#1369 – The Expat Files: Health, Healthcare, and the Global Expatriate Experience

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pad wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started Alright back in the saddle again Now you longtime listeners may have heard me talk about my brothers before Both who've been down here to visit me many times in different countries in Latin America Both younger than me both in very terrible physical condition

[00:50] Both on a ton of meds both overweight In fact one of them an ex-champion power lifter gets on yo-yo diets where he gains a hundred pounds Finally looks in the mirror can't stand himself anymore loses it in six months Then a couple years later ends up on the same routine Sound familiar typical American doing that of course Has its consequences and in his case it damaged his heart That's why at the ripe old age of about 48 He had a bunch of heart stents put in and still his heart ejection fraction was so low It was around 30 percent. It's supposed to be around 50. He was told by his cardiologist that if it drops any lower

[01:37] They'll have to put him on a heart transplant list Anyway, that was what was happening with him about four years ago So I shipped him down here to a stem cell clinic in Latin America and within about six months his injection fraction Kick back up to 50 percent That was his new reading when he went back to his doc about six months later The doctor did a double take that kind of stuff just doesn't happen on its own Well, let's put it this way. He was shocked to see my brother's heart. It recuperated so well But didn't want to attribute the results to the stem cells He didn't want to hear about it because that's not the way traditional medicines practiced in the states So then why am I bringing this up? Well because my brother has the same problem almost all Americans have they go to the doctor get certain procedures done Get prescribed certain medicines, but only follow through on the stuff that's covered by insurance

[02:27] Are you one of those a person who won't try alternative treatments because insurance won't pay Anyway, as for my brother back then four or five years ago when the doctor told him he may have to get on a transplant list Sure, he was worried and concerned But when I told him about the stem cell treatments that you can only get outside the United States When I showed him some proof a bunch of articles showing that it works Well for joint and ligament problems and as well as cardiac problems, too. He didn't say wow. That's great. That's new I want to do it the first thing he said was does insurance pay and I said no because in the states is considered experimental even though stem cell Treatments are a fraction of the cost maybe 10% of a heart transplant procedure Actually much less than 10% of a heart transplant insurance won't pay but they'll pay for a heart transplant. Isn't that strange?

[03:20] So anyway, my brother's stem cell treatments were I think around 15,000 bucks Sure, he wanted to do it give it a try at least but since insurance wouldn't pay he wouldn't go for it Not out of his pocket. Anyway, by the way He like 99 percent of Americans never even heard of stem cell treatments didn't even know they had such a thing Didn't know what they were certainly first world doctors aren't telling their patients about it Why would they when they could prep you up for an extremely expensive heart surgery? You know when you walk into an American doctor's office, they've got dozens of little pamphlets Organized in nice little stands great marketing explaining all the cool drugs and treatments offered by your friendly cardiac surgeon or Orthopedic surgeon, but there's never a pamphlet about stem cell treatment

[04:07] There's never a mention because there's no money in it for the doc and the insurance wouldn't pay anyway big pharma You know is against it and the FDA Who's been totally captured by a big pharma for years is therefore against it too And since your doctor the FDA and big pharma's real mission is to keep you sick not dead Just chronically ill that way they can keep milking you like a cow a source of revenue the rest of your life They don't want to cure disease. They just want to continuously manage it After all for a doctor an American doctor anyway a cured patient is one less European vacation or Tesla in the driveway So anyway, that's what I was dealing with with my own brother Faced with the cost and pain and risk of a heart transplant

[04:53] It seemed at the time a couple years back not an ideal choice at all though a choice He would make as long as insurance would pay for it So I said look man if you can't scrape together 15 grand to come down here give stem cells a try I'll chip in and who knows it might just work plus you'll get a free trip to Latin America out of it Well, it did work Things were going fine. And now I find out he's back on that yo-yo thing He gained back all that weight and is now on that miracle drug goes impact Lordy-lordy Oprah's breakfast of champions. Yes. Oh zimpic something. He really didn't feel like telling anyone about Apparently he's been on it for a while and dropped 40 pounds But now He's stuck with a dilemma

[05:39] He sheepishly phoned me up Fast up about it and complained to me that his insurance company wouldn't pay for it anymore Apparently it's something like a thousand bucks a month get this He knows drugs are so much cheaper down here in Latin America and available without a prescription So a little light bulb went off in his head He wanted me to sleuth around at the pharmacies down here to check on the availability of that stuff and its analogs Thinking that if it was available, it would be at about a quarter of the price or less and he was right. It's down here It's cheaper much cheaper, but I'm not buying into his plan. I Told him if he wants that stuff, he'll have to come down and get it himself My first thought was what's wrong with him? He's got to know that stuff

[06:24] It's no good for a guy who's got a heart condition What the hell was his doctor doing putting him on that stuff in the first place because it's up in the states Anyway, it's prescription only but at the same time I was thinking I shouldn't be so hard at him He's just like every average American no willpower bad diet Listens to this self-serving advice of his big pharma captured doctors, etc. Etc Funny thing too. There doesn't seem to be much correlation between intelligence and actual physical health. I've seen it myself I know so many really smart even brilliant people in just terrible physical condition Why do so many very smart people have such bad health habits? Why are so many medical doctors overweight with potbellies and look like shit? I ask myself this all the time

[07:10] Why are there so many people in such bad shape who are smarter and younger than me? My question is how are you listeners out there doing on that front from what I can see? It's all about willpower and who you hang with. I sort of assume most of you are doing a lot better than the average American Health wise then again, how would I know I only get to see you guys and gals who come down to my seminars in person I'd say at least half of you seem to be in really good shape and the other half Well, let's put it this way at our seminar hotels There's always a big morning breakfast buffet and when I sit down for breakfast, I keep my eye out for people in their pillboxes You know what? I'm talking about 5 at 50 That means the average 50 year old Americans on at least five prescription medicines And when does he take them in the morning at the buffet breakfast? Why not? It's convenient

[07:59] You could wash them down with a cup of coffee orange juice bloody Mary, whatever So anytime I'm out and about at a breakfast buffet, I've got my eye out for people in their pillboxes I'll tell you with Latinos and Latinas. You almost never see that I don't think I've ever seen a Latino with a pillbox seems to be a purely American phenomena American travelers Especially the over 50 crowd are just loaded down with pills With so many of them traveling with those compartmental eyes little plastic pillboxes It stands to reason to Latino eyes. We look really sick still they all want to be like us You know that gringo wannabe thing. Yep more and more. I'm seeing Americans everywhere Mostly older Americans with those little plastic pillboxes that look like mini egg cartons

[08:45] Though it's not always what it seems like for example in my case I take a lot of pills, but only one is a prescription pill a recently prescribed blood pressure pill So yes, I've become a statistic Sadly though native Latinos have come to see us gringles and expats as a pill popping culture Why wouldn't they we're popping pills all the time in our culture? There's a pill for everything and Latinos are totally confused about that You should see the look on a Latino's face when you tell them some gringles take pills that are so expensive a Month's supply costs more than the average Latinos monthly salary It's no wonder they think all gringles and expats are rich take my particular case for example I take about 12 pills a day

[09:31] So of course most Latinos think I'm nuts what they don't know is that 11 out of 12 are vitamins and supplements Non-prescription drugs like vitamin C curcumin coenzyme q10 be complex quercetin vitamin D3 zinc selenium and a couple more and of course that one blood pressure pill That's my morning pill popping routine. How about you? Which brings us to this related email from mr. D Seminar attendee who says don't use my name, please. Okay. He says Johnny I recall very well at the seminar you were talking about people and their deathbed regrets You stated people regret the things they did not do much much more than the things they did do in life

[10:17] He says both my father and my sister recently passed So I've been thinking about that deathbed regret thing a lot so much so that I bought a little magnetic whiteboard that sticks To my fridge the kind you write little notes on let me read to you. What's on my board Here goes Deathbed regrets of others. I promise I will never have One I wish I'd have exercised more two. I wish I'd eaten less junk food three I wish I'd spent less time swiping on my phone four. I wish I would have traveled more Five I wish I'd have had more self-discipline six. I wish I would have slept more Seven I wish I would have taken more time to stop and smell the roses and

[11:06] Johnny the final two I added them myself I wish I would have learned a foreign language and finally I wish I would have followed through on my plan B So Johnny Those are deathbed regrets. I hope I never have you know the saying out of sight out of mind I've found a way to conquer that Now that I've put that stuff down in writing I see that little list every time I go into the fridge It's a great motivator makes me think about those things every day It's got positive secondary effects too because when visitors come over they're impressed and want one on their fridge, too Alright, thanks for that. Mr. D Sticking those bullet points up on your fridge is a great idea By the way that one point you mentioned spending less time swiping on your phone

[11:52] Man that brought to mind a terrifying video I saw just recently you may have seen it. It's a video of three and four-year-old kids Swiping away moving their hands swiping imaginary phones in their sleep. Have you seen that? It's terrifying What the f*** is wrong with this world? Oh And by the way when my brother was at his maximum weight a hundred pounds overweight He was like that for about ten years In that state he was kind of homebound. He didn't go out much and my mother said that's probably why he doesn't have a girlfriend He's embarrassed to go out looking like that. Yeah when he was fat, he was depressed So I asked him about that because he always had girlfriends before and he being the ultimate Joker man

[12:39] That guy makes me laugh. He's got a tongue like a razor blade. He said yeah, I don't go out much And I don't have a girlfriend and now that food has replaced sex in my life. I can't even get into my own pants anymore Anyway, he's coming down to visit. He says he's dropped 60 pounds with those epic which he can no longer get because insurance won't pay He says he needs to drop 40 more to be down to his high school weight with his heart condition at all. It's good He's not on that stuff anymore But bad that he's coming down because it's part of his mission to hit the drugstores and pick that stuff up cheap down here So what are you gonna do? You can't live a person's life for him Now I'm much the same subject talking about heart and organ transplants I'm sure you've heard all those rumors about illegal organ dealings in China, you know killing the burger population for their organs

[13:29] Lots of documented stories and rumors about that and maybe you've heard about Illegal organ trade here in Latin America, too I've been hearing rumors and lots of stories popping up in Spanish language outlets down here You know it's going on because people do disappear and sometimes when they're found they're missing an organ or two Especially now since there are so many undocumented illegals on their way to the states They're prime pickings for the Mexican cartels who are also in the organ selling business For example, there's a Latin American news outlet called Latin American inside crime and this article comes out on August 14th Just a week or so ago as usual a paraphrase is a bit to cut out the boring part. It starts like this Mary Amelia Mira Morris a Costa Rican surgeon and former president of the Latin American and Caribbean

[14:20] Transplant Society Society transplant a America Latina e carib Turns out she found herself in a difficult position in June of 2024 Just a month or so ago when she got a message from her friend named Marco's not his real name Asking if it was possible since she was a transplant doctor for her to arrange to have him sell one of his kidneys Dr. Matamoros was sort of shocked when she heard the guy mention it She told him it was illegal and warned him about the dangers of exploitation and botched operations She said she didn't want to hear about it and did not want him to pursue it But dr. Matamoros knew that Marcos who friend who immigrated to Costa Rica from Nicaragua without papers Had few other opportunities to make quick money make a large amount of money, too

[15:10] He'd heard that some people will pay up to $20,000 for a kidney dr. Matamoros also knew that the growing rates of illegal immigration through Latin America made the region increasingly vulnerable to human trafficking for organ removal and That many people who made deals like that for just one kidney were killed for the rest of their organs, too She knew it was a poorly understood Predatory industry with the cartels involved so news organizations Did not normally report on it too dangerous for the journalists, so then how do organ dealers work? Well the organs in question are almost always kidneys which are in high demand due to the rising rates of renal disease related mostly to diabetes and

[15:55] Contrary to popular first-world belief most of those illegally obtained organs do not go to North Americans or Europeans Some do but there are plenty of wealthy Latinos who need organs, too In fact a number of people between the ages of 20 and 79 with diabetes in Latin America and compromised kidneys rose from 8,500 in the year 2000 to 33 million in 2021 a 4x or 400 percent increase in 20 years and that according to the International Diabetes Foundation Thus in Latin America in the past 20 years there are four times as many people Needing kidneys though. This has not been mirrored by the rise in the supply of legally available kidneys It's caused a long waiting list though in a huge black market

[16:43] Reading on dr. Madame Morris who was very open on the subject said the financial incentives for medical professionals to perform illicit organ transplants are significant She says quote when I was managing a private hospital in Costa Rica in 2012 a group of American brokers arrived and told me they had around a thousand kidney transplant patients in, Arizona on dialysis Each apparently with a donor available Oddly enough though. They told me they could not perform the transplants in the United States, which seems strange So she says they offered to pay me $60,000 per patient for as many patients as I could transplant in a week Dr. Madame Morris said of course she refused the offer

[17:28] But she knew the brokers had likely already arranged meetings with a long list of private surgeons in Costa Rica and elsewhere She says Costa Rica with lots of private surgeons is a country with an advanced private medical sector And she knows there are lots of senior doctors in Costa Rica that are bad people people who see easy money Without those crooked surgeons. She says that kind of business would not be possible She admitted victims kidneys do sell for many thousands of dollars But the donor only receives about 10 to 20 percent of the profit and because it's illegal Sometimes people don't receive their money at all some disappear in other cases Victims have payment withheld from them as an incentive to recruit others for their kidneys for some donors

[18:17] She says recruitment is a job and with all the broke illegal aliens moving northward through the country The words out on whatsapp. It's a way to make easy money. Of course, the risks are heavily downplayed So then what about the authorities? Well, according to dr. Madame Morris Very few are caught though right before kovat for doctors and a Greek businessman and a local police officer were arrested in Costa Rica for running a trafficking network that recruited kidney donors on Whatsapp with promises of hefty payments that was in Costa Rica in 2022 for Guadam Island doctors were arrested for misdiagnosing Undocumented transients in order to extract kidneys. However, dr. Madame Morris says there is so much

[19:04] underreporting of the situation and lack of Investigations by the police and the authorities that practically no one gets caught so cases that actually go to court are very few It's a very misunderstood form of human trafficking She says because in Latin America doctors have a very high social standing Tweeted like dignitaries because they are highly admired almost never gets sued never end up in court Latin American doctors Who are bad actors can veil their transactions as altruistic and consensual where in reality victims are generally men without papers We're targeted for recruitment by trafficking networks due to their socially and economically marginalized status She says there are many many more black market kidney sales than normal altruistic donations

[19:53] one of the big problems she says is that donor victims are rarely able to access checkups for their remaining good kidney and That's a requirement when kidney donations are legal Oftentimes she says they never go back for a checkup since they know what they've done is illegal and they're compounded by feelings of shame And being socially outcast. She says most donor victims are driven towards a cycle of poor health for the rest of their often foreshortened lives She explains that authorities are not looking much at these kinds of crimes because they're focusing much more attention on regular human Trafficking for sexual or labor exploitation It's definitely part of human trafficking, but authorities are just not looking for these kinds of crimes It's as if organ sales are invisible in the world of human trafficking

[20:41] Accordingly law enforcement is often confused and conflicted about organ trafficking Because sometimes the donor has been coerced or even forced into giving up a kidney Whereas at least half of the donors they say are not coerced at all they wanted money and thus actively sought out a way to sell one of their organs and Here's a quote from detective Carlos Perez officer at the Panama office of drugs and crime He says quote There are still a lot of people who work on that very issue of human trafficking who speak about the organ part of it The organ trafficking like it's some kind of urban myth meanwhile Continuing waves of poor illegal immigrants within and throughout Latin America are providing human

[21:28] organ traffickers with a vast supply of organ recruits in some cases the victims become recruiters themselves for a commission Hmm, I bet that Commission sure beats ringing doorbells for Avon Mary Kate Tupperware and Amway But back to dr. Madam Morris's illegal friend Marcos like thousands of others He's the ideal target for organ donor recruiters due to his precarious financial and migratory situation By the way, this guy Marcos who wanted to sell his kidney to dr. Madam Morris He said he was approached by a fellow Nicaraguan migrant who offered to put him in contact with dr Who could do the procedure in a secret place that was option B He said if he couldn't find an obliging doctor himself. Oh, and this is crazier yet

[22:16] Did you know that most of these migrant kidney donors are so uneducated gullible and susceptible to lies and deception That they just want to believe or will fall for anything in some cases The victims have such low IQs are so clueless or out of touch with the modern world they believe the false stories told to them by the traffickers for example that they have three kidneys or Not to worry because kidneys themselves will spontaneously regenerate like liver cells do Anyway, that's just for your information in case you were wondering about organ trafficking in Latin America as you've heard It's alive and well, by the way When that article inferred that so many illegal immigrants have basically room-temperature IQ is like George Bush jr

[23:02] When it mentioned that so many are uneducated Unsophisticated gullible puddin heads now I want you to think of all the tens of millions of such folks who have slipped into the state all of them looking for the So-called American dream think of all the opportunities available to such brainiacs Those tens of millions of uneducated unskilled unsophisticated gullible less than mediocre people who don't even speak English Yep, and the Democrats and the Woksters say we got sanctuary cities come on in Now my only question to you is how's your plan be coming? Alright on the lighter side. Let's take an email from Dave number 16 Yeah, you know I got a lot of Dave's listening to the program in fact

[23:47] I got an email from the original Dave Dave number one if we have time We'll read that one and you might ask how do I know he's the original Dave number one because he came to one of my very first seminars and You don't forget a thing like that. Anyway, Dave number 16 says Johnny in Regards to your show about gringles in Latin America with big bushy beards He says lots of young guys up here in the United States tend to have those huge bushy civil war Creeping all the way down your neck and connecting to your chest hair beards It's mainly a small group of guys in their 20s or 30s or all Tattooed up older boomers and Gen X Harley type guys Unfortunately says most of those big beard guys are big belly guys, too

[24:35] out of shape fat craft beer and vaping type guys and guys who play a lot of video games For the record though. He says I've never worn a beard for more than three weeks myself Till about three months ago. I It makes all the difference I keep it trimmed low with a point five inch guard and I shave my neck up to the jawline Personally, he says I could not stand a beard on my neck. I Also bust some quality beard oil which avoids the itchiness that always made me shave it off before it could really fill in Anyhow Johnny, I think I'll keep it for a while since number one my wife likes it number two it balances out the air

[25:23] I'm losing on my head. I'm in my mid 50s. You know oh well by the way I was fat before due to kovat weight gain and I've lost over 40 pounds in the last year So I'm not growing a beard as an excuse to hide my non-existent double chin Signed Dave from Albuquerque Dave number 16 Well Dave thanks for that and you know the take I'm getting on your personal beard Experience is that it's gonna be a tight low beard a strictly manicured half-inch like a putting green Nothing wrong with that. It's a cool look if you can grow it in thick enough so that it's not spotty What drives me nuts is those wild and woolly grizzly Adams kind of beards now about those huge bushy Civil war type beards that you see in those Matthew Brady photos

[26:12] Some of those guys had some pretty substantial curly Q mustaches as well Personally I can't imagine buying a tin of mustache wax Wouldn't even know where to get it except of course on Amazon I can't see there's a big market for this stuff though occasionally you see a guy like that on TV or in the movies especially in Those old drawing room costume dramas I never met a guy with a curly Q waxed-up mustache if I did I'd probably crack up have you but those Civil War guys man Especially the officers had some pretty substantial though. Well groomed facial hair, man They had some massive sideburns in fact the name sideburns came from general burn sides Who had one of the most substantial set of mutton chops anyone had ever seen? Oh, and you know who else had some pretty spectacular sideburns Elvis

[27:01] So in the end they look cool if you can grow a nice thick crop But if you can't unless you don't mind looking like a homeless guy forget about it Speaking of homeless guys, you know, there's not a lot of them down here in Latin America at all Not compared to the big cities up in the States. Isn't that funny? Sure? They're street urchins, but they're not dumb either They love gringo infested areas So when you're hanging on the gringo tours trail, you'll get an unrealistic impression of the homeless down here If I was a bum, I'd beg where the gringos hang to wouldn't you? You've been listening to the expat files living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan be we can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long expat

[27:49] Insiders seminar in Central America where you're guaranteed to get a two to five year head start on your plan B Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com