If You’ve No U.S. Health Insurance…No Problem

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008

Read more about overseas health care in International Living Postcards--your daily escape

Back in the States, health care used to keep me up at night.

I’m 54 years old, so I don’t qualify for Medicare. By the time I am old enough to get into the system, I’m not sure the system will even be there anymore.

I’m self-employed, so I have no employer-provided insurance option. And, unlike my Canadian friends, I don’t have a national health plan, good or bad, to rely on.

But I can’t afford to pay full price out of pocket to fully insure my wife Suzan and myself under any reputable private U.S. insurance plan I know of. I don’t know any honest working person who could afford to do so.

And now, at least one U.S. presidential candidate is seriously proposing creating a national health system…by making it illegal to not buy health insurance. (I wonder how long it will take the government to require yearly physicals and make it illegal to skip them?)

Fortunately for my health, I sleep a lot better since I moved offshore.

For six years now, Suzan and I have lived in Latin America, and we’ve enjoyed excellent health care at a fraction of the cost of U.S. care. We now have comprehensive, full-coverage health insurance from a top national company for a little over $2,000 per year...for both of us.

Even before we found our Mexican insurance plan, we used Latin American health care providers…we simply paid out of pocket, because most of the procedures we’ve had cost half--some much, much less than half--of the price for the same procedures in the States.

I’ve had rotator cuff surgery in Ecuador, eye surgery in Panama, and lots of dental work in Mexico. All results: excellent. All costs: significantly less than in the U.S.

And in every case, no money or proof of insurance coverage was required up front. None.

Many Americans are thinking about moving abroad for a variety of reasons. Suzan and I had lots of reasons, too…adventure, curiosity, a better quality of life, a desire to make our hard-earned money go farther than it could in the U.S.

And right along with the usual reasons was the desire to stop worrying about where we’d get good-quality medical care as we got older. We wanted the same kind of care we remembered getting 30 years ago in the States--personalized, respectful, professional, and affordable.

That’s exactly the kind of care we receive now. We’ve managed to remove ourselves from the ranks of the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, and we did it by moving to a place with better weather, a lower cost of living, and relationships with medical professionals that are based on something more than what kind of insurance card you’re carrying.

Dan Prescher
For International Living

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