International Patient Dumping

August 3, 2008 12:14 PM

MexCare offers "An Alternative Choice for the Care of the Unfunded Latin American National."

The company caters to hospitals wishing to privately repatriate seriously ill but uninsured immigrants.

posted by Knappster (17 comments total)

Oh get some universal healthcare system type thing already and be done with this nonsense. Work out an agreement with Canada and Mexico. Problem solveld.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:30 PM on August 3, 2008

No, those sick Mexicans are just trying to take jobs away from sick Americans.
posted by jonmc at 12:35 PM on August 3, 2008

Mexcare. It costs more. But 60 Minutes won't find out.
posted by Naberius at 12:42 PM on August 3, 2008

Yes, but from now on I'm outsourcing my "l"s.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:44 PM on August 3, 2008

Yes, but does the ambulance have hydraulics?
posted by jonmc at 12:54 PM on August 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm getting really good at spotting which articles in the Times will become FPPs; when I read this one this morning I knew it was a slam dunk for MeFi.

I was surprised when I read it — I had no idea one could do private deportations. I certainly have some neighbors whom I would dearly love to pay for their deportation. Just because they are fifth or eighth generation Americans doesn't mean that Ireland and Germany wouldn't like them back, right?

It looks like (from the limited evidence of this article) that the hospital is pretty sharply in the wrong, and is going to pay dearly in court for it, too.

At the same time, I have some sympathy for hospitals (not, however, to the point of being ok with their little rendition air service) because they are stuck in the middle of a broken system. They have a mandate to provide care, but there is neither a good preventative health system working to reduce unnecessary hospital visits, nor a good system for post-hospital care; those gaps in the health care system are magnified enormously when citizenship and legal status come into play.
posted by Forktine at 1:04 PM on August 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Other hospitals are more aggressive, routinely sending uninsured immigrants, both legal and illegal, back to their homelands. One Tucson hospital even tried to fly an American citizen, a sick baby whose parents were illegal immigrants, to Mexico last year; the police, summoned by a lawyer to the airport, blocked the flight. “It was horrendous,” the mother said.

Serious question: why do journalists say shit like "one Tucson hospital" and "the mother" instead of naming the hospital and the persons involved? Is it so they don't have to bother with fact-checking? I can't stand this practice and it seems incredibly widespread. Whats the deal?
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:18 PM on August 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Isn't this a good thing all around? It definitely doesn't seem weird. Repatriation insurance is mandatory when applying for a visa to many countries, say France, even if you don't have health insurance in your home country, like say the U.S.
posted by jeffburdges at 1:21 PM on August 3, 2008

Serious question: why do journalists say shit like "one Tucson hospital" and "the mother" instead of naming the hospital and the persons involved? Is it so they don't have to bother with fact-checking? I can't stand this practice and it seems incredibly widespread. Whats the deal?

So they don't get sued. Or so victims or otherwise innocent parties can avoid having their names in the paper.
posted by nímwunnan at 2:01 PM on August 3, 2008

Just because they are fifth or eighth generation Americans doesn't mean that Ireland and Germany wouldn't like them back, right?

Heh. I have a friend whose grandfather was an Irish immigrant in the early 1900s. He went back to Ireland and the EU on an extended honeymoon back in the 1990s. The first thing he did was to snag an Irish passport under some obscure hereditary-legacy law. He was then able to secure periodic employment in the EU, and he and his new bride were able to extend their budget honeymoon to a year long trip.

I think in MexCare you are not seeing American hospitals dumping Mexican uninsured (ok, well, you are), but a group of intrepid North American health care professionals who see an opportunity and capitalize on it. In my preliminary scouting of the articles, I did not see a mention of the Mexican government's support of this system. Perhaps that is assumed. I am curious where the money is coming from to fund this.

Hey, is this ironic? American citizens go to Mexico to get low cost health care, such as cancer therapy or breast enlargement. So do Mexicans!

As I understand it, Americans spend more than twice as much, as a percent of national GDP, than any other country on the planet on health care. Including countries who cover ALL of their citizens in socialized or national medical programs. These same countries with their horrific national commie medical programs also report high satisfaction rates in the 90th percentile range.

Oh wait, American health care good, socialised medicine bad, because The Right said so. I am going to write a letter to my congressman pointing out that that American military's health care system is the equivalent of communist socialism, and should be turned over in its entirety to privatized health care, such as Blue Cross. /rolleyes
posted by Xoebe at 2:09 PM on August 3, 2008

Desperately hoping someone will repatriate me and my family to Italy, France or Spain. Seriously, anywhere in the EU will probably do. I have enough "mix" in me to send me almost anywhere in Europe or Africa. Please? It's not the travel cost stopping me, I want citizenship, too.
posted by holgagirl at 2:27 PM on August 3, 2008

I was coming in here to see I was sick of these stupid fucking Yes Men prank sites. But apparently this is real.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:27 PM on August 3, 2008

In Services they advertise Escort Services. Are you sure this isn't run by Eliot Spitzer?
posted by micayetoca at 6:47 PM on August 3, 2008

Boooooooooo!

on the company not this post.
posted by Mister_A at 8:10 PM on August 3, 2008

Either this is a Yes Men prank or I have seriously overestimated the level of quality required to make a big corporate website that deals with a political hot button issue. Looking at the locations page and it's one big arrow out of the US and into Mexico, I can't imagine even this level of brazenness.

Oh sweet jesus, this better be a fake. Please.
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:29 AM on August 4, 2008

Hey, is this ironic? American citizens go to Mexico to get low cost health care, such as cancer therapy or breast enlargement. So do Mexicans!

Mexico has been rolling out a Universal Health care system which should have everyone covered by 2010. Whats not free is cheap.
posted by vacapinta at 7:07 AM on August 4, 2008

Jon_Evil: I don't know whether this is significant, but the absolute lack of ES_US / ES_MX (that's Spanish-English/ Spanish-Mexican) option is rather conspicuous, especially for a site that purportedly targets "unfunded Latin American nationals" (which is a fantastic phrase, btw).

Well, if this isnt a prank, they sure should increase the funding for their website!
posted by the cydonian at 10:50 PM on August 4, 2008