At just one checkpoint in Yuma, Arizona, up to 6,000 Americans cross the border every day and enter the bustling Mexican town of Los Algodones, seeking hea[l]th care.

Los Algodones has to be seen to believed. There are more dentists per capita than anywhere else in the world. […] The community’s economy is built to serve the flood of “dental refugees” — mostly senior citizens from the US and Canada seeking major dental care they cannot afford in their own countries, even with insurance.

One of the reasons dental care is so expensive in the United States is insurance. […] Another cost for US dentists is malpractice insurance, which is not required in Mexico. […]

Dental work in Mexico is on average two-thirds less than in the US and customers may save 80 percent or more on some costly operations. Those savings derive partially from Mexico’s less expensive real estate and labor costs, but also, Mexico’s dentists don’t graduate with a ton of student debt. The government provides basically tuition-free education. “When we get out of school, we have to pay the government, but we do it by one year of free service, and that’s it,” […]

To get an idea of the absurdity, one could argue there are more people currently fleeing the US’s health care system than refugees seeking asylum from extreme violence and state terror in Central America.

Quelle: Millions of Americans Flood Into Mexico for Health Care — the Human Caravan You Haven’t Heard About

Das wiederum …

Approximately 74 million people in the US have no dental insurance, according to the National Association of Dental Plans.

… erschaudert mich auf Anhieb weniger. Der grösste Teil der erwachsenen Schweizer hat auch keine Zahnpflegeversicherung, und der Weltuntergang ist ausgeblieben. Wobei die meisten wiederum eine Unfallversicherung besitzen, die bei Zahnunfällen einspringt. Wer hierzulande längerfristig Geld sparen will putzt sich regelmässig und anständig die Zähne.