European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Americans residing near the mexican american Border Are crossing Over for medical treatment and pharmaceutical purchases. Here a technician prepares medications at a pharmacy in Matamoros Mexico. Not bargains across the Border by Lisa Belkin new York times Carmen Cruz has lived in the United stat Sall of her 15 years but after she was bitten by a neighbor s dog in october she made the Short trip across the Border from her Home in Brownsville Texas to an emergency room at Matamoros in Mexico. The american police had offered to drive her to an american Hospital but she refused saying that her Mother did not have the Money. She might not have seen a doctor at All if the dog s owner had not Given her $20, enough for antibiotics and stitches in Matamoros. Crossing the Border for health care is a Way of life along the Rio Grande where american officials have Long been frustrated by indigent mexican nationals seeking treatment in the United states and sapping resources meant for american citizens. Less noticed but equally common Are the trips to Mexico by americans like Carmen Cruz who have Given up on the american health care system. Texas has always been real conservative in terms of funding for any services that would be called welfare services said Sharon Hoffman a spokesman for the Texas department of human services. I think it relates Back to a sense of Independence in Texas sort of a state  though there Are two private hospitals in Brownsville there is no Public county Hospital for the indigent. There is no such Hospital within the 13-county area that includes Brownsville Harlingen and Mcallen. The area has a total of 600,000 people. The tuberculosis rate in Brownsville is nine times the National rate. There were two outbreaks of measles in the past four years. The infant mortality rate is twice the National rate. Forty three percent of births occur outside hospitals. Other communities have similar problems. A study americans seek Low Cost health care in Mexico for instance found that two thirds of the nearly 1,000 people there suffer hepatitis before they Are 35. Medical needs Are met instead by clinics along the Border. While there is less Access to health care on the american Side of the Border there is More need or there is More need because there is less Access. The Brownsville Community health Center receives its $4.2 million yearly budget partly from the Federal government and partly from corporate donations. The Center treats 24,000 patients whose average income is $4,000 to $5,000 a year. The Center s 13 doctors log 94,000 appointments per year. The line begins to form two hours before the doors open. Most patients wait hours More before they Are called into an examination room. Many however do not bother to wait. They pay 10 cents to walk or 75 cents to drive across the International Bridge Between Brownsville and Matamoros a City of More than 280,000 people. There the narrow streets Are lined with squat stucco buildings Many with signs that announce the services of the dentists Acu Juntura Cir Ugia plastic Medicina internal or orthodontist of available within. One of those signs is for the Hospital Centro Medico Jardin run by or. Frank j. Morales or. And or. Charles l. Rogers both of whom Are graduates of the Grace University school of Medicine on the Caribbean Island of Nevis. They see 10 to 15 patients a Day in their two Story Hospital. Nearly All patients Are from across the Border. Some Are lured by the unorthodox approach of the two physicians who often use medications they themselves produce. But most patients seem less attracted by the exotic cures than by the lower Cost. What one nurse makes Over there i pay three nurses Here said Morales explaining Why his fees Are lower than those across the Border. I Don t have to pay malpractice. I Don t go to sleep at night worrying that someone is going to sue us. These people Don t  Rogers said if you re in the states and you Cut yourself and you go to the emergency room they re going to say give me your insurance card. We Don t have that hassle  that is Why Ricardo Fuentes an Elpaso Texas Gas station attendant and a naturalized american left a Hospital emergency room after waiting two hours and sought treatment in Ciudad Juarez for a foot injury it turned out to be a fracture. They ask if i have insurance i have no insurance he said. They ask for medicaid. None. No Money  and that is Why Tom Clements who needed an alcohol detoxification program travelled from his Home in Dallas for treatment in Matamoros where the Cost was less than half that of Many american programs. It was a bargain Price Clements said. That s what motivated me to do it. The fact that it worked is just icing on the  pregnant american women regularly make the trip into Mexico reversing the More common practice of mexican women arriving on american hospitals doorsteps so their children will be born in the United states. Some american women who go South to give birth want the same thing As the mexican women citizenship for their children. Only mexican citizens Are allowed to buy land along the mexican coast. A More common motive appears to be the Cost of childbirth. A Normal delivery in most United states hospitals runs to at least four figures Gomez said while delivery by a mexican part Era or midwife who uses no painkillers costs $200. Tuesday january 17, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13