Overseas Health Insurance - Not Obamacare

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I'm looking for health insurance that covers me worldwide not just in the US so anything through the exchanges won't work. Something with a $5,000 - $10,000 deductible, basically catastrophic. The IMG policy fit the bill until the premium doubled.

We are using the Exchange plan as the catastrophic coverage, then paying out of pocket for the international issues. In most places we've cruised we wouldn't hit the 10k deductible with most any issue. If we had something that was likely to be long term expensive we'd head back to the US for coverage.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Paul L

We are using the Exchange plan as the catastrophic coverage, then paying out of pocket for the international issues. In most places we've cruised we wouldn't hit the 10k deductible with most any issue. If we had something that was likely to be long term expensive we'd head back to the US for coverage.

Why is foreign cover so expensive or difficult. I pay about 200 to extend my insurance to cover all over the works except the US

Dave

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Why is foreign cover so expensive or difficult. I pay about 200 to extend my insurance to cover all over the works except the US

Dave

Must be the "except the US" part! Since my coverage does allow up to 6 months in the US I guess there is quite a bit potential exposure to US medical costs.

[Boatguy30]

I did not realize those with typical cruiser income would able to legally buy a high deductible plan thru the exchange. I guess it depends on typical and maybe the state.

I have yet to be able to successfully login into the federal exchange yet as traffic flowing from FL seems or have been really jamming it as we have no state exchange. For what 27 million people?

[Kiwi303]

Insurance for the whole world excluding the US is a LOT cheaper than US inclusive coverage simply because the US medical system is 99% liability insurance fees and 1% medical costs due to litigious ******** trying to get $5 million because the doctor put in 5 stitches in a cut and the punter thinks it should have been 6 because that;s what his neighbour got and sues for malpractice.

I looked at insurance for my time in China teaching TESOL... the price difference in US inclusive and US exclusive worldwide travel and residency health insurance was enormous...

In the end I just got a domestic Chinese insurance through PICC for my time in China and got 7 day travel insurance as an option from the travel agency with the ticket each time I got a ticket to somewhere outside china like Cebu in the Philippines since I was never there for long.

[Boatguy30]

Originally Posted by Kiwi303

Insurance for the whole world excluding the US is a LOT cheaper than US inclusive coverage simply because the US medical system is 99% liability insurance fees and 1% medical costs due to litigious ******** trying to get $5 million because the doctor put in 5 stitches in a cut and the punter thinks it should have been 6 because that;s what his neighbour got and sues for malpractice.

I looked at insurance for my time in China teaching TESOL... the price difference in US inclusive and US exclusive worldwide travel and residency health insurance was enormous...

In the end I just got a domestic Chinese insurance through PICC for my time in China and got 7 day travel insurance as an option from the travel agency with the ticket each time I got a ticket to somewhere outside china like Cebu in the Philippines since I was never there for long.

You're not correct in this information, Nelson is a nice place enjoy it.
Please don't spread this type of info.
Like it or not in the US you will be well provided for if harmed by a doctor or other professional. In NZ you are told to lump it.

[Kiwi303]

Well, 99:1 may be an exaggeration, but liability insurance does make a significant chunk of the medical proffessions cost.

NZ has the Accident Compensation Corporation Act. Instead of compensation by lawyer with your compensation depending on how good your lawyer is and how bad the doctors lawyer is, compensation is by statute.

Seems a much more logical way of settling things to this kiwi... And a lot less lawyers around.

[Boatguy30]

It's about 6% of total healtcare costs. Now, it may makeup a larger share to some individual doctors; but that is the accepted peer reviewed number.

I seem to recall the last story I heard when leaving NZ 2 years ago was a guy loosing a foot at work. His company was found liable for safety violations. He was paid $36,000 NZD for the loss of his foot. I'm not saying I would need 36 million, but I'd expect a whole lot more than 36K. If it were a private individual that had done it in say a boating accident, he'd have been lucky to get a "sorry mate"

I would note that lawyers also buy and charter boats, just like state and federal workers do.

[Kiwi303]

If having lost his foot he was then unable to do the job he was doing before losing the foot... he then gets 80% of his pre-injury income for the rest of his working (i.e. until retirement/pension age) and all rehabilitation cost, therapy and prostheics costs funded.

ACC also has income protection schemes included.

[Boatguy30]

No I understand. That's all part of it. No reason the guy shouldn't be able to some other type of job at some point.

I appreciate your input, I have lived and worked in NZ many years and my daughter was born in Blenheim in 2011.

I just found the ACC led people to something of a crass attitude towards accidents and in some casing not really caring if they hurt others as they would not personally be held responsible unless found criminally negligent.

anyhow, enjoy you great home. Nelson is where I'll go if I return.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Why is foreign cover so expensive or difficult. I pay about 200 to extend my insurance to cover all over the works except the US

Dave

Not only are the international policies generally available to US residents expensive they typically have onerous lifetime caps on pre-existing conditions, along with a very liberal definition of pre-existing.

[goboatingnow]

I just found the ACC led people to something of a crass attitude towards accidents and in some casing not really caring if they hurt others as they would not personally be held responsible unless found criminally negligent.

Which is really the way it should be. After all it was an accident

Dave

[hellosailor]

"Well, 99:1 may be an exaggeration, but liability insurance does make a significant chunk of the medical proffessions cost. "

And if our medical professionals would step away from the God Complex and pay attention to what they were doing, accidents and liability costs would plummet.

By and large, with few exceptions, our medical industry resists all changes or suggestions as to how to make things safer. They fought bar-coded medicines. They fought, and still fight, simple infection controls like washing hands and using different or sterilized equipment (blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, oximeters) from one patient to the next. They skimp on housekeeping because "it costs too much".

Which is not to say the rest of the world is any cleaner or more diligent. But in the US, poor practices and procedures are common, and the industry prefers to try ducking their responsibility until they are caught and held for it. Why should they care, when they can just raise their prices to cover what they can't dodge. (OOps, that's not working out so well now, is it?)

Medicare, like any insurance policy, has specific terms and coverage limits. It IS possible to get decent medical care at reasonable costs the US, but most of the rubes can't be bothered with learning how to do it, can't be bothered with advance planning, and oddly enough, can find the money being asked from them. The system is set up to be anything but transparent and easy, and maybe the new changes will bring some of that to it.

[Kiwi303]

Found this a while after last posting, and thought it was worth linking here.

Cracked is right up there with Wikipedia on the reliability stakes, as in not very, through they do do research they write for entertainment and leave out what doesn't fit the story. Just like CNN and Fox.

But an interesting if warped look at the medical profession, what is interesting is the amount of lobby money spent on keeping doctors rich and patients poor.

5 Seemingly Harmless Groups That Wield Terrifying Power | Cracked.com

[Doodles]

O.K. guys enough of the thread drift, can we get back to the original question about what foreign coverage people are using and happy with? I don't really care about NZ's accident compensation laws, etc.