Opinion: Mexico tragedy reveals reality

CNN - It’s like the opening scene of a bad action movie – or,
for the people involved, a horror story: On Friday, four
Americans were kidnapped by armed men, likely members of a
cartel, in northeastern Mexico. It was apparently a case of
mistaken identity, with the kidnappers believing that the
Americans were Haitian drug smugglers.
The four Americans, identified as Latavia “Tay” Washington
McGee, Zindell Brown, Shaeed Woodard and a man called Eric
were reportedly in the border town of Matamoros, in the state
of Tamaulipas, Mexico for a medical procedure for McGee.
According to the FBI, the gunmen fired at them, and then the
Americans were “placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene
by armed men,” the FBI said.
Authorities say that two of the victims have been found dead,
and two survivors – one severely injured – have been located
at what appears to be a medical clinic in the border city of
Matamoros, US officials told CNN.
So much about this story has yet to be known, but the State
Department has a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warning out for
Tamaulipas, “due to crime and kidnapping.” That said,
Matamoros is just across the border from the Rio Grande
valley in the US; nearly five million people cross the bridge
between Matamoros and Brownsville, Texas every year.
The tragic fates of these victims also spotlights the reality
that hundreds of thousands of Americans travel abroad every
year for medical care, many of them to Mexico, for everything
from root canals to in vitro fertilization to cosmetic procedures,
which are often cheaper south of the border. And the broad
criminalization of abortion across the American south has
also sent women over the border to Mexico seeking safe
abortion care.
The existence of “medical tourism” says something quite
damning about the cost and limitations of American healthcare.