Long-Term Care Options for Retired Americans in Cuenca, Ecuador and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Abstract

The overwhelming majority of persons who retire internationally do so when they are healthy. What happens when they develop enough disability to require long-term care services is largely unknown.(Warnes 2009) The few existing reports are of European international retirees, as crossing borders in retirement began in large numbers earlier in that continent than in the Americas. Reports from Spain identified a relative lack of post-hospital care and of nursing home resources, such that retirees needed to turn to non-family networks of fellow migrants, to charitable organizations, and to paying out of pocket more than their counterparts back in Britain (Haas 2013; Hall and Hardill 2016). Furthermore, retiree interviews in Spain indicated that much planning is needed but is not always done, and that, as a result, some members of the international retirement community fall through the gaps and do not obtain needed services (Hall and Hardill 2016). In contrast, the development of private residential care facilities specifically catering to Germans has been described in Greece, Eastern Europe, and Thailand, with payment provided by the German government, but accompanied by concerns that quality in some of these low-cost settings may be substandard (Ormond and Toyota 2016).