NUEVO VALLARTA, Mexico — Bruce Fry fixes his gaze on the ocean and
talks about his vision for the future of medical tourism on Mexico’s
Pacific Coast: patients from Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. finding a
low-cost alternative to soaring medical prices for everything from knee
replacements to heart surgery, then healing by the beach with their
families.
Fry, of Carrollton-based Fry Construction, which builds
medical facilities, and his partner, Collin Childress, are convinced
that Americans, particularly baby boomers, will one day pay less for
health care without having to fly to faraway India, Thailand, Malaysia
or Brazil — popular current destinations for medical care.
They
could hop on a plane and in two or three hours, especially if they fly
from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, be in Cozumel, Cancún or
here on the shores of the Bahia de Banderas, just up the coast from
Puerto Vallarta, with its airport and world-class medical facilities.
Fry and others say the vision isn’t far from reality, but many obstacles remain.
“This
could be a game changer for both countries because we’re talking new
income stream for Mexico, improving the overall tourism economy,” he
said. “But as a gringo from Dallas trying to make this a reality,
getting there is too often like a dog chasing his tail.”
‘The holy grail’
It’s
been nearly 20 years since the signing of the North American Free Trade
Agreement, which opened the border to increased trade in merchandise
and services, among them medical care. But a plethora of restrictions
remains, preventing Americans from cashing in on quality care that could
be as much as 40 percent cheaper, Fry and others say.
A recent
report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean shows that despite its proximity to the U.S., Mexico is
woefully behind other countries in attracting American patients. Mexico
needs to do more both to improve security and to certify hospitals to
treat international patients, experts say.
Only 19 Mexican hospitals are
certified by the Joint Commission, a world body that accredits
hospitals, compared with 35 in Brazil.
“Mexico needs to get more
hospitals certified by the Joint Commission, address violence and the
perception of it, and needs to significantly increase advertising in the
United States,” said Christopher E. Wilson, an expert on economic
issues at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.
“In the
U.S., states need to see if changes are needed in insurance regulation
to allow policies to cover care in Mexico,” Wilson said. “In California,
for instance, some insurance companies are selling policies to cover
care in Mexico. Finally, getting Medicare to cover treatment out of the
U.S. is the holy grail for medical tourism advocates.”
Making
changes to Medicare coverage is a thorny issue in Congress, though, and
such changes are unlikely anytime soon, despite increased lobbying from
many of the estimated 1 million Americans living in Mexico, many of them
retirees.
Two years ago, David Wagner, an expert on health care
at the University of Texas, sent members of Congress a study showing how
their constituents would benefit from access to health care in Mexico.
“Not one of them responded,” he said.
“The real deal-killer to
retiring in Mexico is that your Medicare doesn’t cover you down there,”
Wagner said. “If Medicare would cover, it would save the government
money and people would live a lot better.”
Lack of political will
For
now, Brazil, Ecuador and some Caribbean countries continue to make
significant gains in attracting Americans for private care, said Arturo
Vargas Bustamante, a health care expert at the University of California,
Los Angeles. Vargas said the things preventing Mexico from becoming a
bigger player are a lack of U.S. political will and Mexico’s
monopolistic business culture, in which mammoth corporations dominate
industries ranging from telephones to medical care and are able to avoid
competition.
“My perspective is Mexican doctors seem to be too
comfortable in what is working now, meaning they make enough money,”
Vargas said. “They’re shielded from the competition, and so private
providers make a lot of money. The government has been trying to
encourage them to be more ambitious, but they need to do more on that
end and also do more to position themselves with a better strategy and
market.”
A tourism official in the new administration of Enrique
Peña Nieto said the president is committed to medical tourism and will
continue to promote an office set up in 2012 to expand the industry. The
office was formed during Gloria Guevara’s tenure as tourism secretary.
The goal was to tap into a growing market: About 1.6 million Americans
now actively seek health care abroad, Guevara said, and they represent
an estimated $4.1 billion spent abroad annually for medical care.
Millions more lack insurance and presumably might choose the
lower-priced care outside the U.S., and the 35 million Americans with
roots in Mexico constitute another potential market — especially along
the Texas-Mexico border.
“It’s inevitable that the market will
continue to grow because there’s a greater value for return in Mexico —
great medical services and great doctors, with springlike weather most
of the year,” said Guevara, a former Dallas resident. “It’s huge, and
that’s why it’s so important to build on the foundation that we
started.”
Wagner said that the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly El
Paso, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, should be a testing ground for
insurance companies and Medicare to cover health care costs.
“We’re looking at a lot of people who cannot afford quality health care, and Mexico would be a great option for them,” he said.
Deterred by violence
But Mexico’s drug violence isn’t helping, Wagner and others said.
Christus
Muguerza, owned by Dallas-based Christus Health, is the largest
Catholic health care system in Mexico. Many consider Christus a leader
in the industry, as it has won certification to treat American patients.
But its two hospitals in Monterrey — just two hours from the Texas
border — have been blindsided by fear of the violence that has become
the scourge of northern Mexico. Many people think twice about crossing
the border.
A spokeswoman at Christus in Monterrey declined to comment.
For
now, Fry and Childress, CEO of Global MedChoices, a health care
technology and health services company based in Memphis, Tenn., are
expanding medical services in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a Caribbean
country that serves Americans and Canadians.
Fry is scouting in
the Dallas area for spine, heart and knee specialists. Some of their
colleagues are already doing work in the Turks and Caicos and other
countries, teaching their host doctors the latest technology and
learning from them.
In Mexico, in addition to the Bahia de
Banderas region, Cozumel, on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, has caught Fry’s
attention because “it’s an island, and there will be no security
concerns.”
Fry, who had a knee replacement in Turks and Caicos,
has also teamed up with accountant Morey Glazer, one of the trailblazers
in the field. Glazer has been lobbying the U.S. and Mexican governments
for years and, despite many setbacks, remains optimistic about medical
tourism in Mexico.
“We’re almost there,” Glazer said during a
recent meeting with Fry at a Dallas restaurant. “It’s gonna happen,
Bruce. Don’t get disappointed.”
Fry responded: “I agree, Morey. All you need here is a little vision — and a lot of patience.”
Angela Kocherga, border bureau chief for Belo Television, contributed to this report.
Follow Alfredo Corchado on Twitter at @ajcorchado.
BY THE NUMBERS: Medical tourism
$50 billion — Annual global economic impact
40% — U.S. share of the world’s medical tourists
1.6 million — Estimated number of Americans seeking medical treatment abroad in 2012
SOURCE: Mexico Tourism Department
International tourist arrivals grew by 4 percent in 2012 to reach 1.035 billion, according to the latest United Nations World Tourism Organization's (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer.
Beneath Mexico's characteristic boldness are layers of culture and regional variation.
