Dr. Misael Uribe Ramos is the director of international medicine at Médica Sur in Mexico City, a Joint Commission International-accredited hospital that offers checkups with eight different specialists for $1,600. Uribe Ramos has seen interest in rigorous physicals boom since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic — and he thinks it's a good thing.
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Often when you go to the doctor, it's to treat a specific issue or disease, he said. "But why is that? Because you don't have prevention," he said. "Prevention is the best way to be healthy."
In America, chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are leading causes of death and disability, driving the majority of the US's $4.5 trillion in yearly healthcare expenses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These illnesses are largely preventable. The CDC also says that between 30% and 50% of cancers diagnosed today could be prevented by reducing risk factors (like not smoking and maintaining a healthy body weight) and getting recommended screenings and vaccinations. However, according to the US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, only 5.3% of Americans 35 and older received all recommended clinical prevention services in 2020 — a number that dropped from 8.5% in 2015.
