Heath insurance US/MX

[tresninos]

Does anyone have names for international health insurance companies?
My husband will be living in Mexico.Me and my 3 boys will be living in the states.

The company that is hiring him has been looking into it but don't think they have that much experience dealing with expats with benefits.

If someone has a better solution I am also willing to listen.

[TundraGreen]

Originally Posted by tresninos

Does anyone have names for international health insurance companies?
My husband will be living in Mexico.Me and my 3 boys will be living in the states.

The company that is hiring him has been looking into it but don't think they have that much experience dealing with expats with benefits.

If someone has a better solution I am also willing to listen.

You might have to look at two policies, one in each country. I am not sure there is anyone that provides coverage across international borders.

[circle110]

I have a policy through IMG (a British company with a US division) that covers me in both Mexico and the US as long as I am not in the US for more than 20 weeks total per year. If I am in the US for more time, then the policy becomes forfeit. I needed a policy like this because I have to be in the US a few times a year for several weeks at a time and the thought of doing that repeatedly with no coverage scared me!

[dongringo]

Originally Posted by circle110

I have a policy through IMG (a British company with a US division) that covers me in both Mexico and the US as long as I am not in the US for more than 20 weeks total per year. If I am in the US for more time, then the policy becomes forfeit. I needed a policy like this because I have to be in the US a few times a year for several weeks at a time and the thought of doing that repeatedly with no coverage scared me!

Do you have a link to their site?

[tresninos]

This won't work for us.I would need full coverage full time in both places,
How is IMSS?

[TundraGreen]

Originally Posted by tresninos

This won't work for us.I would need full coverage full time in both places,
How is IMSS?

IMSS seems to get mixed reviews here. Some of us like it and others not so much. I have had it for two years and it meets my needs. I am pretty healthy so have only used it for emergency room type stuff and teeth cleaning. None of the staff I have dealt with spoke any English, so some proficiency with Spanish is pretty necessary. However, my Spanish is not very good and I still get by fine there.

I banged my elbow once and it developed into a case of bursitis. The emergency room saw me after an hour and a half wait. They have posted triage system and take people who are bleeding first.

For more routine stuff, you can drop in at your assigned doctor's office and wait for an opening, or you can make an appointment. To see a specialist you need a recommendation from your general doctor, then you make an appointment. I am in the middle of this process and one of the appointments they gave me was three months away.

The teeth cleaning is just that, they clean my teeth and I am out the door. No xrays, no dental examination. But then I have never made an appointment and asked for more. I suspect if I did I would get more. Instead I just drop in and within 5 or 10 minutes they take me in and clean my teeth.

The main office where you sign up or renew is a zoo, maybe because I am in a big city. There are hundreds of people there every day. Every time I have had to go there, it ends up being a full day's project, mid-morning to mid-afternoon. You wait to get assigned to a window, you wait for the window to take you, you go to the bank to pay, they you wait to turn in the paperwork.

It costs me a little over $3000 pesos/year and seems like a good investment to me.

On the negative side, the first year or so there are some things that are excluded. And I have heard or read that some pre-existing conditions can preclude you from qualifying for it. Also, I suspect not all locations are the same. I have read that sometimes the pharmacy does not have drugs that are prescribed, but I have never experienced that.

[conorkilleen]

I have highmark. It's my US companies insurance that also covers me here in Mexico and anywhere basically that I travel) The only bad part is that they only cover at specific hospitals. You may want to check it out.

[circle110]

Originally Posted by dongringo

Do you have a link to their site?

Health Insurance for living abroad: Global Medical Insurance

BUPA Insurance is another company that has similar packages.

[tresninos]

Originally Posted by dongringo

Do you have a link to their site?

Travel Insurance, Travel Health Insurance, International Travel Insurance ? IMG Insurance

[circle110]

Originally Posted by tresninos

This won't work for us.I would need full coverage full time in both places,
How is IMSS?

It could cover your husband full-time in both places and you guys could stay with the US plan that the company currently has you with. Also, IMG (and probably BUPA too) offer inexpensive travelers' packages that you could purchase for your trips to Mexico if your US plan doesn't cover you in Mexico and if you didn't want to just self-insure while here visiting. Doctors, hospitals and most medicines cost only a fraction here of their US counterpart.

IMSS won't work for you all full-time because it only functions in Mexico and of course, the rest of the family would need other coverage in the US. Plus, if you guys are living in the US, you would visit Mexico on an FMM and I don't believe you can join IMSS without a resident visa (inmigrante-FM2 or no-inmigrante-FM3).

Your husband could join IMSS but why not get his company to purchase other insurance that would cover private hospitals too, which are a world apart from the government ones in my experience.