Migrants at the Border: US Citizens Head South for Cheap Medical Care
By Erik Goldman
There are a lot of anxious, needy people eager to cross the line that separates the US from Mexico. Go to the border towns of Southern California and Arizona, and you’ll see them— US citizens heading south to Mexican clinics and farmacias, seeking lower cost surgeries and cheap meds.
Medical and pharmacy “tourism” to Mexico is a large and growing phenomenon, one that has received little attention amid the bitter political rancor over immigration policy and border control. It has been going on for a long time. Lately, it has been surging.
These medical “refugees”—often desperate for procedures or treatments they cannot afford in the US—are finding what they need in Mexico. In fact, some are being sent across the border by insurance plans eager to capture massive savings on their pharma spending.
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