Healthcare in Mexico for Americans: News coverage on PBS

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The News Hour with Jim Lehrer filmed a news segment in Puerto Vallarta on November 20, covering a range of healthcare issues relating to Mexico. Topics included:

· Medical Tourism,

· Quality of care and cost issues in Mexico,

· IMSS (the Mexican social medical care program),

· The campaign to bring Medicare to eligible beneficiaries in Mexico.

Coverage included a Town Hall Meeting organized by Americans for Medicare in Mexico, A.C. (www.MedicareInMexico.org)

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The 8-minute segment aired on Monday, December 28, on PBS “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.” This nightly news program is broadcast across the U.S., and is great coverage for our campaign. Many policymakers in Washington watch “The News Hour” for its decades-long reputation for quality journalism. Jim Lehrer has moderated Presidential Debates during many elections, and is among the most respected journalists in America. His co-anchor, Gwen Ifill, who introduced the segment presented by journalist Ray Suarez, is also highly respected and a Presidential Debates veteran.

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The News Hour segment covered many topics in a very brief presentation…and one could say, they tried to cover too much in too little time. Having been involved with the News Hour producers in the planning of the segment from the beginning, I would have liked to have seen more in-depth coverage of the topics, perhaps being presented in a weeklong series on healthcare in Mexico for Americans.

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Our Town Hall meeting was over 2 hours, and my interview was about 20 minutes. We didn’t get a huge amount of time in the final segment. But other interviewees with important stories to tell and information to share were cut completely. But, it is TV news, and as TV news segments go, I thought this was pretty good.

Please check out the segment online by clicking the link below:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec09/mexico_12-28.html

by Paul D. Crist

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