Patients Beyond Borders: Monterrey, Mexico Edition

Specialty treatments. Some procedures not available in your home
country are available abroad. Some procedures that are widely practiced
in certain parts of the world have not yet been approved in others, or they
have been approved so recently that their availability remains spotty.
Shorter waiting periods. For decades, thousands of Canadian and
British subscribers to universal, “free” healthcare plans have endured long
waits for established procedures. Patients living in other countries with
socialized medicine are beginning to experience longer waits as well. Some
patients figure it’s better to pay out of pocket to get out of pain or halt a deteriorating
condition than to suffer the anxiety and frustration of waiting.
More “inpatient-friendly.” Health insurance companies apply significant
pressure on hospitals to move patients out of those costly beds as
quickly as possible, sometimes before they are ready. In Monterrey and
many other medical travel destinations, care is taken to ensure that patients
are discharged only at the appropriate time and no sooner. Furthermore,
staff-to-patient ratios are usually higher abroad, while hospital-borne infection
rates are often lower.
The lure of the new and different. Although traveling abroad for medical
care can often be challenging, many patients welcome the chance to
blaze a trail, and they find the hospitality and creature comforts often offered
abroad to be a welcome relief from the sterile, impersonal hospital
environments so frequently encountered at home.
IntRodUctIon
Monterrey, Mexico Edition xv