The following transcript was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Carlie: Hello there. It’s Carlie with the Expat Focus podcast. American Blogger Kirsten Raccuia first appeared on this show to speak about how to move to Malaysia. She came back after she and her husband had relocated from Malaysia to Mexico. And Kirsten is here today to talk specifically about her experience with healthcare in Mexico.
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Kirsten, it’s great to have you back on the Expat Focus Podcast for what is your third appearance?
Kirsten: Yeah, it’s my third time. Thank you very much for having me. I’m excited to be here.
Carlie: I was reading that Mexico is the second most popular destination for medical tourism behind Thailand. So from your experience, Kirsten, what makes Mexico so popular for medical treatments?
Kirsten: Well, I would definitely say a couple things. The proximity to the US definitely makes it easy for Americans to come here and do things that are too expensive in America. I know people who have come here for everything from cutting edge cancer treatment that would never be allowed in America. So cutting edge, but it’s allowed in other countries.
It’s not just a Mexico thing, but it’s super cutting edge. America isn’t doing it. Same thing with stem cells and PRP. A lot of that is being done here pretty regularly and the cost is quite low compared to in America, and I don’t actually think, a lot of the time, there’s an option to do stem cells in America. It’s still too unknown and a little bit experimental.
So I think people are doing everything from plastic surgery. They’re coming here for regular surgery, any kind of intense or regular surgery that just is too expensive in the states, even with insurance.
Carlie: So Mexico for Americans is basically Australia’s Thailand?
Kirsten: Yes, I know lots of Aussies for the same reasons go to Thailand for dental, for cosmetic procedures because the price differences are insane.
Carlie: Meantime, have you seen those reels of men flying back to Europe from Turkey, all with like rows and rows on the airplane of men with their bandaged heads from getting their hair transplants in Turkey? I find that so funny.
Kirsten: And what’s funny is I know a guy who’s an American guy living in Italy actually. He went to Turkey also and he was like, this was the best thing I’ve ever done. And apparently they’re on the cutting edge of hair transplant treatments there. And just walking down the street, I saw a video of people walking down the street and it was just like bandages everywhere. Seasoned bandaged heads.
And a lot of women, they’re saying it’s a huge thing for women because as we get older our hair thins and all that.
Carlie: I know I don’t have enough hair as it is, so I am actually dreading that part of getting older, just quietly.
Kirsten: I don’t think it’s gonna happen to everybody. And I also think that now that we know that we should be taking hormones, maybe unpopular opinion, but here hormones are a thing. I don’t know if they are everywhere, but definitely the doctors here are very pro HRT, so they’re not pushy with it, but they are pro HRT if you want it.
So that’s part of the care here. It’s not even… I think in the States back in the day, it was like, we shouldn’t be talking about HRT. It’s dangerous for you. But now that so much has come out against that, all the doctors here are onboard, cutting edge with it and learning about it constantly.
And my doctor actually, because I said to my doctor, I said, I’m not interested, I’m scared. Blah blah blah. Told her why and she said, it’s old news, Kirsten. She sent me all these reports. She WhatsApp me a ton of reports that were medical reports I didn’t read, but there were proof of how much we weren’t kind of duped.
Carlie: So segue into HRT, but I was speaking to someone just recently actually about, I think they call them GLP ones, the weight loss medications. And how in France, doctors won’t typically prescribe them to you. Whereas it seems in Australia and in the USA, it’s becoming more and more common that doctors will say, sure, here’s a prescription for one. I think you qualify.
Kirsten: Yeah, I think it’s pretty common here. So I know people come here from America to get those. I don’t know if they need a prescription from a doctor or they can… I know you can go to doctors here and get prescriptions for things and then go to the pharmacy and get it just like you would in the states.
But I know people here who said it’s too expensive in America, so they’re gonna get it here.
Carlie: So I was gonna ask about the pharmacy runs actually, and I was thinking about the last time I saw that in a TV show, and it was Grace and Frankie. Where Frankie took all of the prescriptions at the retirement home across the border to Mexico to get them filled because the medication was so much cheaper. Is that the reality that, and I guess that’s why so many Americans go to Mexico. You can just take your prescription and get it filled in another country. Is that a thing in Mexico?
Kirsten: So I don’t know if you can actually take an American prescription and get… I think there are specific pharmacies that you can go to, specifically along the border, and then you can show that the doctor gave you a prescription. But I don’t know if I could walk into any pharmacy in Puerto Vallarta and say, my doctor in America gave me this. Can you fill it?
I don’t know if that’s the case, but I know a lot of the drugs here, you don’t need a prescription for. So that’s the point. Some things are strange, like antibiotics you cannot get without a prescription, but there are pharmacies here that you could walk into and get HGH and steroids.
So it’s a weird thing. And I think there’s just… they’re not questionable pharmacies. They’re legitimate pharmacies. There’s levels of pharmacies here. There are certain pharmacies that will not give you anything without a prescription, whether it’s anything that the government deems you need a prescription for.
But then there’s the pharmacy next door that’s like, eh, we’ll look the other way and will give you the prescription. And it’s the same medication. It’s not like it’s coming from some back alley pill maker. It’s the same stuff just a few doors down. More relaxed pharmacist.
I don’t know. I mean, and I don’t know where these pharmacists or pharmacies, how they do their business, but they do their business and they’re everywhere there. It’s not just like there’s not one in Vallarta. There’s 50 in Vallarta, so I think if you kind of look around, you can get what you need without it being like this big scandal.
It’s just like you just get it. But I don’t think that you can walk into every single pharmacy and get all the drugs you need. I think there are definitely levels of places. But I do know people who run over the border once a month. Or it used to be a little bit easier than it is these days, but they run over the border once a month with all their medications, just like Grace or Frankie, whichever one that was that did it.
I get confused with which one was which, but such a good show. It’s true. I know. I loved it. I watched it and cried and laughed every time. So good. So yeah, it’s possible.
Carlie: Well, as Americans living in Mexico, do your family members hit you up and be like, Hey, so I need to get this drug. Can you just go to your local pharmacy?
Kirsten: For me, they don’t, because I think the trouble will be shipping home. So that’s more the problem. But when I’m traveling home, I’m always like, what do you need? What you got? You need Xanax. I got you. I’m like, you want Xanax? I got you, mom. No problem.
Carlie: I’m packing macarons from France. And you’re packing Xanax. Hey, maybe we should meet so we can do an exchange. I’ll take your Xanax.
Kirsten: Yes.
Carlie: So you and your husband did move from Malaysia to Mexico. How soon after you relocated did you find yourself needing to engage in the local healthcare system for the first time?
Kirsten: I mean, I think it was something… well first of all, my husband got COVID like the month after we moved here, of course. But there was nothing to do for that, so we didn’t do anything with that. But it was pretty early on.
Mark needed… Mark hurt his back. And so we asked around and they said, go to this pharmacy, you’ll talk with the doctor. A lot of the pharmacies there, you have a doctor next door and they’re connected. So you go to the pharmacy or you go to the doctor. You talk to the doctor, he tells you what you’re gonna go get at the pharmacy. You go buy it at the pharmacy, you bring it back to him and he gives it to you, whether it’s shots or whatever.
And I think that was within the first six months we were here. He got a cortisone shot. It was a cortisone and pain relief and… we limped to the pharmacy, barely moving. Took us forever to get there and I don’t know why we didn’t take a cab, but… and he walked out straight up, like feeling good. And it took 20 minutes.
So it’s a little bit weird. Like you go to the pharmacy and you get like a syringe and you’re like, okay, here doc, here’s a syringe. Like it feels a little bit awkward, but that’s just how they do it here. And it’s all sterile and everything’s in packaging and stuff like that.
So that’s a pretty common thing to do for things like… if you have a sign of infection or you have something that is kind of minor, like you would go in the States to like a doc in the box or CVS pharmacies or Walgreen pharmacies have those doctors within them. It’s kind of the same thing here.
So that makes it really easy. And then you can go to different doctors if you need to go to specialists or anything like that.
Carlie: So as foreign residents in Mexico, did you have to sign up to the local healthcare system or show proof of insurance or anything?
Kirsten: No. So there is like a national healthcare system here, but if you want to apply for it, you can. Mark and I have private health insurance because we wanted… that was our choice and we wanted that.
But you don’t have to show insurance ever. So if you go to the doctor, you have to pay cash or with a credit card, whatever it is. And if you go to a specialist, same thing. You pay cash.
If you have insurance, your insurance can pay for it. But if you don’t have insurance, it’s all cash. So if you go to the hospital, they won’t let you leave the hospital without paying. So if you spend a week in the hospital and you don’t have insurance, they will charge your credit card.
Because they expect you to pay. So even if you don’t have insurance, they’re kind of like, we’ll keep you here for a month. If you can’t pay, you better get your friends to pay. You pay for this. You’ll be cleaning bedpans. Hang on a second. Right? I mean that’s kind of their assurance that we’re not gonna just screw over their medical care system.
So it is, we go with whoever we want to go, any doctor we wanna go to see, we can just go.
Carlie: So could you be entitled for national health insurance? You just choose not to register?
Kirsten: I believe so. I think that it’s for people… I think you have to prove a certain level of income. Or it is there for anybody who can’t afford private healthcare. So because you can afford it, you choose not to use it.
And also I think, I don’t know for sure, but I think that with that, you don’t get to choose who you go see or your doctors. You just see whoever’s within their… whoever’s available that day. You go, you wait at the general hospital and… Because we can afford it, I would rather choose the hospital I go to and choose the doctor I go to and feel more at ease in that sense.
Carlie: And so what do you choose… when Mark had to go and get the cortisone injection with your health insurance and with you choosing where you went to get that done, what sort of out of pocket expense was that?
Kirsten: We didn’t even have insurance at the time, because we’d only been here for a couple of months, but it was maybe $60. Like it’s never expensive. I don’t even know if it was that much.
My general doctor, I don’t remember how long… It was quite a long time ago, so I don’t remember exactly how much that was. But when I go to see my regular general doctor, it’s $40 to $50 every time.
And that’s not with medication, but that’s with anything that we need to do with him. If I have to go get blood work, I go next door, I get blood work done and that’s another $50, maybe a hundred dollars, depending on how much is needed.
I can choose to send that stuff to insurance, but generally I just… it’s all so inconsequential that I don’t end up sending in the insurance because I won’t cover my deductible. So I gather it all up and hold onto it for a couple months, and if I think I’m gonna meet the deductible, then I would send it in.
So out of the three years I’ve been here, I’ve only met my deductible one time.
Carlie: Wow. So it’s really a case of the cost is so minimal in your life that you can choose when to turn it on or not.
Kirsten: Yeah, I mean, we have it for the catastrophic things, and if need be, we have it. But to go to a doctor and pay $40 or even a specialist, like you wanna go to the gyno, it’s a thousand pesos, which is roughly $50.
So it’s never… for my health insurance, my deductible is $2,500. So for me to get to that, it doesn’t make sense for me. I hold onto everything and I would send it to her, but at this point I just haven’t needed it. Grateful for that. It’s a nice position to be in. Very grateful for that.
Carlie: However, you did have to engage in the health system a bit more seriously. Can you tell me what you did to yourself?
Kirsten: I don’t know. I had a… I do not know what I did to myself. I hurt my knee. And I thought I just ignored it because I’m getting older, things hurt and you just ignore them and you keep moving.
But apparently I really hurt my knee, so I had a torn meniscus. It was torn in a couple different places. And then when he got in there, I had some… I got calcium, a piece of calcium that had broken off from my bone basically, and had lodged into my tendon. So he did all these things to kind of clean up my knee.
So that was in February, February 20th of this year. And I did have to use my insurance with that. So I called my insurance when I knew I needed the operation. And they said to me, okay, well where are you doing it? And they asked me all the questions and they said, okay, we’ll just pre-approve it at the hospital.
So when you go to the hospital, all you’ll do is pay your deductible. Through the hospital, you’ll pay a certain amount and that will be covered. We will cover your deductible and then anything else, we’ll pay you back.
So I had an amazing… my doctor’s amazing. He took incredible care of me, and I was an absolute panicked wreck. I don’t do well with medical treatments and I had already done PRP with him and I trusted him with everything, but I just… I am a big baby and I was panicking like crazy and he calmed me down as much as he could and left me to my husband and he was like, you can calm her better, because I was a mess.
And then I just needed physical therapy after that. And he has been… the doctor was incredible. He came and he saw me like three times while I was getting out of my stupor. And I was there for a couple of hours and they sent me home and I could not… I couldn’t speak more highly of the experience I did have.
They did have a problem getting my IV in, which has happened to me. I’ve had two surgeries in my life and both times they’ve had problems getting the IV in. I don’t know why because… but this seems to be a you problem.
Carlie: Yeah. It’s a me problem, except for anytime I give blood or anything like that, they’re like, here, you could just take… They could see it easily, but maybe my hands are different anyway, so that was what sent me into a panic. But other than that, it was just smooth sailing and the doctor came and talked to me and the anesthetist came and talked to me and told me how it was all gonna go.
I definitely think that the healthcare here is every bit as good as that in the states, if not better in so many ways. Like the doctors here talk to you and listen to you. Every doctor I go to, there’s never a rush. So when I needed to talk to the doctor for my knee, he was like, let’s talk about it. What happened?
He just asked questions, he listens. I spent an hour with him. Never rushing out, never rushing you out of there. It just feels like a whole different kind of treatment and care here than it does in the states where you’ve got like 15 minutes and get out. Like, hurry up, here’s some pills. Go.
So back to bringing it back to my insurance, which was the initial question. They were… it was already pre-approved by the time I got ready for the surgery. So all I had to do was pay that credit card bill. And then they’ve been paying me checks since then, so it was easy.
And my health insurance is about… well, for the two of us, for Mark and I, it’s about $4,800 for the year. When we left the states, it was over a thousand dollars a month for each of us. So for us, $4,800 for a year is pretty amazing.
Carlie: Pretty darn good. And how much do you know… two questions. One, how much would your knee surgery have cost, if you know, in the states compared to what you paid in Mexico? And what did you end up paying in Mexico out of pocket?
Kirsten: The first question, I have no idea how much it would’ve cost. I have no idea. But definitely a lot more than I paid $2,500 total and that was my deductible. So the insurance took the rest of it. So that’s all I paid for a knee surgery with two different doctors and in the hospital, like in a nice hospital, not in some schlocky hospital, like in a very nice, well-renowned hospital.
So I can’t imagine what that would cost in the States. I can’t imagine. I mean, even though it was outpatient. If you don’t have insurance, you could probably go bankrupt. I mean, it’s stupid in the states.
Carlie: How did you and Mark go about choosing your preferred doctors and hospitals when you got to Mexico? Was it kind of word of mouth around expat circles as to which places are good? Or did you go with local recommendations?
Kirsten: It was definitely word of mouth. So we don’t… we didn’t… we’ve never chosen a hospital, but with doctors, we have… everything has been word of mouth. So everything from like a PT to my orthopedic doctor to dentist, everything has been word of mouth because there is a big expat community here.
And so that’s the first place that we go when we need to look for… when we have questions, we ask our friends and ask the big groups of people. Even on Facebook, there’s so many groups here and so many different groups for Puerto Vallarta, for everything. For fun stuff to medical stuff, to whatever you need to know, you can find a recommendation for anything you’re looking for.
And then what’s interesting here is that the doctors don’t necessarily work with a hospital. So my doctor said I can do the surgery at three different hospitals. You choose which one’s best. And so I just chose the one that I know that I had… I liked because I used to live next door to it and I just felt familiar with it.
But you choose your… the doctor will… every day they kind of do different surgeries at different hospitals. So you can choose your hospital in that sense, but otherwise you’re choosing a doctor. And just like anywhere else, if you don’t like your doctor, you just go to a different one here because I… and because I have insurance, they’ll pay for it or I’ll pay out of pocket.
Carlie: And obviously in Mexico they speak Spanish. So was there a language barrier or did you find or request doctors who spoke English?
Kirsten: We’ve never had to request doctors who speak English, because a good majority of people here do, and most of the doctors… many of the doctors are actually trained in the US and then come back and help here and do medical care here.
I think only one time have we had to break out our mediocre Spanish to get things taken care of. But that was at one of those walk-in clinics where they usually have… somebody there speaks English, but sometimes just they’re off that day or whatever happens. They’re on break or whatever.
So we’ve never really had to deal with that. Now, I don’t know if it would be different if we were in a smaller town. But we are learning Spanish every day. So… but medical Spanish is a whole other world. So I definitely would say my advice would be make sure that before you go to any doctor that they speak English, because you don’t wanna mess around with that.
And Google translate’s not gonna be your friend when you’re trying to talk about your appendix.
Carlie: That’s one thing in France that I do seek out. Luckily, on the little online booking system for medical professionals in France, you can filter by doctors who speak English because my French is still mediocre and it’s certainly not medical French.
Kirsten: Yeah. Like when I was renovating a house, I became really good at DIY vocabulary for 18 months, and now I don’t remember any of it, but you have to get really in the medical zone of the language and when you’re DIYing something, you feel like you get the wrong size pipe. You can figure out how to fix that. Get a new one. It’s your healthcare stakes are a little bit higher.
Carlie: Yeah, exactly. I want the right size pipe. Now, Kirsten, you touched on this just before, but I am curious, and I’m sure some listeners are too. Such affordable healthcare, what’s the compromise? What’s the difference between treatment in reality in the States versus Mexico? Is there a reason why you’re paying $2,000 and not $20,000 for a procedure, for example?
Kirsten: I mean, I suspect the reason is because people here… well, in America, you can sue. Like doctors have to protect themselves with insurance and all that kind of stuff. So they have to have malpractice, millions of dollars of malpractice insurance, and I don’t think it’s the same here.
Like you can sue all you want here, but there’s a limited amount that you can actually get. Also there… it doesn’t happen very often here. Like people, you don’t hear about these big lawsuits here about doctors, which doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t happen or it doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t. It’s just not a thing here, like it is in the states where everyone can… it’s not in the culture for everything.
But that has nothing to do with the quality of care. I think the quality of care here is every bit as good and I don’t think… I’ve never been somewhere where I’ve thought, Ooh, it’s just a little bit dodgy, or it’s not as clean or not as up to date as I’d like it to be.
I mean, the things that I’ve gone through here doctor-wise, whether it’s just my dentist, my ortho, my… the guy now, I am amazed every time I walk into their offices and I think, wow, this is… it’s a beautiful office. It’s so modern. The technology is all so up to date and I just feel like there’s no compromise. There really is no compromise.
The biggest thing that I feel is different that I touched on is actually the care. Like they truly care. I mean, I have… every doctor I go to, I have their WhatsApp. Every single doctor, they don’t let you leave. They don’t want you to leave without being able to contact them.
When we’ve been to like an emergency room just for an appointment… we actually had an appointment in an emergency room for whatever reason. That’s how they sent us through the hospital. When we were having some stomach issues and the doctor, the ER doctor gave us medicine for your stomach problems, and here’s my phone number.
You’re like, are you sure? I’m not gonna call you on your phone. He’s like, well, why wouldn’t you? I’m like, oh, okay. This is different. I mean, that is something that you don’t get that in the states.
Carlie: And doctors scrolling Instagram in their downtime, you’re just like pinging being like, Hey, so you know, the tablet’s not working.
Kirsten: I mean, they really want you to, they’re like, they’re fine with it, you know, they’re just… My ortho said to me… besides giving me cookies that his daughter made for… he’s like, my daughter made… he brings you into the family a little bit. He’s like, these are for my daughter. She wants you to have them.
Carlie: Oh, that’s so sweet.
Kirsten: Yeah. And he said to me, I said, how come you’re only working… I think he only works half days on certain days. And I said, why are you only working half days? Do you go to a different hospital, work somewhere else? And he said no. He said, I just wanna have time with my family.
So doctors here can make a living and also have a life, and they’re not in debt for their entire life, and they’re not worried about being sued. So I think that all that comes through in your appointment with them. They truly aren’t doing this so that they can be looked at as gods or as saviors. They’re just people who want to help you make you feel better. And there’s a big… that’s a big difference.
Carlie: So I’m guessing there’s never been a procedure you’ve considered and thought to yourself, oh, I think I’d prefer to go back to the States for that one.
Kirsten: Not at all. And actually, when I go to the states, I buy health insurance for that time that I’m there, which is ridiculously expensive. But I always… they always ask you where… if something tragic happens, where are you gonna be sent back to for help for major healthcare?
And I always say, Mexico. So for me, this is where I would come back for anything major or minor. But I mean, if I had to choose, I would always come here.
Carlie: I think that’s something that goes through the minds of everyone who lives abroad. It’s like, I love this sketch by an Australian comedian who says, who is your emergency contact? And the number of men who say it’s still their mothers even when they’re married. But the other one is, as you said, which country do you choose to be sent back to if something happened to you abroad. So it’s really telling that for you it’s Mexico and it’s not the USA.
Kirsten: Definitely not, definitely not. I’m more comfortable here without a doubt. And I know I would get amazing care here and not be thrown out of the hospital in a hurry or… hurry up, you gotta get out. We need this bed kind of thing. It’s not like that here.
Carlie: I was going to ask about that. With your knee surgery one, how long afterwards were you encouraged to go home? Did they kind of nudge and be like, Hey, we want this bed for somebody else. And two, what was the aftercare like physiotherapy, that sort of thing?
Kirsten: So it’s funny because they didn’t want me to go. They just were like, you could stay as long as you want. I’m like, I’d like to go home. I’ve been sitting here for like five hours. I’m ready. Like, drugs have worn off. I’m feeling things. I wanna go home and be on the couch. And they were like, are you sure? Because you could stay longer. There was no rush at all.
So then I came home. I sat on the couch for a couple days and was on crutches for three days and that was it. And he is like, in two weeks I’m gonna see you again, and then we’ll see… we’ll monitor where you’re at in another two weeks. We’ll start physiotherapy.
In the meanwhile, I had specific instructions to do some small exercises, while I was sitting on the couch, just kind of bending it and putting some weight on it and that kind of stuff from the doctor. But again, he was like, take some anti-inflammatories and that kind of stuff so that you’re not in pain.
I didn’t have any major… it was an arthroscopic surgery, so I didn’t have major open knee. It wasn’t super invasive knee. But he was shocked at how much… how gross my knee was. He was like, we went in there thinking it was gonna be this little easy thing. And then we realized how much of a mess your knee was once we got in there.
So I felt very accomplished in having my knee surgery. So I mean, the aftercare was just making sure you’re doing the right things, that you’re not pushing yourself too far, you’re not doing any exercise until you get to PT.
And now I’m still doing PT once every like three or four weeks. And I’m pretty well, like 90% healed. I still have days where it hurts, but I’m 90% better and I’m not mountain climbing, but I’m doing everything else I’d say.
Carlie: Oh, that’s good. Yeah, and it’s only been a couple months, so I’m pretty proud. And how do you find services like physical therapy and physio and that sort of thing? Because I know here in France compared to Australia, it’s not quite the same. I find they’re not as hands-on and it’s probably a good thing for health promotion in that they’re like, right, let’s go straight to the gym and get you doing things where it’s like, actually I’d really just like some manipulation. Can I just lie down on a bed and get some actual work on me? Or are you just going to send me off to do a bunch of squats by myself in a room?
Kirsten: Oh my gosh, no. Here the physios are… I mean, I never had physio back in the States, but I know I went to two different physios here and the first one, I didn’t think she was getting the mission accomplished, and so I changed and went to a different one.
Who’s amazing, but they both were very… are very hands-on and very moving my knee for me, pushing, digging, doing… digging into my knee, my legs, and doing all the things that I think a physio should be doing.
I’m not screaming in pain by any chance when I’m there, I’m like, shouldn’t you be… shouldn’t this hurt more? Shouldn’t you… You could bend it more. You can do it. And she’s like, we don’t need to do that because I’ve always heard that physio is really super painful, but my doctor here is… she’s like, I don’t need to hurt you. We can do this without it.
Carlie: Make progress without pain.
Kirsten: Yeah, and I’ve seen huge progress with her. The first one I did not, so I was not happy, but I was there every time, a few times a week. But I think that happens anywhere you go, where some doctors work for you, some doctors don’t. I’m not gonna love every doctor I go to or every physio.
So thankfully I’m able to choose and I just went to a different one that people had recommended because for the first one, my doctor recommended and also she was in the same office as him. So he just said, go to her because you’re gonna be here anyway. Go next door.
And so I did. And then when I realized, okay, this isn’t doing what I need, I went to a different one from a friend who was like, she’s the best. And I said, okay. And so I learned from a friend and went to the best and she’s been fantastic now.
Carlie: Kirsten, just finally, what’s your advice to any other foreigners new to Mexico in navigating healthcare for the first time?
Kirsten: I would definitely say make sure you feel confident with your doctor. And if you don’t like your doctor… someone gives you a doctor. That doesn’t mean you have to go with them. Choose your doctor, especially if you have private health insurance, which I would recommend getting private health insurance if you’re gonna come to Mexico for medical care. Have health insurance because it’ll just give… it opens up the doors for different doctors, for different hospitals, for a lot of… people don’t necessarily wanna go where they are told to go, but they wanna go where they feel that they’re gonna get the best care.
So get first, get insurance. If you’re coming here for any spell, and then make sure that you… if you don’t feel comfortable, make sure your doctor gives you the time. And if they’re not giving you the time, then go to someone else. Because they are very… they’re here to help you.
It’s not just like medical care in the states. They’re not just here to give you pills and send you packing. They really do wanna help you. You have to be open and tell them everything and not be nervous about that. Like sharing your personal stuff. Because I know people get nervous talking to doctors, but here it’s just like they actually… they give you their first name. They say, I’m Joel. You’re like, you mean Dr. Joel? They’re like, yeah, okay. You can call me that, but you can just call me Joel.
Carlie: Okay, Dr. Joel, sounds so personable.
Kirsten: Yeah, it is. So I think just like you would anywhere else, just make sure that you find the right person, the right doctor, and I think health insurance is important personally.
Carlie: And do you have so many doctors now saved to your phone as like, Joel Knee, doctor, Susan, PT, Susan, two other PT?
Kirsten: Yep. Exactly. I’m on WhatsApp. Everything is done by WhatsApp here, so you can even make appointments for WhatsApp. If you have… I’ve had to go and get blood work from my knee doctor said, go get this blood work. And I could not call the hospital to get the blood work because I didn’t think I would be able to communicate enough.
So his secretary did it for me. She made an appointment with me standing there and got through and got it sorted out. She’s like, go today. Go get your blood work done. Go get your MRI done the next day. She did it all for me. So they’re super helpful.
So don’t be afraid to ask and reach out to other expats or people that you know who live here so that you can get recommendations.
Carlie: Kirsten, thanks so much for coming back on the Expat Focus podcast to talk about healthcare in Mexico. Now, I know you write about it too on your blog. If people want to check that out and other insights that you share from your life in Mexico, where can they find you?
Kirsten: Sand in my curls.com. I write about all things living in Mexico and the best for everything from the best beaches to how to go to the doctor in Mexico. So I write about it all here.
Carlie: That’s it for today. Do you have experience with healthcare in Mexico? Maybe you’ve done one of those border runs for cheaper medications. You can let us know all about it on social media. For long-term expat health insurance deals, check out our website, expatfocus.com. And while you’re there, sign up to our monthly newsletter.
If you like the show, be sure to leave us a review, however you like to listen, and I will catch you in the next one.