Medicare Portability and Panama

January 19th, 2007

Panama’s healthcare system is world-famous for being among the most advanced and forward looking. Healthcare services and overall affordability is one of the main reasons that retirees look to Panama as a place to live and enjoy life, and Panama receives visitors from all over the world for procedures that are simply too expensive or otherwise unavailable elsewhere.

“Estimates of the ex-pat community here in Panama vary from 20,000 to 50,000, but that number could be dwarfed in the years ahead with two innovative “outsourcing” approaches to retiree health care.”

There’s a good article by Coley Hudgins at TCS Daily on what it might mean if US Retirees could use Medicare in countries like Panama, Mexico or Costa Rica. As Medicare is hit with its first wave of Baby Boom retirees, any number of solutions to the problem of too many retirees are being looked at, and this one frankly seems to make a lot of sense. Just like its cheaper for us to go and have a procedure done in Panama, well, it’s cheaper for Medicare too.

Of course, as the article notes, there does need to be a system of accreditation that guarantees institutional service is trustworthy and of the standard that Medicare expects But the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations actually already does a fair amount of accrediting and issuing standards internationally so that infrastructure, one could assume, already exists. It would just need to be adjusted for Medicare. The benefit to adhering to such standards, for Panama, Mexico and other places, could be immeasurable, and would come in the form of more retirees seeking good healthcare, and Medicare reimbursements.

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