Wake up, America

By Robert J. Samuelson

You might think that Europe's economic turmoil would inject a note of urgency into America's budget debate. After all, high government deficits and debt are the roots of Europe's problems, and these same problems afflict the United States. But no. Most Americans, starting with the nation's political leaders, dismiss what's happening in Europe as a continental drama with little relevance to them.

What Americans resolutely avoid is a realistic debate about the desirable role of government. How big should it be? Should it favor the old or the young? Will social spending crowd out defense spending? Will larger government dampen economic growth through higher deficits or taxes? No one engages this debate, because if rigorously conducted, it would disappoint both liberals and conservatives.

Confronted with huge spending increases -- reflecting an aging population and soaring health costs -- liberals would have to concede that benefits and spending ought to be reduced. Seeing that total government spending would rise even after these cuts (more people would receive benefits, even if benefit levels fell), conservatives would have to concede the need for higher taxes. On both left and right, true believers would howl.

The lack of seriousness is defined by three missing words: "balance the budget." These words are taboo. In February, President Obama created a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (call it the Deficit Commission). Its charge is to propose measures that would reduce the deficit to the level of "interest payments on the debt" by 2015 so as "to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio at an acceptable level."

Understand? No? Well, you're not supposed to. All the mumbo jumbo about stabilizing "debt to GDP" and according special treatment to interest payments are examples of budget-speak. It's the language of "experts," employed to deaden debate and convince people that "something is being done" when little, or nothing, is being done. For example, Obama's target for 2015 would involve a deficit of about $500 billion, despite an assumed full economic recovery (unemployment: 5.1 percent). The commission is also supposed to "propose recommendations that meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook, including changes to address the growth of entitlement spending," a mushy mandate. But balance the budget? There's no mention.

In a classroom, limiting government debt in relation to GDP can be defended. The idea is to reassure investors (a.k.a. "financial markets") that the debt burden isn't becoming heavier so they will continue lending at low interest rates. But in real life, the logic doesn't work. Governments inevitably face deep recessions, wars or other emergencies that require heavy borrowing. To stabilize debt to GDP, you have to aim much lower than the target in good times, meaning that you should balance the budget (or run modest surpluses) after the economy has recovered from recessions.

Interestingly, Europe's experience discredits debt-to-GDP targets. The 16 countries using the euro were supposed to adhere to a debt target of 60 percent of GDP. Before the financial crisis, the target was widely breached. From 2003 to 2007, Germany's debt averaged 66 percent of GDP, France's 64 percent and Italy's 105 percent of GDP. Once the crisis hit, debt-to-GDP ratios jumped; by 2009, they were 73 percent for Germany, 78 percent for France and 116 percent for Italy.

The virtue of balancing the budget is that it forces people to weigh the benefits of government against the costs. It's a common-sense standard that people intuitively grasp. If the Deficit Commission is serious, it will set a balanced budget in 2020 as a goal, allowing time to phase in benefit cuts and tax increases. It will then invite think tanks (from the Heritage Foundation on the right to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the left) and interest groups (from the Chamber of Commerce to AARP) to present plans to reach that goal. Their competing visions could jump-start a long-overdue debate on government's role.

The odds seem against this. The Deficit Commission may embrace debt-to-GDP targets and aim for a "primary balance" (excluding interest payments) because it's easier politically. Consider: In 2020 the deficit will be $1.254 trillion on spending of $5.67 trillion, projects the Congressional Budget Office. Closing that gap would require steep tax increases or deep spending cuts. But $916 billion of the projected deficit represents interest payments. Ignoring them instantly "solves" three-quarters of the problem.

The message from Europe is that this approach ultimately fails. Intellectually elegant evasions are still evasions. Though financial markets may condone lax government borrowing for years, confidence can shatter unexpectedly. Lenders retreat or insist on punishing interest rates. Market pressures then impel harsh austerity -- benefit cuts or tax increases -- far more brutal than anything governments would have needed to do on their own. We are, by inaction and self-deception, tempting that fate.

PUERTO VALLARTA RETIREMENT – MEDICARE TO COVER MEXICO HEALTHCARE?

Retirement in Puerto Vallarta may become even more appealing if Mexico and the U.S. reach a deal to have Medicare cover Mexican hospitals. With a low cost of living, and year round warm weather, Vallarta is already a retirement favorite.
For Americans considering Mexico Retirement, there is a possibility of very good news in the near future; Felipe Calderon, the President of Mexico is planning to discuss the possibility of having Medicare cover Mexican hospitals. He plans to discuss the idea during his visit to Washington on May 19. This news is especially important for locations such as Puerto Vallarta, which about 50,000 Americans already call home.

The plan means asking the US Joint International Commission to certify hospitals in Mexico, ensuring that they meet standards from the U.S. leading to the next step of having them covered by Medicare. In Mexico, eight hospitals are already certified, and there are others in the process.

Currently there are about a million Americans retired in Mexico, and one goal of the Mexican government's plan is to draw about 5 million more. Especially if a deal can be reached to have Medicare cover Mexican hospitals, Mexico will hold strong enough appeal to draw these retirees. Currently there are about 40 million retired Americans, and for 2050, it is projected that there will be about 90 million.

With the stretched welfare resources in the U.S. and high healthcare costs, Mexico already holds high appeal, especially since it is the closest inexpensive health care option to the U.S – only about 4 hrs or less from most U.S. cities – and health care costs at about 70% less than the U.S. Mexico's hospitals have progressed by leaps and bound over the past two decades, and modern, state-of-the-art facilities are becoming more and more available at these lower prices. If Medicare begins to cover these hospitals, the appeal will be even greater.

Many retirees have already chosen a Puerto Vallarta Home or Puerto Vallarta Condo due to many positive factors, including high-quality real estate with beautiful views of the ocean and surrounding mountains for a relatively low price, a low cost of living, many activities and services, such as golf, sailing, shopping centers and movie theaters (with movies in English) and pleasant, warm, sunny weather all year round. With Medicare coverage for Mexico hospitals, retirement in Puerto Vallarta will be even more affordable, allowing many Americans to consider retiring earlier, or enjoy a larger budget.

Medicine in Mexico is going to be big

By Arthur Lipper
Contributor

Most of the 193 people at the Institute of Americas April 21 conference on "the Future of Health Care in Mexico for Americans" were fluent in both Spanish and English. The conference was conducted in English and the speakers were united in their view that Mexico will become an ever increasing source of health care for Americans -± all as a result of the comparative cost of service.

Jim Arriola, CEO of Sekure Healthcare, talked about those comparisons, citing such examples as the cost of a non-invasive coronary angioplasty in San Diego which ranges from $43,604 to $80,960 versus a Baja California hospital's total fees of $6,500 to $9,000.

As an example of cost differential, Jim Arriola indicated that registered nurses in California are paid annually in the area of $75,000 where as in Mexico the annual wage is closer to $12,000. He also states the cost of liability insurance for a cardiac surgeon in the U.S. runs As much as $80,000 versus $5,000 in Mexico. The cost of a visit to a Mexican primary care physician is about $30 whereas in the U.S. it will run $125 or more. American hospitals receive from HMOs $6,638 per bed-day while Mexican hospitals are only paid $1,117.

One of the reasons for the surgeon's dramatically lower liability insurance premium is the fact that in Mexico there is not a legal recognition of punitive damage.
It was stated by the several of the conference speaker that due to training and technology the quality of health care in most Mexican hospitals is equivalent to that found in American hospitals.

Of course, those comfortable in Spanish will be more likely to be attracted to Mexican health care providers. Hispanics currently comprise 15 percent of the California population and are the fastest growing minority group in America.

Ambassador Jeffry Davidow, the president of the Institute of the Americas and former ambassador to Mexico, was generally supportive of the predictions made by speakers regarding the growth of demand by U.S. residents for health care services in Mexico.
One of the speakers predicted that Hispanics would be 50 percent of the American population by 2050. This is another reason why Mexico becoming an important health care provider seems inevitable.

Medicare and Medicade are presently 48 percent of all health care expenditures in the U.S. and are predicted to grow to 52 percent.

In 2017, there will be a shortage in the U.S. of 40,000 physicians and in 2030; the shortage number of physicians is estimated to grow to 158,000. Being increasingly accepting of transnational medical service is a possible solution. Already there is a telemedicine program being developed in Mexico to serve Mexicans living in the U.S.
Although speakers said the quality of healthcare in Mexico is excellent, it was noted that there is a need for a more defined malpractice review process.

There are going to be numerous business opportunities created by the increasing numbers of people travelling to Tijuana and other cities for medical care. Providing transportation is an obvious need. Also, there will have to be a readily available and trusted rating system which surveys Mexican health care facilities and practitioners. There will have to be American sold insurance covering Mexican provided health care.

The growth and aging of the baby boomer generation and rapid growth of Hispanics in the U.S. will naturally create a growing market for Mexican health care providers or all kinds.
The quality of medicine is better today because of technology and training of practitioners. A major hospital in Monterrey is already actively marketing its services internationally. U.S. insurance companies are primary beneficiaries of the lower cost of Mexican health care.

Medical tourism is on the rise internationally. It is estimated that by 2012, $100 billion will be spent by those receiving health care in countries of other than their own. There are also almost 1 million American retirees living in Mexico, most who use and are happy with Mexican health care. In 2009, 952,000 U.S. residents traveled to Mexico for health care; 488,000 of these were Mexican immigrants.

Mexico will be competing with both Asia and other locations in Central and South America for the provision of service, but has the advantage of proximity to market. Early-stage focus will be on dentistry and cosmetic surgery.

It is clear that relationships will develop between U.S.-licensed physicians and Mexican physicians who will then ease problems of patients transporting prescribed medications across the border.

The conference was interesting and the speakers made a convincing case that Mexican-provided health care is going to become a big business, positively impacting a large number of San Diego residents.

Retire to Mexico -- the price is right

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The years-long trend of Americans buying homes and expatriating to Mexico has collapsed, done in by a trifecta of the recession, swine flu and an epic crime wave.
Sales volume plunged nearly 70% last year for Coldwell Banker, according Phillip Hendrix, director of the firm's Mexican operations. And at Costa Baja, a residential resort development a few miles north of La Paz, sales have slowed by about 40% in the past 12 months.
"Sales are off like crazy. The recession is really hurting and the headlines have been driving people away. The narco-wars especially have bit into the housing market in Mexico," said Tom Kelly, a follower of Mexican real estate trends and author of Cashing In on a Second Home in Mexico.
But that's good news for Americans who have always dreamed of retiring to Mexico but could never afford it: The bust has made homebuying a bargain. Prices can be less than half of what an equivalent home would run in the U.S.
Although the crime wave is confined to a fairly limited area, the perception of it has hurt markets all over the nation, said Alejandro Yberri, CEO of Costa Baja.
Information on prices of homes being sold to expatriate Americans is sketchy, but Kelly estimates overall declines of between 20% and 30% since the peak. In the high-crime communities close to the U.S. border, the drop has been even steeper, perhaps 40% or more.
Still, that means deals for adventurous souls -- even in safe traditionally expatriate neighborhoods.
Lovers of Mexico, like Bruce Greenberg, a marketing consultant for Mexican real estate, rue that the entire country has been colored by the border wars. "Walk around Cabo or La Paz," he said. "Owners and tourists are unaffected. Even in the borders cities, it's a turf war, rarely affecting Americans."
Indeed, neighborhoods in southern Baja cities, even late at night, seem perfectly secure. On the waterfront of downtown La Paz recently, there were families out pushing strollers, lovers cuddling on benches and children eating ice cream at 11 p.m. No one seemed at all nervous.
The housing markets down south may be starting to revive a little after being on life support the past couple of years. Outside San Jose del Cabo, a couple hours south of La Paz, lot sales in the huge Puerto Los Cabos development have increased this year after being very slow in 2008 and 2009, according to its marketing director Alex Cuttler.
Up and down the coastal resort communities of southern Baja the landscape teems with sale signs, mostly in English.
That all changes up north, where crime has raged more fiercely and the border patrol has stepped up security, making traveling between the U.S. and Mexico more difficult. That means northern Mexican resorts, such as Rosarito, Rocky Point and San Felipe have suffered the most in this real estate downturn, according to Hendrix.
The homes here are less than an hour's drive from Southern California and Arizona, so many Americans would buy them as weekend and vacation retreats.
But with border guards on high alert and the crackdown on smuggling and illegal immigration, getting back into the United States can tack on an extra two or three hours at the border crossing. And that surely discourages some homebuyers even though a three bedroom, ocean-front condo can sell for less than $300,000 there, a fraction of its price back home.
All the problems have slowed sales in northern Mexico a lot. A recent Los Angeles Times story about the Baja bust made the sea-side corridor between Tijuana and Ensenada sound like a ghost town.
Perversely, that story juiced buyer interest, according to Kelly.
"Realtors were deluged with inquiries," he said. "People were thinking that the bottom was reached."

Mexico's big hope: get 5 million U.S. retirees

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico is silently working on proposals aimed at drawing millions of U.S. retirees to this country, which could eventually lead to the most ambitious U.S.-Mexican project since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
President Felipe Calderón is likely to propose the first steps toward expanding U.S. retirement benefits and medical tourism to Mexico when he goes to Washington on an official visit May 19, according to well-placed officials here. If not then, he will raise the issue later this year, they say.

``It's one of the pillars of our plans to trigger economic and social well-being in both countries,'' Mexico's ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan told me. ``We will be seeking to increasingly discuss this issue in coming months and years.''

Calderón brought it up during a U.S.-Canada-Mexico summit in Guadalajara in August last year, but President Barack Obama asked him to shelve the idea until he was able to pass healthcare reform, another official told me.

Now that Congress has passed healthcare reform, Calderón is preparing to charge ahead.

A GROWING MARKET

There are already an estimated 1 million Americans living in Mexico. And according to Mexican government estimates based on U.S. Census figures, that number is likely to soar to 5 million by 2025 as the U.S. population grows older and more Americans look for sunny, cheaper places to retire.

The U.S. Census projects that the number of U.S. retirees will soar from 40 million now to nearly 90 million by 2050. Already, 5 million American retirees live abroad, of whom 2.2 million are in the Western Hemisphere -- mostly in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Brazil. Another 1.5 million live in Europe and 850,000 in Asia.
The key to luring more U.S. medical tourists and retirees to Mexico and other Latin American countries will be getting hospitals in the region to be certified by the U.S. Joint International Commission, which establishes that they meet U.S. hospitals' standards. There are already eight Mexican hospitals certified by the JIC and several others awaiting certification.

According to Mexican government estimates, healthcare costs in Mexico are about 70 percent lower than in the United States. And from my own experience, those estimates are right: As I reported at the time, when I was hospitalized in Mexico two years ago for an emergency operation, my hospital bill was indeed about 70 percent lower than what it would have been in Miami.

So what will Calderón specifically propose to Obama? Most likely, the Mexican president will suggest starting with a low-profile agreement that would allow the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration to pay for Medicare benefits to U.S. retirees in Mexico. Under current rules, Medicare only covers healthcare services in the United States.

IT JUST MAKES SENSE

My opinion: Mexico and much of Latin America are bound to become growing U.S. retirement and medical tourism destinations, much like Spain has become a permanent living place for Germans, Britons and Northern Europeans.

You won't read much about it now because neither Calderón nor Obama will emphasize it publicly while the drug-related violence in northern Mexico is making big headlines, and while the political wounds from the recent U.S. healthcare debate are still open in Washington, D.C.

But I'm increasingly convinced that, as the violence in Mexico subsides and the healthcare debate becomes a distant memory in Washington, medical benefits' deals will become a top U.S.-Latin American priority. Just as free-trade agreements were the big thing of the 1990s, healthcare agreements will be the big deal of the coming decade.

I wouldn't be surprised if Calderón and Obama take the first baby steps toward a U.S.-Mexico healthcare agreement by finding a way to pay for Medicare benefits for U.S. expatriates in Mexico, or getting U.S. states to allow similar payments. Then, most likely after the 2012 presidential election in both countries, the two would start negotiating a more ambitious deal.

Demography, geography and economics are pointing in that direction. With the U.S. population getting older, a record U.S. budget deficit, rising U.S. healthcare costs, and Mexico and other Latin American countries badly needing more tourism and investments, this should be a win-win for everybody.

An emerging challenge

From The Economist print edition

Antoine van Agtmael thinks that firms in the rich world have not fully digested the rise of the emerging markets

EMERGING markets have been exceedingly kind to Antoine van Agtmael. His company, Emerging Markets Management, controls some $13 billion-worth of investments in them. His name guarantees him access to their most powerful politicians and businessmen. He is such a respected figure in America that he has been made chairman of the National Public Radio Foundation, the local equivalent of being given a seat in the House of Lords. This is only as it should be: Mr van Agtmael was the man who coined the term “emerging markets”.

These days the market in business catchphrases is saturated. Every business writer wants to produce a rival to “The World is Flat” or “The Long Tail”. Every management consultancy wants to coin the follow-up to “re-engineering” or “total quality management”. Such famous turns of phrase are the gurus’ equivalent of brands: they burnish their reputations for original thinking and ensure that they stand out in a crowd. A brilliant catchphrase can be worth millions in book sales and speaking fees.

“Emerging markets” is one of those terms that has buried itself so deeply in our brains that we have no idea that it once represented a bold challenge to conventional thinking. Before Mr van Agtmael coined the phrase in 1981 the region was referred to as either “the third world” or “the developing world”.

Bankers regarded the “third world” as little more than the financial equivalent of a rat hole. The term conjured up images of “flimsy polyester, cheap toys, rampant corruption, Soviet-style tractors and flooded rice paddies”, as Mr van Agtmael puts it. Western governments regarded “the developing world” as an object of largesse—an area that could be rescued from poverty only by a combination of donations from the rich world and better economic planning by developing countries’ governments.

Mr van Agtmael argues that his idiosyncratic background gave him the wherewithal to challenge conventional thinking. He grew up in the Netherlands. His schoolteachers frequently talked about the country’s historical ties with Indonesia. He even owned a few shares in global Dutch giants such as Philips and Unilever. He spent a decade working in the private sector—including a stint at a Thai subsidiary of an American bank, Bankers Trust—before eventually ending up at the World Bank’s investment arm, the International Finance Corporation.

He was uncomfortable with the banking industry’s contempt for the developing world. (One of his bosses at Bankers Trust once told him, “There are no markets outside the United States.”) But he was equally unhappy with the World Bank’s obsession with state-driven development. He became an evangelist for the power of private investment to turbocharge growth. But how could you persuade wary bankers to invest in the third world? He had a eureka moment after making an investment pitch to Salomon Brothers: why not replace the depressing-sounding phrases used to describe poorer countries with the more upbeat “emerging markets”?

Almost 30 years later Mr van Agtmael remains as bullish about emerging markets as ever. He has seen the category grow to include formerly closed economies such as China and Vietnam. He has seen emerging-market champions go from welcoming the term as uplifting to rejecting it as condescending. (His publisher in China changed the title of his latest book from “The Emerging-Market Century” to “The World is New”.) Most striking of all, he has seen the developing world start to produce some of the world’s biggest and best companies, a legion of giants that are shaking up the West’s comfortable assumption that it will continue to lead the world in global reach, technology, design and marketing. Mexico’s CEMEX is the largest cement company in America, the second largest in Britain and the third largest in the world. Acer of Taiwan is vying to become the world’s second-biggest manufacturer of personal computers. Brazil’s Aracruz is the world’s largest and most profitable producer of pulp for paper and tissues. He even cites Russia’s Gazprom, which controls more gas reserves than all the West’s big oil firms combined.

Just as the West once underestimated the potential of emerging markets, now it underestimates the power of the region’s corporate champions, Mr van Agtmael believes. These companies are no longer content to be mere followers. They have built global brands: South Korea’s Samsung is one of the world’s best known makers of electronic goods (Mr van Agtmael still classifies South Korea as an emerging market), for example, and Mexico’s Grupo Modelo produces one of the most recognised brands of beer in the world, Corona.

Emerging and upstaging

Reconciling the rich world to the rise of these powerhouses will be as difficult as integrating the third world into the global market, Mr van Agtmael argues. He knows as well as anybody that global trade can benefit all involved—that the emerging world’s gains do not have to be paid for by the rich world’s losses. Where Samuel Huntington predicted a “clash of civilisations”, he hopes for a “creative collision” that will lead to innovation. He points out that some of the most fraught economic rivalries in recent history—the space race of the 1960s and Japan’s rise in the 1980s—provoked creative rather than defensive responses.

But he is nevertheless worried about the sirens of protectionism. Mr van Agtmael points out that America and its allies have been on top of the world for so long that it will take a huge psychological adjustment to treat the likes of India and China as economic equals (his office has a spectacular view over the centre of Washington, DC, with its many monuments to America’s glorious past). He also thinks that most people have no idea how serious the challenge from the emerging world has become. Perhaps the very phrase “emerging markets” may end up blinding people to the fact that many of these markets have already emerged.

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George Mason University Establishes Nation’s First Degree in Senior Housing Administration

Master’s in Senior Housing Administration Targets Need for Executives in Assisted Living and Related Communities as Population Ages

FAIRFAX, Va.—Building on its reputation as a pioneer in the senior housing field, and in recognition of National Careers in Aging Week (April 4-10), George Mason University has announced the launch of the nation’s first degree for executives seeking to manage the country’s nearly 50,000 active adult, assisted living, continuing care retirement, and related senior housing communities. As approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the new Master of Science in Senior Housing Administration (MSHA) will begin in the fall 2010 semester.

“The first of 78 million baby boomers will turn 65 next year, and their interest and expectations for retirement housing will be high,” says Andrew Carle, a former senior housing executive and director of the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration. “Just as the Cornell School of Hotel Administration set the standard for the hospitality industry, we want to set the standard moving forward for senior housing.”

Administered through the College of Health and Human Services, the degree will offer coursework in senior housing and health care administration, as well as an interdisciplinary range of topics including business administration, aging, ethics, health policy, assistive technology, therapeutic recreation, and Alzheimer’s disease.

For the university, the degree expands its existing Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration curricula which, when launched in 2001, was the first in the nation to offer both undergraduate and graduate concentrations dedicated exclusively to the field. More than 300 students have completed coursework within the Program to date, including internships within more than 60 senior housing communities.

A cottage industry through the 1980’s, senior housing today is represented by a host of national and regional providers, with up to 400 communities each. Assisted living communities typically combine housing, hospitality and basic health care under one roof. Continuing care retirement communities, which include independent as well as assisted living and skilled nursing services, may house more than 2,000 seniors, employ more than 1,000 staff and manage real estate valued at more than $500 million. In addition to community administrators, large companies require regional, divisional and corporate executives.

Administrator positions in current communities are typically filled by individuals with degrees in business, health care or nursing, but with the National Institute on Aging estimating that one of every five people in the U.S. will be over the age of 65 by 2030, demand for executives trained in the unique aspects of senior housing will grow.

“The industry is projected to double to more than 100,000 communities housing 5 million seniors in the next two decades,” says P.J. Maddox, chair of Mason’s Department of Health Administration and Policy. “We expect executive positions in the field to be among the fastest growing career paths in the U.S.”

Applications for admission for the new degree will be accepted through the College of Health and Human Services beginning April 1, 2010. The deadline to apply for Fall study is July 1, 2010. Additional information, including degree requirements, is available at http://assistedliving.gmu.edu, or by calling the Program in Assisted Living/Senior Housing Administration at 703-993-9131.

About George Mason University

Named the #1 national university to watch in the 2009 rankings of U.S. News & World Report, George Mason University is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with global distinction in a range of academic fields. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., Mason provides students access to diverse cultural experiences and the most sought-after internships and employers in the country. Mason offers strong undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering and information technology, organizational psychology, health care and visual and performing arts. With Mason professors conducting groundbreaking research in areas such as climate change, public policy and the biosciences, George Mason University is a leading example of the modern, public university.

Canadians Positioned to be a Profitable Market for Mexican Real Estate: Upcoming San Antonio Texas Conference Shares Insight and Advice for Developers

April 7, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia. With 12 million Canadians about to retire, Mexico stands to make big profit by being the favoured destination for life after work. On May 7th /8th 2010, real-estate marketing professional Lorin Yakiwchuk will be presenting a seminar entitled, How to Access the Canadian Market, sharing his insights on Canadian buyers, and how Mexico's real-estate industry can benefit from catering to this demographic. I've spoken with many Mexican developers who have acknowledged the importance of the Canadian market and have put a lot of resources into attracting this group, but the results were a hit or miss, says Lorin. Previous experience with the Canadian real estate market has taught him that one needs local knowledge and a! specific targeting strategy to potential buyers, rather than a mass-marketing approach. This is key for developers to close successful deals with Canadian clients who want to invest in Mexico. Hosted by AMAR (The Mexican Association of Retirement Communities), the goal of this session will be to offer successful strategies on how to effectively sell Mexican real estate to Canadian retirees, without running huge costs in promotional expenses. With an income of about $13 billion a year from tourism, Mexico certainly has enough reasons to keep drawing in foreign visitors. Every year Mexico draws in about 20 million visitors, and while Americans make up the majority, Canada is not too far behind. And with a typical Canadian tourist being over 50 years of age with disposable income, Mexico is hoping to turn these foreign visitors into real-estate buyers. In order to do this, Mexico plans to offer more incentives for foreigners to come back and extend their stay, such as new destination packages and increased travel options,and Tax Advantages. Seminar presenter Lorin Yakiwchuk has had over 25 years in business, with entrepreneurial skills acquired through managerial positions in sales and marketing for a variety of industries. He has since established a holding company with interests in private building and construction, national real estate brokerage, marketing and hospitality. Mr. Yakiwchuk presently holds executive positions in five Canadian registered companies, is a life member of the Vancouver Terminal City Club and past chairman of the joint execute council of the Terminal City Club Strata. Seminar host AMAR (The Mexican Association of Retirement Communities) is the first national, nonprofit organization exclusively catered towards creating and serving Active Adult & Retirement Communities, and Senior Housing & Care Industries in Mexico. Founded on February 20, 2007, AMAR was created to address the demographic trends in the 50+ sector, initially concentrating on the needs of the Baby Boomer generation and the services that they will require for impending retirement. AMARs mission is to encourage the development of the senior living market, and to continually improve the quality of life standards among retirement communities in Mexico. For more information on AMAR, go to www.amar.org.mx/2balive Contact Lorin Yakiwchuk for more information: mailto:lorinwy@shaw.ca%20

Age Against the Machine: Baby boomers: 76 million strong and a force to be reckoned with.

By Matt Thornhill Entrepreneur Magazine - May 2009


There’s a long-held belief in marketing that once consumers reach age 50, they’re dead. That’s because for the past40 years, businesses trained their budgets on younger adults, ages 18 to 49. When a consumer reached 50, he vaporized--unless, of course, he needed denture cream or incontinence products.

Marketers are finally awakening to the demographic tsunami of the nation’s baby boomers. Born during the post-World War II prosperity from 1946 to 1964, boomers are 76 million strong--comprising 1 in 4 Americans. However, in the past decade, this massive generation became invisible at the rate of 10,000 members per day as they passed the five-decade mark. Now the recession is prompting businesses to rethink marketing.

The fact is boomers spend far too much money to be ignored during tough times. By some estimates, they spend $400 billion more per year on goods and services than any other generation. The numbers tell the tale: According to our analysis of U.S. Census data, over the next 10 years, the 18 to 49 age segment is projected to grow by only 1 percent to about 137 million. Meanwhile, the 50-plus age segment will swell 21 percent to 116 million.



Any marketer worth his salary should be hard at work developing plans for this segment. “In many categories, our data shows that boomers spend as much each month as any other generation, on a per capita basis,” says Phil Rist of Bigresearch, which conducts monthly surveys of more than 7,000 consumers, track-ing their spending. “But there are so many more of them.”

That’s one reason Bill Dahlquist, 42, invested in a Home Instead Senior Care franchise in 1999. “We saw boomers and health care as essentially recession-proof,” says Dahlquist, who brought in 2008 sales in the multimillions. “The demand for in-home professional care giving is going to explode as boomers grow older.”

Smart entrepreneurs who want to refocus on boomers need to get the new rulebook. Boomers at 50 and beyond are very different from the Golden Girls generation. Having never experienced the Depression or World War II, they’re far more optimistic about the future--no matter how many dark clouds loom now.

Today’s Boomer Consumer
Businesses need to understand today’s boomers from three perspectives: 1) where they are in their heads in terms of what drives their behavior; 2) where they are in their lives in terms of lifestyle and life stage; and 3) how their shared generational experiences coming of age in the late ’50s to early ’70s shape their perceptions. Through these lenses, marketers can better connect with this demographic.

Psychological: Boomers have reached a stage of cognitive development in which they’re driven more by internal motivations than external. Gerontologist and boomer expert Ken Dychtwald calls this shift “from success to significance.”

Sociological: The linear, predictable lives of previous generations are no longer relevant. Boomers find themselves at a million different life stages. Some are empty nesters, some still have kids at home, some are retired and others are starting businesses.

Anthropological: The “Wonder Bread Years” for boomers established traits that cut across the entire generation. Boomers are driven, self-centered and transformational. As they evaluate any offering, they want to know, “What’s in it for me?” They have more vigor and vitality than ever.

New Rules for Marketing
Capture the attention and spending of boomers with these five rules.

1. Aim inwardly. Boomers are less driven by material things and more interested in life-enriching experiences. They seek to fulfill internal motivations: self-respect, -fulfillment, -realization. Show them how your product fulfills these needs.

2. Be positive. Laura Carstensen, psychology professor and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, studies how older consumers process incoming information. She’s discovered that older adults are more likely to ignore negative images, concepts and ideas. So stay away from selling fear and desperation. Focus instead on aspirations.

3. Focus on life stage or lifecycle. Boomers have more in common with others at the same stage than with others the same age. Therefore, stay away from age-based marketing, and instead, focus on life stage and lifestyle.

Serial entrepreneur Jerry Shereshewsky wanted to create a new media product for Boomers that could attract advertising revenue. His solution was to launch Grandparents.com. He says "The average age of a Boomer who is a grandparent is 53. Oprah is older than that. By focusing on Boomers who are grandparents, we're delivering a large and important consumer segment for marketers. Remember, once a grandparent, always a grandparent."

4. Use traditional media. Boomers surf the internet, but they’re loyal to traditional media: radio, newspapers and TV. But they watch different types of TV programming--movies, police shows, news, sports and documentaries--making it cost-effective to reach them via cable.

5. Follow the moving target. Where boomers are today is not necessarily where they’ll be tomorrow. The only way to keep tabs on them is to ask. Build in feedback, talk with your customers and conduct surveys. Ignore them, and they will take their money elsewhere.

Matt Thornhill is president of the Boomer Project, a marketing research and consulting firm in Richmond, Virginia, and author of Boomer Consumer. Visit www.boomerproject.com

FYI - Medicare Facts and Figures - Medicare in Mexico Possibilities

Dear Friends,

Just as an FYI - The topic of Medicare in Mexico is still around. After the stakeholders’ meeting in Mexico City last July, there was an interesting segment on PBS last Nov that featured Paul Crist and folks from Puerto Vallarta interested in the topic http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec09/mexico_12-28.html David Warner, PhD and Paul Crist will discuss the topic in Puerto Vallarta at a medical tourism expo in August http://www.vallartamedicaldestination.com/portal/

I came across some stats I thought were interesting and wanted to share http://www.chcf.org/topics/download.cfm?pg=insurance&fn=MedicareFactsFigures2010%2Epdf&pid=513295&itemid=118742
See page 14 of report - I thought it was interesting to see the percent of 65+ yr olds of Latinos in CA projected to increase so much. I think there will be growing interest from insurers looking to capitalize on these dynamics. I know that in my discussions with some labor unions in CA, there is great interest from these unions in having this benefit available for their Latino workers who retire in Mexico. Regards, Jim

Sincerely,

Jim Arriola
CEO
Sekure Healthcare
Tel 619.210.4836
www.MySekure.com