PBS News Hour: Why Foreign Retirees Are Flocking to Mexico

In recent weeks, I’ve been doing background research on “cross-border retirement” issues and therefore I was interested to read that ElderLawGuy Jeffrey Marshall’s brother has retired to Mexico and “loves it.” 

For some, the reasons may include comparative costs for a range of services, including support for “independent” living, or more skilled care, as documented by the PBS News Hour program on “Why Foreign Retirees Are Flocking to Mexico.” The program interviews retirees in central Mexican communities near Lake Chapala.  The program compares “average cost for independent living” in U.S. retirement communities of “about $2,500 per month, with one Mexican community’s prices for “rent, all utilities, connections for internet, television … plus three meals a day” at “just a little over $1,000 a month.” 

But, as the program touches on (only briefly), Medicare benefits don’t apply in Mexico (although, perhaps they should?).  And there are also important questions about reciprocity in care for Mexican retirees who may have spent many working years in the U.S.