[hombre_fatal]

I live in Mexico and have had to get stitches many times. Paid $4 per stitch in the private hospitals in Guadalajara. I paid $24 in cash with the pesos in my pocket and walked home.

Even the dentist system in Mexico is walk in, pay, walk out for high quality work. I tried to go to the dentist when visiting family in Texas and had to fill out paperwork and pay to be a member first.

Seems like the only benefit of the US system is when you have a nice job, everything is basically free. Probably why nothing will change too much anytime soon. To quit your nice job to try to start a business forces you to gamble with your healthcare.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

The odd thing here is that in the US, dentists work more like you expect doctors to in Mexico.

You can generally go to any arbitrary dentist and ask "how much does procedure X cost?", and get an itemized estimate that will be very close to what you actually pay. I have never heard of paying to be a "member" first.

It was explained to me that the reason dentists operate differently is that historically very few people had dental insurance (either their plan didn't offer it or they declined coverage), so dentists developed fair pricing and kept price lists so their patients would know if they could afford a particular procedure. Now that dental insurance is common, the practice remains because most plans have a yearly maximum, so if you need expensive work done (e.g., multiple implants), the dentists/oral surgeons will work with you to schedule work so you are only billed up to your yearly maximum.

It's far from a panacea but it works better than the medical insurance system.

[dole]

Algodones, NM is a medical and dental border town. Wife of a friend had to get the majority of her teeth worked on or pulled and US dentists and their insurance quoted them around $16,000 out of pocket.

They flew into Algodones and got a hotel, walked across the border and had it done for $2,000 total for a multiple day procedure, anesthetics, and pain relief meds. The dentists are board-certified what from I understand, but don't ask me about the particulars or malpractice statistics.

IIRC, there were about 300 dental clinics alone in the local area to choose from but I don't know if that's an exaggeration.

[JudgeWapner]

isn't it true, however, that in MX if you don't already have the money to pay you will be turned away? If you walk into an ER in Guadalajara with a broken wrist and no money/insurance, what do they do?

[hombre_fatal]

lolwut? Even in my story above where I casually walked into the hospital, they had no idea about my ability to pay until after treatment had been rendered.

And just like in the US, you can walk out the front door at that point. But unlike the US, nobody is deluded into thinking you're bailing on a $12,000 bill because you got some stitches.

I got stitches in Austin five years ago after drunkenly slipping on a party barge and gashing my head open. The whole time I was getting stitches, someone was there using scare tactics to ensure I was going to pay for them, tried to take my name and info down, suggested that maybe we should only do 3 stitches instead of 4 if I wasn't going to give them my info. Probably extra pushy because I was drunk.

They billed me thousands, I gave them the $100 in my wallet and walked out the door.

My experience in Mexico for basically everything related to healthcare has been superior to the USA, from drugs to child birth to surgery to other healthcare fields like dentistry. I'd probably rather get cancer here, too. I know a Mexican here with a brain tumor that gets operated on every year. He can walk in to a public hospital, but he prefers the private ones. His last operation, he paid $1,500 cash. I don't even want to know what that would cost in the USA. Probably the rest of your life in servitude.

The USA is nice when you have a cushy white collar job like most HNers, and that's what I don't like. I don't want to work a cushy job all my life. I want to live off my savings for years at a time, live on a beach, take risks, start things, yet not lose half my savings when I have an accident. As far as I'm concerned, the USA can't deliver that.

[JudgeWapner]

I've asked Mexicans living in the US what happens if you go to the hospital and have anecdotally been told that they will absolutely turn you away for inability to pay unless you are dying from trauma, hence why I asked.

Two storys now, you've told me of people who have actually paid for healthcare in MX. What happens if you are destitute and need gallstones removed, for example?

[hombre_fatal]

Doesn't surprise me. Look how ignorant Americans are of their own system as well. In this very thread Americans are revealing that it's possible to counter-offer at hospital checkout to save $10,000. Should be common knowledge, no?

Instead it's a highly upvoted anecdote in every HN thread about American healthcare. It goes around like fire-side superstitious oral story-telling. What's even the limit on this story? The guy above offered $1,000. What about $100 or $10? What about just leaving with a $0 bill? Since the latter is possible, is the $1,000 a meaningless gesture so we don't feel like assholes? Is this the system?

Also, Mexicans in America are often of a Mexico-hating variety since they left Mexico, and in my experience they will often pander to Americans by dumping on Mexico. Just like what you see in Americans abroad that play up the bullshit.

The destitute in Mexico go to a public hospital under the Seguro Popular program. I lived across from one.

You can get a high level overview here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Mexico -- For example, it doesn't seem like you realize that Mexico has a universal healthcare system.

[craftinator]

What happens in the US if you're homeless and have gallstones, and walk into a hospital asking for treatment?

[JudgeWapner]

go to ER after becoming violently sick, they send you to surgery within hours.

[craftinator]

Interesting. There's a large homeless population in my town, and I've always wondered how difficult it would be for them to get emergency medical care.