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The four US citizens kidnapped on Friday in Mexico had crossed the border for a cosmetic surgery planned by one of them in Matamoros, a city a few kilometers from the border with Texas. They were found on Tuesday: two were dead, the other two were repatriated, one with multiple gunshot wounds. The region where the kidnapping took place, Tamaulipas, is considered among the most dangerous in Mexico. Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee, 33, had nevertheless decided to go to Matamoros for a tummy tuck, that is, the surgical reduction of abdominal fat.
Medical tourism from the United States to Mexico is quite common: it is estimated that nearly one million Americans cross the border each year for medical treatment or drug supplies. It is a phenomenon that also exists in Europe (especially towards eastern countries or Turkey), but the high costs of US medical care make it particularly common in North America. In fact, Canada and Mexico are among the main destinations for medical tourism in the world: according to estimates by Patients Beyond Bordersa specialized guide, foreign patients who resort to paid treatment in Mexico are between 1.5 and 3 million each year.
The four Americans had driven from South Carolina, driven across the border from the city of Brownsville, Texas, and had an appointment for Washington McGee’s tummy tuck Friday in Matamoros, a city of 500,000 just across the border.
Mexico City, Cancun, and Tijuana are the most frequent medical tourism destinations, but in recent years many specialty clinics have been springing up in centers just across the border, both in Tamaulipas and Baja California, just a few minutes’ drive from San Diego. However, some of these areas are also the most dangerous in Mexico, largely controlled by drug traffickers.
In the specific case it is not clear what led to the kidnapping or attack of the four US citizens, a very unusual event. They could have been the subject of a mistaken identity or could have ended up in the middle of a shootout between rival groups: from the information released so far it is known that a 33-year-old Mexican woman was also killed during the kidnapping.
The US authorities have long warned of the risks of medical tourism: in addition to the safety of transfers to areas considered dangerous, there are those more closely related to treatment, such as possible infections, communication problems, the impossibility of carrying out follow-up visits after operations, medical standards not always remotely certifiable, post-operative air travel which can increase the risk of thrombosis.
However, Mexican, but also Canadian, Central American and Southeast Asian clinics remain very popular destinations for US patients: the main reason is the significantly lower costs, even 40-60 percent lower than those expected in the United States.
Among others there are the long waiting lists for some types of interventions that could be carried out within the US health system, albeit at higher prices, but also the use of treatments not approved in the United States, as well as research of Spanish-speaking doctors (in Mexico and Central America) for patients of Latin American origin. The trend was growing strongly before the coronavirus pandemic: according to one study ofAmerican Journal of Medicine in 2017, Americans who had gone abroad for treatment were already over a million. The medical tourism sector has undergone further growth after the end of the Covid restrictions.
A pharmacy in Tijuana, Mexico (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
Patients cross the border primarily for dental care, surgery, cosmetic surgery, IVF treatments, organ and tissue transplants, cancer treatments (not always available in the US). In Mexico, most of the offer is made up of clinics for dental care and cosmetic surgery: especially in the second case, these are interventions that in the United States are not covered even for patients with health insurance. In Mexico they have much lower costs and in most cases you will find similar medical standards.
Cosmetic surgery can cost thousands of dollars: patients are encouraged to look for better offers abroad, even if this does not always involve an easy journey.
For many Americans who live near the border, there is also proximity medical tourism: some areas of Texas, such as the Rio Grande Valley, are areas where the supply of specialist medicine is very limited or non-existentwith the highest ratios between the number of potential patients and that of doctors and with above-average rates of obesity and diabetes.
The offer of medical clinics, including high-level ones, is growing strongly in Mexico and in particular in the regions closest to the United States: in Matamoros in recent years, centers for dental care have sprung up above all. The hotel sector has developed hand in hand, with hotels destined to host precisely this type of customer. The medical tourism turnover in the world is currently estimated at 12 billion dollars, but according to some industry studies could grow to 36 billion over the next 10 years, by 2032.
– Read also: The world capital of dental tourism