HispanicVista Columnists

Tijuana: The Medical Destination

From the Publisher's Corner

By Sal Osio

Tijuana is a significant solution to Southern California residents in search for affordable medical care and medicines. The Tijuana metropolis is California’s medical destination. The area hosts over 250,000 visitors each month from Southern California who purchase their prescription and over the counter medicines and receive medical and dental care in the region. More important, the metropolis is capable of serving over 500,000 patients per month, dramatically reducing the cost of medical care in Southern California.

Tijuana is the most visited international city in the world. The area also is the domicile of one of the highest numbers of physicians, dentists and pharmacies per capita in North America.  As of 2002, there were approximately 1,800 physicians and dentists in Baja and approximately 600 pharmacies. Most medical providers in Baja are open in the early evenings and on weekends to facilitate access to American visitors. In addition, health care in Baja is a fraction of the cost for similar services, procedures and products in the U.S.

Tijuana is the venue for some of the best doctors and dentists, not only in Mexico, but in California and internationally, as well. Some examples include:  Dr. Jose Hernandez Fujigaki, a U.S. certified Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon and his hospital and clinic – Cento Medico Excel; Dr. Arturo S. Chayet, an internationally renowned U.S. certified opthamologist and his clinic and outpatient surgical center – The Codet Aris Vision Institute; and, Dr. Juan Pablo Eng, a graduate from U.S.C.’s prestigious School of Dentistry and his dental clinic – Denti Center. In addition to the current availability of world class professionals, Tijuana is the beneficiary of equally competent medical professionals emigrating from the interior of Mexico.

The high cost of health care is causing Americans to search for affordable alternatives. Health insurance premiums have had double digit increases over the past three years. In California, one third of all households have no health insurance coverage, including a majority of Latino households. And only a small segment of the insured has dental coverage.  For those who are fortunate to have health coverage, the majority is “under insured” and has high deductibles and co-payments.   Even those with insurance are not covered for highly sought health care services such as teeth whitening, vision correction and cosmetic surgery forcing consumers to look outside their health plans for these treatments.  Elderly consumers are also impacted by the high cost of health care as many must pay for their own pharmaceutical products, nursing home care and other health care products.

Over 20 million Southern Californians live within a 2.5 hour drive of the U.S.-Mexican border.  The current demand by Californians for cross border health care in Baja California has been growing steadily, but it is still relatively unrealized for a number of reasons. 

Research provided by Pablo Schneider, arguably the most authoritative consultant in Cross-Border health care,  shows that approximately 250,000 southbound border crossings a month are made by Californians for health care services and products making this a ½ billion dollar a year market. The significant majority of these consumers purchase pharmaceutical products, particularly the Seniors market sector, dental services, cosmetic surgery and optical procedures.

However, there are three principal barriers to access to cross-border health services: 1) The discomfort barrier; 2) The distance/convenience barrier; and, 3) The prolonged delay barrier experienced at the northbound Border crossing.. 

The major factors associated with the “Discomfort Barrier” include:  i) Fear of unprofessional and incompetent health care providers; ii) lack of understanding of the presence of quality professional health care providers; iii) unawareness of the specific cost savings for medical, dental, vision and pharmaceuticals; iv) the challenge in identifying and contacting an acceptable health care provider; v) bilingual and international long distance telephone barriers and costs in calling to Mexico to make appointments; and, vi)  lack of familiarity with the location of facilities, traffic and safety laws.

As expected, the “Distance/Convenience Barrier” is principally the distance and time frame to the Border. The least convenience barrier is the less than 1 hour travel distance – San Diego/ Imperial Counties and South Orange and Riverside Counties; followed by the 1.5 hour distance from north/east Orange and San Bernardino Counties; and, lastly, by the 2 and 2.5 hour distance from Los Angeles/Ventura Counties. The prolonged delay returning from Baja to California at the San Ysidro Border crossing, sometimes, on weekends, over 2 hours of bumper to bumper traffic and unruly motorists, is both traumatic and unpleasant.

The health care professional sector in Baja is unorganized, fragmented, dispersed, uncoordinated and inconsistent.  There is no centralized mechanism for initiating and confirming appointments, for ascertaining the cost of dental and/or medical procedures, for the pricing of pharmaceutical products -making it very risky and challenging for Americans to seek health care. 

Customer service is also uneven—few individual providers have sufficient capacity to adequately serve English speaking customers. Also, there is no oversight or grievance resolution mechanism to protect the American visitor.

The need and the opportunity is a Binational solution wherein the medical professions on both sides of the border develop a readily accessible medical plaza in Tijuana, staffed with screened professionals, affiliated with California clinics and hospitals, and provide an access and appointment mechanism, and transportation solution, for the California patients. In fact, such a program is already in the making.

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Sal Osio is the Publisher and Chairman of the Board of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: Sposio@hispanicvista.com