Another's experience Some may wonder, what happens if I'm NOT insured with IMSS, but I want to access their hospitals and clinics: well, this is possible, as a paying patient, though as you will see they apply a sliding scale for charges, based on ability to pay, and the charges are low, in any case! The writer is one of our posters, Kathy Caribe, and she had a medical emergency with her son, which she writes about on her blog- Urgent Need Doctor In Merida - Imss? - Yolisto
I don't know how many of you may have taken the time to read Kathy's tale of her experience with IMSS. It's an amazing story and she, like me, omitted no detail, so that you can get a true picture of how it went, both the good and the bad. Some of the good- her son received very fine, specialist care and surgery at one of IMSS's premier institutions, the Speciality Hospital in Merida. Her son was hospitalized and had surgery there, and spent some time in ICU. She was uninsured, but IMSS's sliding scale approach to charging patients who are not covered by IMSS insurance resulted in a bill of around 14,000 pesos, as I understand it, an incredibly modest sum for all that service. Some of the bad- food was intolerable and it's best to have someone stay with the patient, if possible, to give them personal care and attention (this is typical, around the world, in my experience, and is becoming more typical in the U.S., as well, with staff to patient ratios being what they are, especially at night). She could not have gotten this level of care on her own, in my opinion: it was important that she had a relationship with a doctor in private practice who had connections with IMSS. Navigating the tortuous and winding system of Referrals would have stopped her, perhaps, without it. When you surf the web for IMSS experiences, you often find reference to this, with the recommendation that you find doctors in private practice who are also on the staff of IMSS, so that they can help you take maximum advantage of the care available, should you need it, without being herded along with the masses who seek service there, daily.
