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August 17, 2015

Facing high dental costs, seniors head to Mexico

  • For a 56-year-old man from Anchorage, seeing a dentist in Mexico saved him up to $62,000.
  • By ASTRID GALVAN
    Associated Press

    LOS ALGODONES, Mexico — Mark Bolzern traveled 3,700 miles to go to the dentist. The 56-year-old Anchorage native left home this spring, made a pit stop in Las Vegas to pick up a friend, and kept heading south, all the way to Los Algodones, Mexico, a small border town teeming with dental offices.

    About 60 percent of Americans have dental insurance coverage, the highest it has been in decades. But even so, the nation's older population has been largely left behind. Nearly 70 percent of seniors are not insured, according to a study compiled by Oral Health America. A major reason is because dental care is not covered by Medicare and many employers no longer offer post-retirement health benefits.


     
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