, if I were her, I would change doctors, pronto!
 

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