Should Medicare extend to Mexico?

U.S. senior citizens living in Mexico should have their medical care covered by Medicare, says Paul Crist, a former senator’s aid who now lives in Puerto Vallarta. In the current debate over health care, Crist’s idea seems to be gaining ground.

Right now, retired U.S. citizens cannot claim Medicare benefits for treatment received in Mexico—or Costa Rica, or France, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter--even though they paid into the Medicare system throughout their working lives.

Crist, a former aid to Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., recently founded the non-profit Americans for Medicare In Mexico, which has lobbied 85 members in the U.S. Congress to get Medicare accepted south of the border. More>>