Mexico has a hybrid of Universal as well as private and employer provided health care. Always funny to me how advanced we aren’t when it comes to health care in our country. It’s not witch doctors and shamans down here, although you can find a few. What many people come to Mexico for is the pharmacia because the prices of drugs in the US suck or to stock up.
Ok I get the first part this is some shit that we need to deal with in our country, because it is the ultimate in crap to diagnose someone and prescribe a medicine only to find that the person cannot afford it. Even worse when it is not some new fangled fancy medicine, but something like insulin. The saddest part is that you can get gracious help from the big pharma companies to afford your prescription. Taking the time to fill out their paperwork will grant you reduced costs or free medications. Its almost always granted because, survey says, they are already making a pretty penny on what they sell, what’s a few extra pills.
So folks head across the border to get medications cheaper to cut their costs. In some cases the cost of the trip and the medications is less than to obtain a years supply paying out of pocket for them. So it’s a two fer. You get a vacay and your pills. Yes, drug prices in the US are that steep, especially with no prescription plan.
Just so you know, there is not a candidate out there that is going to remedy that in this election. The Insurance lobby alone will shut down “medicare for all” faster you can say deductible. I laugh (in sadness mostly) to watch these politicians propose everything. Simple, it won’t work. Not because it isn’t a much better system than we have, but there are a lot of dudes with money who want to keep making it. No idealist like Bernie and his minions, or (insert candidate who is forced to come up with something because of this idea without an actual plan is thrown out as much as “free college”). You watched a very reasonable healthcare plan come into action (ACA), only to be dismantled piece by piece by the opposite party with the backing of insurance companies. Yeah, what we have watched with the ACA is EXACTLY what the insurance companies wanted to happen to the ACA. So they bought the republican party to make it happen and in the process convince their followers that, “who needs healthcare”. Argue this all you want, but everyone needs healthcare and simply denying it is like the brilliant Nancy Reagan campaign of, “Just say no.”
If you need a long term medication and can safely get it in Mexico or Canada, I am not against this just make sure that you are getting a drug that is was prescribed and tell your provider that you are doing this. Sometimes there are slightly different preparations in Canada and Mexico for the same drug and your provider can advise you on this. We may be able to prescribe something that is not available in the US. You have to make sure that CBP will let it come through, as some medications aren’t allowed to be imported to this country. If you want opiates, forget it. Bad Idea to bring those across an international border.
Now for the second reason and the one that pisses me off on a grand scale. People who come down here to stock up on antibiotics, just in case they get sick. I have heard all the excuses. “I get frequent infections and this always works, so I get a supply.” “I like to be prepared, if I get sick I can just start taking them.” This goes back to the Doctor Google phenomenon. I’ll let you in on a little secret; I have a provider that prescribes my meds. I tried self diagnosis once and got it horridly wrong and I have a much deeper knowledge than you and google have. Leave it to your provider.
Just randomly starting an antibiotic may seem benign, but just by doing so you may be increasing the likely hood of resistant bacteria or the bacteria may be already resistant or the best one, you are treating a virus and antibiotics won’t do dick to them.
Do us all a favor and leave that prescribing to professionals. Just because google says it is a possible treatment, doesn’t mean that is the one that will work best. Ok end of rant. That said.
Mexico is nice. It is 80 degrees F here today with high humidity, but it is still just plain nice. I have ventured out in public a bunch without too much compensation. It exhausts me since the area I am staying in has a lot of cruise ships so the peddlers are out in force. Interacting is tough for me. What I find funny in all of this, is that I often start speaking German because that is the foreign language I know. Haven’t had a local respond yet, although if they did I imagine it would be an interesting exchange.
The time away is needed. I didn’t realize how much I needed the break and change of my day to day. I do think a vacay away from home is needed though to get the fog of the day to day out. I have noticed a certain mental clarity returning. All in all a nice week.
Be the kind of person your mom and your dog hope you are.