Molar City, Mexico, a City of Medical Tourism

[lpetrich]

Welcome to Molar City, Mexico, The Dental Mecca America’s Health Care Costs Built | HuffPost - "A tiny border town is home to hundreds of dentists and is a major destination for Americans seeking big savings on dental care."

Los Algodones ("The Cotton Plants") in Baja California, Mexico

The signs that beckon Americans as they head west toward Andrade, California’s narrow border crossing, aren’t for resorts or beaches but for dental clinics offering bridges and root canals at half what they cost in the United States. Dental care has become big business here over the last two decades, so much so that American visitors have taken to calling it “Molar City.” An estimated 600 dentists operate out of hundreds of clinics that fill the 1-square-mile town, which is home to fewer than 5,000 permanent residents.

Dental plans usually cover checkups and cleanings but not major work like root canals or crowns or implants.

For all forms of medical and dental treatment, Patients Beyond Borders estimates that U.S. patients can save 40% to 60% in Mexico. As a rule of thumb, Patients Beyond Borders advises that any treatment that costs more than $6,000 in the United States can be performed for less, including travel costs, abroad.

But even at around half the cost of U.S. dental care, patients still must have the financial means to travel to a foreign country and the flexibility to miss work for days spent getting treatment and recovering.

Why do places like Mexico undersell the US?

“Primarily, the reason medical care is cheaper in these countries is the cost of running the business or a hospital or a clinic or even a doctor’s office is quite low compared to what it would be in the U.S,” Datta said. That includes the cost of labor and medical malpractice premiums, he said. In addition, medical and dental students in Mexico don’t graduate with student loan debt like Americans do and therefore don’t pass those costs on to patients, he said.

That's another argument for forgiveness of student loans - that it makes possible lower medical bills.

The Sani Dental Group is big there.

Sani treats 10,000 patients a year, 80% of them American and 20% Canadian, Gutiérrez said. About half of the Americans travel from Arizona, California and Nevada, he said. ...

Most Americans travel to Los Algodones for major restorative dental work, said dentist Javier Muñiz Pérez, Sani’s 35-year-old medical director. “Normally, they are asking more about the implants,” he said. “It’s very rare for the patients just to ask to do maybe a filling or a cleaning.”

Sani Dental is very gringo-friendly. All its staff speaks English, and it has a US phone number. Its offices look clean and modern, and have TV and Wi-Fi. Its staff assists patients in a professional fashion, getting information, formulating payment plans, and the like.

In its parking lots: "Cars with license plates from several U.S. states, a Native American reservation and a Canadian province filled the parking lot, but many visitors leave their vehicles in California and cross the border on foot."

 

[lpetrich]

 Medical tourism has become very common, with several countries offering themselves as destinations.

Medical Tourism | Features | CDC - has warnings about it.

Medical Tourism Association | Medical Tourism FAQ’s :: Medical Tourism Association

What is Medical Tourism?

Top 10 Medical Tourism Destinations in the World - India, Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, Costa Rica, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore

 

[TSwizzle]

I hadn't heard of that town before but I know quite a few people that make the trip to Tijuana for dental work and they do save a lot of money.

 

[Derec]

Molar City eh? Is that where the Avogadro's tomb is located?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I hadn't heard of that town before but I know quite a few people that make the trip to Tijuana for dental work and they do save a lot of money.

But all too often don't get good quality.

 

[Politesse]

I hadn't heard of that town before but I know quite a few people that make the trip to Tijuana for dental work and they do save a lot of money.

But all too often don't get good quality.

For the same dollar? You're a lot better off going down to a reputable place in Tijuana than some fly-by-night outfit in an L.A. strip mall. Yelp exists for a reason.

 

[RVonse]

I don't know anything about medical tourism but it sounds great to me. If multi-national corporations can seek out cheap labor, why can't people who need medical attention? That is what free market capitalism is supposed to be all about. Everyone should be able to go anywhere they want for medical attention.

If I had my way, it should be legal to be able to buy drugs from anywhere too.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I hadn't heard of that town before but I know quite a few people that make the trip to Tijuana for dental work and they do save a lot of money.

But all too often don't get good quality.

For the same dollar? You're a lot better off going down to a reputable place in Tijuana than some fly-by-night outfit in an L.A. strip mall. Yelp exists for a reason.

For the same dollar, I agree. I'm just saying that when you go cheap a bad outcome is a lot more likely.