Arturo Chavez hated waiting weeks for an appointment with his HMO doctor. So these days, the San Diego cabinetmaker does something much more convenient: he schedules appointments with a new doctor south of the border in Mexico, just a 40-min. drive from his home. Says Chavez, 36: "In Tijuana, I can make an appointment today for tomorrow."
Patients like Chavez are part of what doctors in Tijuana call la ola verde--the "green wave" of Southern California residents washing into the border city's medical clinics. Attracted by low prices and easy access, cash-paying travelers, most of them Latino, have for years come...