Sam: Not sure how it works, but never had to pay a single cent in OZ. Im sure it has something to do with the taxes(again...). An Ozzie friend that visited me for an entire year in Stockholm, had the same advantages in Sweden: He never paid for any medical stuff, except pharmacy costs. An agreement of some sort seems likely. Never had to prove any taxes or similar. Wish Id dug deeper as it is an interesting thing, for sure.
The main difference in the US is that we in the US don't have to wait for any service as some other countries make people wait. Canada for example takes forever to get approval for an MRI, so many Canadians come over to the US for it and pay the high prices. But they know right away what is their medical problem. So we pay for the speed through the nose, but we cannot complain that our needs are under the control of some officidal in some locked room who has no sympathy to our medical issues as long as it saves someone money.
Health Insurance that we have Our family has a health insurance plan that we are very happy with. International Health Insurance | Worldwide Health Insurance - Aetna International It is by Aetna, for expats, and provides worldwide coverage.
Ive never have had to wait for any type of medical service back home. I do know that many countries have incredibly long waiting times though. When my mom had to get dental surgery, they told her to wait 3 days. Well, the insurance we have(had?) as Swedes, told her to "take the cruise-ship to Estonia or Finland and do the surgery there." She did it and it got taken care of the day after. The thing that awed me was that the insurance company reimbursed her for the trip, stay and surgery... Dont know if thats special cases, or if its even like that today. Our current Govt wants to privatize EVERYTHING from health care to trains... That would never work back home. Its just not our way. They keep trying, but it keeps getting rejected. What I like and miss back home is the power of choice: If you want, you can go to a overpriced hospital. If not, then you use the free health care, which is of a good standard. I broke my leg when snowboarding and got to enjoy flying in the ambulance-chopper. The procedure was done an hour after the accident, and Ive never seen a bill from that event. The system we had when I still lived in Sweden was by no means perfect, but it never failed for me nor anyone I know. Crap, now I got homesick, haha.
i only know how IMSS worked for us. We were not insured by IMSS but when my son was admitted to their hospital, i had an interview with the social worker who established my rate of pay and then all bills were discounted by that rate. I think in a standard IMSS hospital (this was Alta Especialidades in Merida, and I think EVERYONE paid there) you don't pay and everything is free. I'm not sure how Seguros works. Val would know more how standard IMSS works. I'm surprised he hasn't chimed in....
insurance We've also had IHI for the last 13 years living in Cancun.Their coverage is excellent but they are very expensive! That's the price you pay, I guess, to assure good health care (?) in a foreign country...
Looks like i'm going to have to go and visit a few insurance companies then. Surely someone can tell me how the deductible works, is it per visit or per year? I mean can you get insurance that covers your doctors visits and medicine or only insurance that covers big problems over a set amount of excess?
Best thing to do would be go a speak to a few insurance agencies to get a definitive answer, however to my knowledge there is Gastos medicos menores and mayores - I've not seen an insurance like I think you want where you pay a fee and it covers "everything" medical, whether it's a trip to the doc or a major surgery If such an insurance did exist I bet it would cost a bloody fortune!!!
Sounds like it does anyway but thanks mate, you're right, need to get off my lazy ass and go get some quotes!
Bupa online... Deductible US$ 0.00 Two payments of US$ 3,615.93 Deductible US$ 1000.00Two payments of US$ 3,109.5
