Health insurance

[CorrinaCorrina]

My girlfriend and I, age 32 and 27, are taking off from Annapolis at the beginning of November. We are going to head south and hopefully make it down to florida. From there we would like to go to the Bahamas and if at all possible furhter. The key words are "Like to go to." Being new to cruising and trying to work and cruise, we are trying to find health care insurance for the two of us. We have been told to buy short term health care insurance, international insurance including the US and Canada, international insurance excluding the US and Canada and etc. So, my question is this, if we plan on heading down the ICW and make our way south, what health insurance would be adequate? We really don't know if we will leave US territories within our first year of cruising. The first year is to get an idea if we really want to do this for some time.
If you have any advice or direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

thanks

[osirissail]

- - Whatever health insurance you now have inside the USA is good for all territories of the USA - Puerto Rico, USVI and the Pacific islands. At your age you really should not be any serious healths issues. In other Caribbean (except French Islands) you can normally get very inexpensive medical treatment for injuries, or maintenance like dental, etc. for cash prices which are literally a small fraction of USA costs.
- - The international medical insurance can be compared on the internet and a good place to start is with the IMIS website: IMIS Home Page Also see: International Health Insurance, Expatriate and Traveller Medical Cover
And: Health insurance with unconditional cover - ihi Bupa And: International Medical Group - IMG
- - The policies tend to be about "major medical" type coverage. For normal office visits most people pay cash - the local natives all deal cash only. That is one of the reasons the costs are unbelievably low.
- - On the other hand if you have a complicated or rare medical condition it is difficult to find any specialists in the islands. There is rarely any need amongst the locals for "specialists." Equipment seems to follow what is really needed locally so you will rarely see any high-tech medical equipment.
- - One super important insurance you should have even before considering all the others is the DAN (Divers Alert Network) DAN Divers Alert Network
Med-evac insurance. Should a medical condition arise that needs immediately return to the USA this type of insurance might just save your life and your life-savings.