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Comments (7)
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Save/ShareIn a first-of-its-kind move, Mexico City will now automatically cover tourists with free health insurance for emergencies. If you're a tourist and you come down with a disease or have an accident while visiting the city, you are automatically covered.
A new "Tourist Assistance Card" gives travelers staying in the city's hotels free coverage "for emergency medical care, hospital stays, prescription drugs, and ambulance services," reports LATimes.com.
To be sure, other countries in the world with nationalized health care, such as France and the United Kingdom, will treat visitors in their hospitals on an urgent care basis. But Mexico City is the first in the world to set up a system specifically to assist visitors with obtaining medical care for problems that arise during their trip. For example, a call center will have nurses who speak English, French, German, Portuguese, and (of course) Spanish. A modest payment will be charged for some services, and there are rules to prevent people from abusing the city's generosity.
For info, check out the Medical Care and Assistance section of the city's tourism website.
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I think it's a great idea. I hope that other countries join the band wagon.
Posted By Joe Routon on July 30, 2009, 11:17 AM
Desperate times call for desperate measures. With tourism having come to a screeching halt, whoever came up with this brilliant idea should be given a promotion!
Posted By katherine barnett on August 3, 2009, 2:59 PM
Good idea if it is worth anything. Was in Cancun and the wind lifted a beach umbrella which struck me in the head the day before I returned home. Umbrella not seated properly by their staff - their doctor treated me but subsequent medical procedures back home now close to $5,000 and the resort is ignoring my emails. Would not return to Mexico again because of this.
Posted By Helena on August 3, 2009, 4:05 PM
Many health plans will cover you as an international traveler however in some cases they will only reimburse you. Our company echealthinsurance.com has many healthplans that will cover travel internationally so if an event like this were to happen your coverage is guaranteed. Visit us for a quote at echealthinsurance.com.
Posted By Alex Ehrenthal on August 27, 2009, 4:24 PM
Mexican health insurance is the equivalent of Iraqi infrastructure!
Posted By florida health on October 18, 2009, 7:00 PM
Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K. Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade.[11] [See the table.] The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain. The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain
Posted By health insurance on July 19, 2010, 7:33 PM
I would agree with one of the above posters, Mexican health care is very poor to say the least. You can give the Mexicans credit for their choices in this story, but again I would not want the care.
Posted By Michigan Medicare on August 8, 2010, 3:07 PM