Health Insurance for Cruisers - What do you use ?

[SV Demeter]

Planning to move aboard in July and take off crusing for a few years in November. Looking at options for health insurance. Wondering what others are doing and if they are happy/satisfied. Everyone aboard is in great health and we are probably just looking for a catastrophic type plan with a 5-10k deductible but are open to alterntatives. In the first year we plan to travel primarily in the eastern caribbean for the winter then possibly back to US for summer. The crew:

Me: Male age 40 non smoker, good health
The Admiral- Female age 47 non smoker, good health
Fist Mate- Male age 9, non smoker, good health
Social Director- Female age 6, non smoker, good health.

[goboatingnow]

It's good to see the 6 year old off the fags. keep the whiskey hidden too....lol

Dave

[sck5]

Medical care is very cheap in other countries compared to the US. My wife and I investigated and decided it was probably cheaper to just pay for routine stuff as we go and keep a medical evacuation policy (Medex or similar) and a catastrophic medical with a high deductible. That way if you get any routine sickness or a broken arm or whatever else that is easily dealt with anywhere you can just pay for it when it happens. If something serious happens a medical evacuation policy (not that expensive, actually) will get you flown to the US or another first world hospital (when I was in Africa they said they would fly me to London for example). Then if you spend more than say 5k your catastrophic policy would kick in.

[PyotrBee]

Just get catastrophic coverage and pay your way on the smaller items. You might even be able to just get a travel policy. We have a policy from Lloyds which has a 5,000 deductible (ie we cover our daily stuff) and we pay like $1200 I think for a family of 5....

We used to have BUPA before that and it worked out well also...

[Hannah on 'Rita T']

DAN, Divers Alert Network, offers really cheap evacuation insurance even for those of us who no longer dive.

[rebel heart]

Not to make this political, but if you're American you should check out some of the provisions in the "obamacare" package. There's some expected costs drops in 2104 which will hopefully make insurance a lot more affordable:

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right now an international policy for my family is $1,200 a year as long as I stay out of the United States. For global coverage including the US, the price goes up to $8,300. Insane price jumps.

[Doodles]

I've been using these guys for a couple years now. I'm over 60 and the deductible is $5K I think and the annual premium is something like $2,300. It covers me worldwide as long as I'm not in the US more than 6 months.

[FSMike]

Medicare & prayer.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by FSMike

Medicare & prayer.

Medicare is no good outside the US so I guess that's where the praying kicks in?

[amytom]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Not to make this political, but if you're American you should check out some of the provisions in the "obamacare" package. There's some expected costs drops in 2104 which will hopefully make insurance a lot more affordable:

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right now an international policy for my family is $1,200 a year as long as I stay out of the United States. For global coverage including the US, the price goes up to $8,300. Insane price jumps.

I can't help but comment on your Freudian slip there. Obamacare benefits beginning in 2104? Sounds about right ...
One more reason to take off

[SV Demeter]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Not to make this political, but if you're American you should check out some of the provisions in the "obamacare" package. There's some expected costs drops in 2104 which will hopefully make insurance a lot more affordable:

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Right now an international policy for my family is $1,200 a year as long as I stay out of the United States. For global coverage including the US, the price goes up to $8,300. Insane price jumps.

Rebel that sounds about right do you have details on where to purchase said policy for $1,200?

[SV Demeter]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I've been using these guys for a couple years now. I'm over 60 and the deductible is $5K I think and the annual premium is something like $2,300. It covers me worldwide as long as I'm not in the US more than 6 months.

I see you have good taste in yachts so I can probably trust your judgement here.

Thanks

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by SV Demeter

Rebel that sounds about right do you have details on where to purchase said policy for $1,200?

Yep, through these guys:

https://www.bupainternational.com/

[SV Demeter]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Yep, through these guys:

https://www.bupainternational.com/

Gotcha will do some reading there. Guess it doesnt matter so much that they appear to be a UK company and Im a yank?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by SV Demeter

Gotcha will do some reading there. Guess it doesnt matter so much that they appear to be a UK company and Im a yank?

Cash is a universal nationality...