[Merida Yucatan]

Sorry, if this has already been covered in another thread.

I would be most grateful for feedback re what using Seguro Social medical
care is like, as compared to private care. I have a health condition, so
having to travel far and make extra trips or wait a long time or stand
up while waiting for appointments is hard on me. Also my Spanish
tends to be adequate for people who're making money from me, but
sometimes bureaucrats speak too quickly for me to understand.

For those of you using Seguro Social - do you usually have to
make an appointment in advance ? If so, can the appointment usually
be made over the phone ? How far in advance generally do you
need to book ? Do doctors tend to be more or less on time ?

Is it hard to find a doctor to accept new patients ? I live in a major city. It
is likely I could find a Seguro Social doctor close to me ?

Are Seguro Social doctors co-operative at prescribing something such
as sleeping pills ? I need them due to my medical condition but most
doctors in Mexico are not educated about my condition. Just the same,
private doctors prescribe chemical sleeping pills (except for Farmacia
Similares doctors who only prescribe natural pills which don't help me.)

Have you found the medical people co-operative if your Spanish is
limited ?

Sorry for so many questions ! Thanks in advance !

 

[AlanMexicali]

Seguro Social

Sorry, if this has already been covered in another thread.

I would be most grateful for feedback re what using Seguro Social medical
care is like, as compared to private care. I have a health condition, so
having to travel far and make extra trips or wait a long time or stand
up while waiting for appointments is hard on me. Also my Spanish
tends to be adequate for people who're making money from me, but
sometimes bureaucrats speak too quickly for me to understand.

For those of you using Seguro Social - do you usually have to
make an appointment in advance ? If so, can the appointment usually
be made over the phone ? How far in advance generally do you
need to book ? Do doctors tend to be more or less on time ?

Is it hard to find a doctor to accept new patients ? I live in a major city. It
is likely I could find a Seguro Social doctor close to me ?

Are Seguro Social doctors co-operative at prescribing something such
as sleeping pills ? I need them due to my medical condition but most
doctors in Mexico are not educated about my condition. Just the same,
private doctors prescribe chemical sleeping pills (except for Farmacia
Similares doctors who only prescribe natural pills which don't help me.)

Have you found the medical people co-operative if your Spanish is
limited ?

Sorry for so many questions ! Thanks in advance !

I have been to a Hospital General which is a Seguro Social hospital a couple of years ago for a sinus operation and went through all the procedures leading up to my admission. First thing is to go to the hospital to the Trabajo Social office to be registered. They ask for your FMM card, FM2 or FM3 and about your financial situation. It helps to have a CURP, but not mandatory, I think. Then you get an appointment to see a general physician and they take your medical record and check your general health and hand you the folder, always bring your folder with you until they tell you to go to the records dept. when your folder is filed. Any appointment you have then your first step will be to go get your file. At the clinics someone goes and gets your folder and gives it to the DR. Then you get another appointment to see a specialists which might take some time. If you make the appointment early in the day or early in the afternoon, depending on when the specialist works at the Seguro Popular in his consultorio, they work 1/2 days usually, you will have less of a wait, in my experience. You have to get appointments from your local clinic after that by popping in and waiting a long time to see a general practice DR. unless it is a specialist which an appointment will be given to you. My intermediate plus Spanish was never a problem, yet.

The overall experience took one full day and another 1/2 day before the date was set for me to check in and was a pleasant one. My wife is a bureaucrat for the Federal Govt.'s Secretaria de Salud which helped as they run the Seguro Social hospitals and clinics nationwide.

Last July they announced no one will have to pay for Seguro Popular services and when I was at the Hospital General recently they now have a sign which states" All services here are free, if anyone solicits a payment, report them".

 

[AlanMexicali]

Private medicine

Sorry, if this has already been covered in another thread.

I would be most grateful for feedback re what using Seguro Social medical
care is like, as compared to private care. I have a health condition, so
having to travel far and make extra trips or wait a long time or stand
up while waiting for appointments is hard on me. Also my Spanish
tends to be adequate for people who're making money from me, but
sometimes bureaucrats speak too quickly for me to understand.

For those of you using Seguro Social - do you usually have to
make an appointment in advance ? If so, can the appointment usually
be made over the phone ? How far in advance generally do you
need to book ? Do doctors tend to be more or less on time ?

Is it hard to find a doctor to accept new patients ? I live in a major city. It
is likely I could find a Seguro Social doctor close to me ?

Are Seguro Social doctors co-operative at prescribing something such
as sleeping pills ? I need them due to my medical condition but most
doctors in Mexico are not educated about my condition. Just the same,
private doctors prescribe chemical sleeping pills (except for Farmacia
Similares doctors who only prescribe natural pills which don't help me.)

Have you found the medical people co-operative if your Spanish is
limited ?

Sorry for so many questions ! Thanks in advance !

I have had quite a bit of experience with private Drs and hospitals in Mexico. In Jan. this year I had a operation to remove my long time friends, 3 hemorrhoids. My wife's mother in Feb. had her cardioid artery which was 90% clogged cleared and was in a private hospital for a week and 2 surgeons took care of it plus an intern. Cost almost $15,000 US not including the 3 nurses taking care of her at her home for a week. The Seguro Popular would not operate on her because of her age and it is a dangerous procedure.

My operation was cheap compared to what I would have to pay in San Diego. $600 US but we got about a 50% discount from the first quoted price. The day I was going to the Hospital my wife sprained her ankle very badly and went to the Hospital General and had a cast put on in less than 2 hours. She was told to come back in 10 days to have it removed. She had an X-ray that day also. Then she went to a private specialists and he said the cast should have remained on for about another 7 to 10 days.

 

[sparks]

Just don't depend on Seguro Popular or Centro de Salud having any of the free medicine. I just drove someone yesterday to the next largest town because there was no medicine here. We didn't find it in either. They had to visit a real pharmacy and pay

 

[AlanMexicali]

Medicine

Just don't depend on Seguro Popular or Centro de Salud having any of the free medicine. I just drove someone yesterday to the next largest town because there was no medicine here. We didn't find it in either. They had to visit a real pharmacy and pay

Yes they all , Seguro Popular and ISSSTE, seem to run out of their weekly supplies of popular medicines sometimes. The thing we do is ask which day the weekly supply arrives and show up early to have the prescription filled. Some medicines they do not have at all. I take Spiriva and have to go in every 60 days for a new prescription and make an appointment with my general physician first as they only give a 2 month supply out at a time.

 

[Isla Verde]

My intermediate plus Spanish was never a problem, yet.

What would you say to someone like Merida Yucatan whose Spanish is, in his own words, "limited"? Would you recommend that he use Seguro Popular?

 

[DNP]

What would you say to someone like Merida Yucatan whose Spanish is, in his own words, "limited"? Would you recommend that he use Seguro Popular?

I would say to anyone who can afford private care, to go that route. Finding good private care is usually pretty easy, and I as far as i know, Merida has very good private care--probably, like anywhere else, in some fields more than others.

That said, Social Security can be good too. I'm not familiar with the Social Security in Merida, but services and supplies do vary a lot from place to place.

If it were me, depending on my condition, I would at least start with Social Security and go from there. Experience counts, one's own and others'.

WashDC/SMA

 

[sparks]

Everyone here uses Centro de Salud for scorpion stings and sometimes jellyfish stings. Heat exhaustion and Dengue symptoms. Beyond that the poor wait in line and everyone else goes to or gets referred to a doctor

 

[AlanMexicali]

Seguro Social

What would you say to someone like Merida Yucatan whose Spanish is, in his own words, "limited"? Would you recommend that he use Seguro Popular?

I would think they should bring someone with them that speaks both English and Spanish so they can communicate well enough to get registered and looked at.

 

[FHBOY]

I have been to a Hospital General which is a Seguro Social hospital a couple of years ago... All services here are free, if anyone solicits a payment, report them".

What is a CURP?

 

[FHBOY]

I have been to a Hospital General which is a Seguro Social hospital a couple of years ago for a sinus operation and went through all the procedures leading up to my admission. ...My intermediate plus Spanish was never a problem, yet.
.

This sounds like most HMOs and PPOs NOB. I must first see my general doc, who will then give me a referral to a specialist, who will then make an appointment for some time in the future, do get a date for a procedure. And all of that costs $$$ - a co-pay for the generalist, a co-pay for the specialist, etc etc, not counting the exorbitant cost for my health care/month (upwards of $600USD).

I know that some are used to the one stop shop, find a specialist, make and appointment and go, but in US managed care, these days, those situations are few and far between. So I find your experience nothing out of the ordinary.

Look, I'm going to be a retiree in Mexico, so what if it takes, for non-emergencies, a few days or weeks to get to be cured/treated, where am I running to, what appointments do I have to keep, where are my commitments other than to myself and my spouse?

There was a feature on NPR radio yesterday here in the States...and man has written a book on patience...yes patience...and I found what he said most enlightening and something I am looking forward to, just having the time to be patient. It seems from your story that is one of the things to learn in Mexico...darn that sounds good!

 

[AlanMexicali]

Thanks

This sounds like most HMOs and PPOs NOB. I must first see my general doc, who will then give me a referral to a specialist, who will then make an appointment for some time in the future, do get a date for a procedure. And all of that costs $$$ - a co-pay for the generalist, a co-pay for the specialist, etc etc, not counting the exorbitant cost for my health care/month (upwards of $600USD).

I know that some are used to the one stop shop, find a specialist, make and appointment and go, but in US managed care, these days, those situations are few and far between. So I find your experience nothing out of the ordinary.

Look, I'm going to be a retiree in Mexico, so what if it takes, for non-emergencies, a few days or weeks to get to be cured/treated, where am I running to, what appointments do I have to keep, where are my commitments other than to myself and my spouse?

There was a feature on NPR radio yesterday here in the States...and man has written a book on patience...yes patience...and I found what he said most enlightening and something I am looking forward to, just having the time to be patient. It seems from your story that is one of the things to learn in Mexico...darn that sounds good!

These few events I described are part of the many more I have had done to me or my wife's family and her friends in Mexico. I have had 2 incidences of respiratory infections that one was a touch of pneumonia last March were I went to the ISSSTE clinic and was injected with a strong antibiotic, chest X-Rays taken and needed injections the following 2 evenings were the ISSSTE Dra. came to her consultorio on a Sat. night to meet us and on Sun. night we went to her house to get it done. That is why I go to her every 60 days for check ups and get a prescription for Spirvia that when we went to an ISSSTE pulmonary specialists a few days later he prescribed for me [expensive in the US] and he ordered a lung capacity exam which would be after my departure to San Diego. All this was free, plus the prescriptions for more antibiotics, inhalers, mucus loosening syrup and prescription anti histamines etc. and another checkup. We got a private respiratory tech. to come to our house and give it to me for $400.00 pesos and took the results to the specialist. I have no problems with all of this so far.

My HMO in San Diego did not address the very many sinus infections I have had over about 20 years and prescribed lab tests and antibiotics. When I went to a private specialist in Mexico with a bad sinus infection and told him my history he diagnosed me with chronic sinusitis and ordered a CAT scan and discovered 5 polyps and partially clogged sinus cavities and partially clogged tubes from old infections. I then went to the Serguo Popular to have it taken care of and it took awhile before the infection cleared up before they admitted me for 3 days to do it. The private diagnosis cost $500.00 pesos and the CAT scan cost $667.00 pesos. The best money I ever spend.

 

[AlanMexicali]

Curp

What is a CURP?

Your Mexican ID number.

Unique Population Registry Code - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[FHBOY]

These few events...The best money I ever spend.

[If these questions are answered elsewhere, please excuse me and point me there]

What does one need to do to obtain a CURP?

Is ISSTE care available to non-imigrado (FM2-3) people? How does it differ from IMSS?

 

[AlanMexicali]

Issste

[If these questions are answered elsewhere, please excuse me and point me there]

What does one need to do to obtain a CURP?

Is ISSTE care available to non-imigrado (FM2-3) people? How does it differ from IMSS?

No. ISSSTE is the Socialized Heath care system for federal employees and their spouses and dependent children only.

I got my CURP at the civil registrars office and needed my birth certificate, Mexican marriage license, and FMM card and I think $26.00 pesos. There were long lines at other windows there but the one for getting a CURP had only 2 people and took less than 1 hour. You give the information to the clerk. He or she enters it into the computer system and takes copies of your documents. Then you go to a computer there and enter the number they give you and up pops your form and it prints out. Then you go back and give it to the clerk. He cuts out your CURP card and a small sheet with other stuff on it and keeps the rest and then you go have it lamented there for $15.00 pesos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Social_Security_and_Services_for_State_Workers

...

 

[makaloco]

What does one need to do to obtain a CURP?

It may vary by location, but I just took my FM2 to a Registro Civil in my town and asked for a CURP. It took about 5-10 minutes and was free. I think FM3/No Inmigrantes can get it, too.

 

[AlanMexicali]

It may vary by location, but I just took my FM2 to a Registro Civil in my town and asked for a CURP. It took about 5-10 minutes and was free. I think FM3/No Inmigrantes can get it, too.

I think it might have been free also, I can't remember. Anyone with an FM2 or FM3 usually will need one sooner or later.

 

[FHBOY]

No. ISSSTE is the Socialized Heath care system for federal employees and their spouses and dependent children only.

I got my CURP at the civil registrars office and needed my birth certificate, Mexican marriage license, and FMM card and I think $26.00 pesos. There were long lines at other windows there but the one for getting a CURP had only 2 people and took less than 1 hour. You give the information to the clerk. He or she enters it into the computer system and takes copies of your documents. Then you go to a computer there and enter the number they give you and up pops your form and it prints out. Then you go back and give it to the clerk. He cuts out your CURP card and a small sheet with other stuff on it and keeps the rest and then you go have it lamented there for $15.00 pesos.

Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...

One needs a Mexican marriage license to obtain a CURP? Foreign marriages are not recognized for this purpose?

So I assume either you, your spouse or both of you are Federal employees, correct?

 

[AlanMexicali]

Curp

One needs a Mexican marriage license to obtain a CURP? Foreign marriages are not recognized for this purpose?

So I assume either you, your spouse or both of you are Federal employees, correct?

My wife works for the Mexican Federal Gov't.

For a CURP you have to be a resident of Mexico with an INM card of some type or a citizen or married to a Mexican National. I don't think you can get one with just an FMM card, even though that is what I had.

 

[FHBOY]

My wife works for the Mexican Federal Gov't.

For a CURP you have to be a resident of Mexico with an INM card of some type or a citizen or married to a Mexican National. I don't think you can get one with just an FMM card, even though that is what I had.

OK - so after I get my FM2 or 3, or whatever they will call it, then I apply for a CURP. Filing all this info away, thanks.