What International Health Insurance Provider do you recommend?

[Cynrad]

Compiling information for my life shift to full time sailing hobo. I need to be able to live off a small income from my rental property. So, I'm trying to gauge how much I should be setting aside for health insurance every month. Does anyone have an opinion about who a good international health insurance provider is and why? If someone doesn't mind sharing their approximate monthly cost that would be really helpful too, in these early stages of info collection. Or maybe you think it's crazy to dump hundreds a year into health care you might never use. You can tell me that too.

[steve77]

Getting international health insurance was more trouble than I thought it would be. We finally got a policy through IMG for less than $1000 per year per person. I have no idea how well it covers us since we have only had it a few months.

I will say that when we extended our stay here in the Azores for an additional 90 days (beyond the original Schengen 90 days), we were required to show proof of health insurance in order to get the long stay visa. Something to consider if you decide to forego health insurance.

Cheers!

Steve

[Cynrad]

That's great info. Thnx

[AiniA]

Our sense is that health insurance is a necessity for foreigners in the US and an option elsewhere, although as was mentioned occasionally (for us rarely) we were asked about health insurance when we entered a country. I have out-of-country coverage as part of my retirement package that also covers things like drugs and dental when we are in Canada. The out-of-country coverage is good for 150 days and it is may cheaper to fly back to Canada to reset the clock on this one than to buy 'snowbird insurance' or the like. Once beyond the US, healthcare is remarkably cheap or even free. I had a very persistent staph infection when we were in the Pacific. I went to a government clinic in Mangareva, FP every two or three days for a month to get boils treated and dressed and they did not charge. Went to the new fancy hospital in Papeete and was in the emergency treatment room for an hour and a half with a doctor or nurse there the whole time and it was $120. Finally went to the private hospital in Fiji (the infection was a pain in more than one way). The doctor visit was $12 and the different antibiotics suggested (which worked!) were $6. Had a very serious hand injury in South Africa and ended up in a private hospital. Five days in bed, plus surgery and daily therapist treatment was $5000. If we had stayed in the government hospital which did not have as wide a range of specialists it would have been free - even for a foreigner. Even including the hand injury we were much better off self-insuring, but we did have the 150 day coverage if we needed it.

It is not that a clear situation but most long-distance cruisers do not have health insurance. In general it is a very safe lifestyle.

[Cynrad]

Interesting. So it appears that mimimal health insurance would do as long as you're not in the us or Canada. Kinda makes you wonder what health care really costs in Canada but that's a whole other topic Haha. Thanks

[cmacrob]

I think the type of policy you have should reflect the amount of risk you are willing to take. I've only seen reimbursement policies, but the straightforward argument towards getting any type of insurance is to protect your other assets.

The policy is really designed for catastrophic scenarios, anything you aren't prepared to come 'Out of Pocket' for is what you insure for.

Here's a link to run your own quote:

USAway Major Medical

[chuckr]

We have been out 8 years and visited something like 40 countries and never once asked for our health insurance papers. We do not carry any and probably can not get any if we wanted to. I am 70 and Admiral is 68.

We are in Turkey for the winter and will be applying for residence in a month or so and if we were under 65 I understand that we would need some type of health insurance policy. There is also a movement afoot to allow cruisers longer than 90 days in the EU and one of the requirements is a health insurance policy and not sure what we will do about that if we decide to spend more time over here.

We pay as you go and health insurance in distance parts of the world is amazing inexpensive.
Not sure where you are headed and that may make a difference.