PUERTO VALLARTA - The Costa Banderas Chapter of Democrats Abroad Mexico hosted the national meeting of the group last week at the Sheraton Hotel in Puerto Vallarta.
With the group having tripled its membership during the 2008 election cycle, and having helped to elect a Democratic administration in Washington, both local and national officers were confident of moving forward their issues in the Democratic National Party.
At the top of their list is looking for ways to push Congress to fund a pilot program to see if offering Medicare in Mexico could save that program money, while enfranchising the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens who paid into the system but now live in Mexico.
Dr. Ellen-Marie Whelan, a Washington-based health-care professional, explained why 2009 is a good time to revamp health care, given the way high costs are dragging down the U.S. economy. She said Medicare accounts for half of all health care spending in the United States.
Amy Issacs, national director of Americans for Democratic Action, was more pessimistic, saying she thought Congress won’t move on Medicare coverage any time soon, in part because many legislators don’t see expats as a constituency they need to cater to.
Issacs said private insurance companies were already offering U.S.-based subscribers co-payment discounts on care at Mexico-based hospitals and that Champus, the program that covers active and retired military families, also offers Mexican-based health care to its members. She added that the European Union has shown that cross-border health care is cost beneficial.
Dr. Rodrigo Garcia Verdu, a U.S.-trained Mexican economist at the Mexican Department of Economics, outlined several reasons why both the United States and Mexico can benefit by allowing Medicare payments for health care coverage in Mexico.
The average cost of Mexican health care is 60 percent less for comparable services in the United States, he said. The most common five surgical procedures cost 70 percent less at hospitals in northern Mexico, many of which are run by companies that also operate hospitals in the United States.
Many private hospital groups throughout Mexico are now working toward being certified so that Medicare insurance payments can be accepted.
Garcia said that the main barrier to getting Congress to move on this project is that stakeholders aren’t working together. They include U.S. citizens living in Mexico, dual citizens living in the border areas, large hospitals with cross border facilities, insurance companies and the Mexican government.
Garcia said 82 percent of respondents to a survey on immigration said they believed more U.S. citizens would move here if Medicare coverage were available. With remittances from the United States dropping, pension checks received by U.S retirees may be one way for the Mexican economy to rebound, he noted.
Garcia suggested all parties work together to change opinion in Washington. He urged those who can to pony up funds to help hire lobbyists to counter the American Medical Association and the U.S. pharmaceutical companies’ arguments against the measure.
Democrats Abroad Mexico Treasurer Paul Crist was optimistic that this is the year to move on the issue. Those who want this service need to get other Americans living here to support the measure, he said. Names, email addresses and signatures on resolutions are critical to get Congress moving, he added.
To find out more, see the organization’s website: www.mexicodemocrats.org.
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