Dr. Perla Baeza uses a laptop computer to show photographs of restored teeth Monday at B&C Dental Care in Mexicali. She said many of her patients are from the Imperial Valley, Coachella, Indio, San Diego and Nevada. (JOSELITO VILLERO PHOTO / July 26, 2010) |
MEXICALI — Calexico resident Mary Lou Bustamante visited a doctor on the Mexican side of the border for the first time last week in search of lower-cost health care.
“I really wanted to try it out over here, and since last week, I’ve been really impressed with their place and the treatment of patients,” she said on Monday.
Inside, she sits in Mexicali’s Sistemas Medicos Nacionales Health Plan waiting room with her husband as a telenovela plays on a TV screen. Outside the clinic, many of the cars have California plates. As a Calexico Unified School District employee, Mary Lou has insurance coverage that allows her to select SIMNSA Health Plan.
“It’s a lot cheaper, and it’s very simple,” she said.
Her husband, Francisco Bustamante, said his wife paid $3 for the co-pay. Extra services, like X-rays, are included with the coverage, he said.
“The economy being so bad right now, you can’t compare,” he said about Mexican prices. “(In the U.S.), you have to pay for everything. Here, everything — lab reports, the pharmacy, X-rays — it’s free.”
Laura Aranda, SIMNSA Health Plan business administrator, said 95 percent of patients are American and the office caters to Americans. About 700 patients visit monthly and there are many medical specialties, she said.
“We’re growing significantly,” Aranda said in Spanish.
Many Americans are willing to part with First World medical treatment in order to take advantage of the developing world’s lower prices. In Mexicali, countless plazas feature eye doctors, pharmacies, gynecologists and dentists, and are strategically located near the U.S. border.
In B&C Dental Care, a man walks into the waiting room from the bustling Mexicali streets for his dental appointment. He’s American, but a Mexican dentist greets him in English and ushers him to the back for his treatment. In fact, B&C Dental Care caters almost exclusively to American clientele, said oral surgeon Perla Baeza.
“The majority of our patients are American or residents of the U.S.,” she said in Spanish.
Baeza said B&C Dental Care treats three to four patients daily with a staff of three dentists. The office, located just blocks from the Calexico downtown Port of Entry, specializes in dentures, crowns and other forms of oral surgery. She said prices are usually one-third of what they are in the U.S.
She said quality at B&C Dental Care is comparable to U.S. standards. An in-house laboratory lets staff prepare their own dentures and crowns for patients at a lower price, she said. As an example, Baeza said a crown in the U.S. might cost $600 each but at her office, it is $190 each.
“For someone from the United States, it ends up being very affordable here,” Baeza said.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest in a continuing series of stories about our current financial troubles.)
>> Staff Writer David Steffen can be reached at 760-337-3452 or dsteffen@ivpressonline.com
“I really wanted to try it out over here, and since last week, I’ve been really impressed with their place and the treatment of patients,” she said on Monday.
Inside, she sits in Mexicali’s Sistemas Medicos Nacionales Health Plan waiting room with her husband as a telenovela plays on a TV screen. Outside the clinic, many of the cars have California plates. As a Calexico Unified School District employee, Mary Lou has insurance coverage that allows her to select SIMNSA Health Plan.
“It’s a lot cheaper, and it’s very simple,” she said.
Her husband, Francisco Bustamante, said his wife paid $3 for the co-pay. Extra services, like X-rays, are included with the coverage, he said.
“The economy being so bad right now, you can’t compare,” he said about Mexican prices. “(In the U.S.), you have to pay for everything. Here, everything — lab reports, the pharmacy, X-rays — it’s free.”
Laura Aranda, SIMNSA Health Plan business administrator, said 95 percent of patients are American and the office caters to Americans. About 700 patients visit monthly and there are many medical specialties, she said.
“We’re growing significantly,” Aranda said in Spanish.
Many Americans are willing to part with First World medical treatment in order to take advantage of the developing world’s lower prices. In Mexicali, countless plazas feature eye doctors, pharmacies, gynecologists and dentists, and are strategically located near the U.S. border.
In B&C Dental Care, a man walks into the waiting room from the bustling Mexicali streets for his dental appointment. He’s American, but a Mexican dentist greets him in English and ushers him to the back for his treatment. In fact, B&C Dental Care caters almost exclusively to American clientele, said oral surgeon Perla Baeza.
“The majority of our patients are American or residents of the U.S.,” she said in Spanish.
Baeza said B&C Dental Care treats three to four patients daily with a staff of three dentists. The office, located just blocks from the Calexico downtown Port of Entry, specializes in dentures, crowns and other forms of oral surgery. She said prices are usually one-third of what they are in the U.S.
She said quality at B&C Dental Care is comparable to U.S. standards. An in-house laboratory lets staff prepare their own dentures and crowns for patients at a lower price, she said. As an example, Baeza said a crown in the U.S. might cost $600 each but at her office, it is $190 each.
“For someone from the United States, it ends up being very affordable here,” Baeza said.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest in a continuing series of stories about our current financial troubles.)
>> Staff Writer David Steffen can be reached at 760-337-3452 or dsteffen@ivpressonline.com
