It’s fairly well known that Americans, especially those in Texas and California, have been crossing the border to Mexico for cheaper prescription drugs for years -but Texans are now turning to our neighbor for more than pharmaceuticals. With the recent economic downturn, skyrocketing health care costs, and an increasingly broken health care system, Americans are now seeking health care refuge and lower costs across the border.

According to a UCLA study, millions of Californians are crossing into Mexico for health care because they cannot afford the rising costs at home. The study states that at least 952,000 California adults – roughly 488,000 are Mexican immigrants- travel south for their medical, dental and prescription services.

With rising unemployment and the accompanying loss of health insurance, is this the only option for our citizens? Is this the kind of America our fore fathers envisioned for us? One whose citizens are forced to seek treatment for injuries and illness in neighboring countries? An America that does not even come close to ensuring that people are receiving the care they need- at a cost they can afford?

Why don’t we just change the Statue of Liberty inscription to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, …but the sick- you guys can go to Mexico.”

Check out this great Daily Kos blog “Need Health Care? Go to Mexico”:

If our health care system is so great, why are millions of people choosing to go to Mexico for their health care? Or trying to buy their drugs from Canadian pharmacies? And why was our beloved United States of A-Merry-Ca’s health care system ranked 37th in the world by the World Health organization the last year they did international rankings in 2000? Why is the country of quiche, Chardonnay sippers and surrender monkeys, that evil bastion of socialized single payer health care, i.e., France, ranked number 1? Why, in short do we suck at providing affordable, reliable, universal health care to all our citizens?