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Health Care & Health Insurance in Mexico

Health Care in Mexico is Excellent and Inexpensive

The OTHER major benefit is that the doctors here are readily available …
no long waiting periods!  Some even make House Calls.

Lakeside Clinics   

Hospital Clinica Ajijic

In the heart of Ajijic,, Hospital Clinica Ajijic has been providing excellent care for many years. Open 24 hours. Phone: 376-766-0662 or 0500

Chapala Med Offices, Ajijic

Chapala Med. Santiago Hernández, M.D. Plaza Interlago. 376-766-4435

Dr. Gerardo León, Ajijic

Dr. Gerardo León, Grupo Medico, Located on the Lateral in the Villa Nova neighborhood of Ajijic. Phone: 376-766-5633

Quality Care Clinic. Plaza Interlago. QC Doctors and Lab

Quality Care Clinic. Plaza Interlago. QC Doctors and Lab … Leend Dental. Click photo to be taken to their website.

Here are just a few of the available facilities. The Ajijic, Lake Chapala area has many well trained English-speaking physicians and specialists — many educated in the United States — some are in private practice, and others work out of clinics.

The clinics all have emergency capability, outpatient surgical facilities, and short-term hospital care. Further, all these clinics are associated with major hospitals in Guadalajara, to which the Red Cross provides ambulance service.


Lakeside Hospitals

Hospital San Antonio Tlayacápan. Debra Barsanti Photographer

Hospital San Antonio. Open 24 hours. Phone: 376-689-0911 Click the photo to be taken to their website.

 

A new hospital opened in San Antonio Tlayacápan in 2019.

 

 

 

This new facility has an emergency room, three surgical theaters, laboratory & radiology diagnosis units, an outpatient consultation area, hemodialysis and chemotherapy treatment units, a delivery room and neonatal ward, and eight private impatient rooms. The complex also houses commercial modules for diverse medical services.

Ribera Medical Center

Ribera Medical Center. A full-service hospital. Click here to be taken to their website.

Ribera Medical Center opened in 2020 on the Ajijic/Chapala Libramiento, it will provide full hospital services, including emergency room service & operating theaters.

Cardiac-Dermatology-Clinic-Ajijic, Mexico

Also brand new — a Cardiac Center & Dermatology Clinic on the West end of Ajijic on the Carretera, near The Waffle House. This hospital will provide minimally-invasive care to patients with cadiovascular diseases, and will be an excellent local alternative for stroke and cardiac care that is currently often referred to specialists in Guadalajara.

 

With doctors’ visits and common medical procedures costing perhaps a fourth of what they do in the U.S., many expats just pay out of pocket.

Many foreigners come to Mexico to take advantage of low-cost plastic surgery, dental procedures and other services.

  • An office visit with a doctor in the Ajijic, Lake Chapala area—specialists included—costs $15-$40.  And doctors here still make house calls!  The doctor spends the time to take medical histories himself, and also provides his/her personal telephone number and says to call immediately with any questions or concerns … and means it.
  • Lab tests cost about a third of what they cost in the U.S and an overnight stay in a private hospital room is about $35-$50.
  • A dental cleaning averages between $25-$45.
  • Prescription drug costs are a fraction of those north of the border, and most can be purchased over-the-counter without a prescription.
  • There are board-certified holistic practitioners providing nutrition therapy and other personalized programs for health and healing.
  • Several assisted living facilities are also available at Lakeside.

Hospitals in nearby Guadalajara   

Puerta de Hierro Medical Center

Puerta de Hierro Medical Center. The Iron Gate. In Zapopan. Open 24 hours. Phone: (33) 3848 2100

San Javier. Guadalajara

San Javier. Guadalajara. Open 24 hours. (33) 3669 0222

 

 

 

 

 

In Guadalajara there are many excellent hospitals, including two university medical schools, where the latest diagnostic tools are available, as well as up-to-date treatment of all diseases.

 



Public Health Insurance:

As of January 1, 2020, Seguro Popular/IMSS has been replaced with the Institute of Health for Welfare (INSABI).

NOTE: There is some question as to whether this program will be available in Jalisco, as currently the Governor is refusing to sign on to the program. We will update this as developments occur.
Seguro Popular/IMSS

January 1, 2020 — An historic day in Mexico. Seguro Popular/IMSS has been replaced with INSABI

Salud, Insabi

Not just for Mexican citizens, ANYONE with a Visa Permanente or Temporal can qualify for this free healthcare option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the dismantling of the Seguro Popular system, the new Institute of Health for Welfare (INSABI) guarantees that the 71 million Mexicans who do not have health services have access to medical care and medicines.

In addition to Mexican citizens, foreigners with a Visa Temporal or Permanente can qualify for this program, which provides medical consultations and health care at no charge.

Created by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to replace Popular Insurance, INSABI will offer free medical care and medication for all its beneficiaries without restrictions at the 582 first-tier Centro de Salud facilities, second-tier regional hospitals and decentralized public hospitals, such as the old and new branches of Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil that previously attended persons covered by Seguro Popular.

However, tier-three hospitals and health centers offering advanced care and specialized treatments are not providing free services.

The institute informed that people “will no longer need to go to a module, join and receive a policy; they will not have to pay annual fees to be treated in medical units as was the case before.”

The new law establishes that to receive the free provision of health services, only three requirements must be met:

  1. to be in national territory;
  2. not be a right holder in the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and the Institute of Social Security and Services of State Workers (ISSSTE); and
  3. present an official identification document.

Private Health Insurance 

Bellon Insurance Agency

Bellon Insurance Agency. Major Medical, Life, Auto, Home. Across from Super Lake. Phone: 376-766-5151

Air Evacuation-Sky Med_Takes you Home

Air Evacuation-Sky Med Takes you Home. 1-800-475-9633

Many of the same health insurers available to you where you live now are also available here in Mexico, and at much lower cost.

 

Bellon (pronounced, “bay-own”) is just one of the agencies at Lakeside, and has an excellent reputation. Several reasonably priced medical insurance options also include air evacuation. Click on the images to be taken to the respective websites.

 

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