[airstreamingypsy]

Martin,

I appreciated your post, as I do all your posts. For many years I was a fulltime RVer, I know that thousands of American RVers slip over the Mexican border for dental treatment. There are a few towns, that have American trained dentists that, like Ecuador, charge a fraction of what US dentists charge. The most famous border town to get dental work done in Mexico is Los Algodones. It’s a small town that borders Yuma, Arizona, and is by far the most popular border town for RVers. Because so many people go there for dental work, you might hear it called Molar City. There are over 350 dentists within a few blocks of downtown.

Los Algodones thrives on dental tourism, and the money tourists spend at shops, restaurants, and more. There are other border towns, you can find them where large percentages of RVers winter, like Yuma and the Rio Grande valley of Texas.

[Byte1]

Having lived in many countries for almost half my life, I find it interesting and amusing at times when I hear other Americans speak of how great third world countries are to them. I had a family member that agreed so much that he lived his whole retired life in a third world country, until he died of cancer. It's interesting that Americans working for our gov. overseas often find that they need "serious" medical attention and are sent home (USA) for major treatment or to another 1st world country for technical treatment/diagnosis. I've seen pregnant American females sent to London for simple ultrasound checkups on their pregnancy. On the other hand, I paid four dollars for an xray in one country. Some countries do have great medical personnel, but lack in other areas such as equipment and cleanliness. In one country, I knew an American Expat that had a fairly easy surgical procedure who died shortly after of sepsis infection. A lot of medical professionals from other countries are American educated, but that doesn't make their medical supplies or environment top quality.
Many Americans love visiting and even living in poor countries, because they can live like they are rich. Not as many countries are like that as they were early in my travels overseas, but there are still plenty of places where Americans can live the life of luxury. I have observed and heard of many, many horror stories related to overseas medicine. You may be flipping a coin, gambling when you jump into the murky water of foreign medicine. That said, if not for a persistent foreign doctor in one very dirty country we lived in, one of my family members might not have received an urgent medivac back to the U.S. for life saving surgery.
There are some very exotic and beautiful countries in this world, but for me there is only ONE U.S. of A. We have millions trying to migrate to this country, but very few want to leave and there is no one stopping them if they wish to do so.