As Baby Boomers retire and U.S. health care costs soar, Mexico is preparing for more American seniors to head south in coming years.
Many have found Mexico’s proximity to the USA, low labor costs and warm climate attractive, though residents caution quality of care varies greatly in an industry that is just getting off the ground.
“If you need help living or coping, this is the place to be,” says former Bandon, Ore., resident Jean Douglas, 74.
In Ajijic, Mexico, Douglas gets a studio apartment, three meals a day, laundry and cleaning service, and 24-hour care from an attentive staff, many of whom speak English, for $1,300 a month - a quarter of what she would pay in the United States.
And she wakes up every morning next to a glimmering mountain lake, and an annual average high temperature of 79 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It’s paradise,” she says.
