Ca. health plans send patients to Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico, Nov 6, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A trip to the doctor means a trip across the border for thousands of California workers and their dependents.

They are enrolled in health plans like Blue Shield of California HMO that cost up to 50 percent less than other plans because the doctor's visits are outsourced to Mexico, the Washington Post reported.

California is the only state to regulate insurance programs that require border crossing for basic health care.

More than 700 non-agricultural businesses in California offer plans requiring treatment in Mexico. Hundreds of farms offer similar coverage for about 120,000 migrant laborers.

Texas physicians successfully fought off legislation that would have allowed health maintenance organizations to operate on both sides of the border, arguing that local doctors could not compete with the lower costs in Mexico.

Lower-priced labor, malpractice insurance and overhead in Mexico mean both basic and sophisticated medical procedures can be performed at a small fraction of what they cost in the United States, the newspaper said.

A hysterectomy that averages $2,025 in the United States costs $810 in Mexico, said Mary Eadson, director of legal compliance for the Western Growers Association.

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