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We are arriving at the end of July and I'm looking into health insurance. I am considering Plan Sequro for my husband (it is the only insurance he would be eligible for because of age). He now has Medicare in the states but his supplemental and drug insurance would drop when we move. Also thinking about an airlift program for him. I am considering Best Doctors Global for myself. If anyone has experience or advice on these options (or any other thoughts) I'd be very grateful to hear back

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Ok. I'm gonna take a stab at this. You're probably going to get a lot of advice on this topic. My experience has been this. The 'Plan' is called Seguro Popular - I'm sure your husband can pronounce it correctly. I'm on it. Used it for meds for awhile until I didn't need the meds anymore. I have two friends who were hospitalized on Seguro Popular. Both died - not from lack of care, but from extreme poor health. The point, however, is that one was placed in a 50 patient ward straight out of the 1950s. Reminded me of some of the WWII movies I've seen. The other was in a semi-private room. No bells and whistles, but rather comfortable. Both had what I would call adequate care.

One thing to consider is that in Mexico one never knows exactly what outcomes are going to be. Each experience seems to be different.

A couple of groups have worked extensively to put together plans with Best Doctors. It's for catastrophic occurrences. Deductible is $5000. We have decided that, for the cost of medical care down here and, both being in reasonably good health, that we would self-insure. By the time we pay two premiums for policies that have a $5000 deductible we can nearly cover whatever might befall us. This, of course, does not include anything that may be of long term, like cancer or whatever.

If you want any specifics, pm me.

buena suerte and bienvenidos

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My question is..if you have a medical condition that requires attention, why would you want to move to a country where you have concerns about available medical care. Especially if you have Medicare available in the United States.

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My question is..if you have a medical condition that requires attention, why would you want to move to a country where you have concerns about available medical care. Especially if you have Medicare available in the United States.

I didn't read that they had medical conditions. I read that because of her husband's age she is looking at Plan Seguro for him.

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We are arriving at the end of July and I'm looking into health insurance. I am considering Plan Sequro for my husband (it is the only insurance he would be eligible for because of age). He now has Medicare in the states but his supplemental and drug insurance would drop when we move.

Did you look at IMSS for both of you? There was a problem with a director in Chapala recently but I haven't read of any problems recently. IMSS costs about $300 USD a year if you are retirement age and it covers 100% of everything.

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I will get nailed for this but I do not think anyone should move to Mexico and depend on IMSS for their insurance needs.

If you are over 70, and cannot financially meet your medical needs abroad, I also would suggest staying in the US with your Medicare plus secondary/supplemental.

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I agree with Floradude. We thought when we moved to Mexico we would get younger but somehow that didn't work out, and now we realize how important our Medicare insurance is. We dropped Medicare in 2009 thinking we would live in Mexico until we died. This year we reinstated our Medicare and have to pay a penalty going back to 2005 when we were eligible for Medicare. We also have to pay a penalty for Part "D" coverage (prescriptions) because the law says you have to have Part "D". All in all it's worth it and once our condo sells we will be heading back "home' to the States. We had IMSS for the whole time we lived in Mexico but never needed to use it and always paid out of pocket for our care. Getting old is not for the faint at heart. Any one at an advanced age living on Social Security alone should think long and hard about moving to Mexico, that is, unless you have plenty of money to pay for private medical care here. These are just my thoughts and our experience here.

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I am in my fifties and have a pre-existing condition, so I am declined by insurance companies for individual coverage. This was one of the MAJOR reasons we considered moving to Lakeside.

Research indicated that I would not get insurance in Mexico, either. If I recall correctly, IMSS does not accept everyone anymore, or there was a three year waiting period for services. We did have the funds to self-insure, but that was not a risk I was willing to take. Accordingly, we did not move to Mexico and found other solutions to our specific needs.

Floradude and PV Pat are right on target. It's a VERY important thing to consider.

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You need to have, at the very least, 50K in the bank to self insure or to make sure you can be stabilized before taking a medical flight back to the US if you keep your medicare. That would cover most emergency surgeries and a day or two in ICU, though I did hear of one 90K bill where the patient was in the hospital for 2 weeks.

That flight insurance is a really good idea for people who live here, but keep their medicare. If you can afford to go back to the States, once or twice a year you can even continue to see your US Doctor. That is what one of my friends does. They can not take you unless you are stable, I think. Some are like a flying ICU, but they cost about 30K to get you to the States, depending on the number of Medical staff that need to fly with you.

It is really something to consider. I pay 2 hundred a month with a 7K deductible for catastrophic. I have pre-existing conditions.

Try talking to Valerie Friesen at Blue Angel Insurance. See the ads in the right panel.

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As noted Plan Seguro is not Seguro Popular.

For those recommending IMSS keep in mind if one is honest and tells them of a pre-existing condition you will be disqualified. Or after paying awhile and they find out you had such a condition you are removed from IMSS.

IMSS is about $300 / year per person and I believe there are age restrictions but another may know for sure. First year coverage is practically nil; second year I believe only some areas covered. third year is full coverage. If you travel around the country and need IMSS they often will deny you even if you have coverage and advise you to go back to your local IMSS. While Seguro Popular is not perfect none of what I have noted applies to SP.

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We considered all of this, being not yet of Medicare age.

We have applied, through Focus on Mexico, for a catastrophic plan offered by Best Doctors. It is a group medical plan, not major med like BC/BS, et.al. in the USA, but it would, as mentioned above, kick in after a $5K USD deductible, hence we've established a de facto HSA for that contingency. The plan does have cancer coverage and does include a medical evac. part, along with a travel benefit in those cases not needed med evac. The cost to join FOM is about $60 USD and the yearly premium of the plan is under $1K USD.

We, too, have heard that IMSS for those of us in the Lakeside area is getting more difficult to obtain. If we can obtain it, and we are still waiting for our "green cards" to make application, we look on it as to be used for more serious stuff. The cost of doctor's visits are ridiculously (comparatively) low here, for the bumps and aches, the blood pressure stuff, and the routine things, so again call it self insurance.

When we reach the Medicare decision age, we'll have to investigate very carefully. We are year rounders, with no home in the USA. Our ties there are our kids and, interestingly enough, we've scheduled a family conference about this and long term care decisions for this very week coming up.

Yes, look carefully at your options weigh your personal wealth and as much good (or not) info you get here on the board, check with your financial adviser and or accountant. You need to step out of the forest to see all the trees and as you have an investment in this decision, sometimes an objective third party is a great idea..

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Retired at age 55 and healthy. US health premiums 10 years ago for mid-50s retiree were sky high. Decided to self-insure in Mexico. And it's worked out ok for me.

But age 65 is knocking on my door and now it makes sense to return to the US for Medicare and an AARP supplement. I am still unsure whether that's the path I should take. Financially it makes sense, but moving back is a major upheaval. But may be better to do that now, rather than wait until I have a medical emergency down the road.

My younger sibling and some friends who had intended to follow me in early retirement to Mexico, have now decided to retire early in the US, thanks to the new Health Care Act which allows young retirees (even with pre-existing conditions) to get affordable health care in the US starting next year.

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We are arriving at the end of July and I'm looking into health insurance. I am considering Plan Sequro for my husband (it is the only insurance he would be eligible for because of age). He now has Medicare in the states but his supplemental and drug insurance would drop when we move. Also thinking about an airlift program for him. I am considering Best Doctors Global for myself. If anyone has experience or advice on these options (or any other thoughts) I'd be very grateful to hear back

Your plan sounds good to me.

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I greatly appreciate all the information everyone has provided. Even though my husband is 91 he does not have preexisting conditions and is in good health, albeit slowing down. He so much wants to be in a Latino culture for his late years. Ajijic meets many of my needs since I am not fluent yet and want the support of others in some of the same stages of life. From my research, Plan Seguro, the Golden Plan, is the only insurance we can get in Mexico for his age. I learned this from Valerie. It is major Mexico for treatments in Mexico and various benefits kick in over a four year policy, although pretty much right away things like heart, stroke, neurological and severe trauma are covered. I like the sobering advice that even if you plan to stay we might move back. I do believe I might be able to continue Part D Medicare for Bernd even if our supplemental has to drop. I think there are policies we can obtain just for that to avoid the penalty of reinstatement should we come back to the US for care. I was glad to hear of the choice of Best Doctors by one posting. They do have a variety of plans with more coverage than catastrophic so right now I am focusing on that group as an option for me.

Thanks again and keep any thoughts coming as I work this through.

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Retired at age 55 and healthy. US health premiums 10 years ago for mid-50s retiree were sky high. Decided to self-insure in Mexico. And it's worked out ok for me.

But age 65 is knocking on my door and now it makes sense to return to the US for Medicare and an AARP supplement. I am still unsure whether that's the path I should take. Financially it makes sense, but moving back is a major upheaval. But may be better to do that now, rather than wait until I have a medical emergency down the road.

My younger sibling and some friends who had intended to follow me in early retirement to Mexico, have now decided to retire early in the US, thanks to the new Health Care Act which allows young retirees (even with pre-existing conditions) to get affordable health care in the US starting next year.

Investigate private health insurance in Mexico before you make a decision to move NOB. Don't wait, many companies have a cutoff age beyond which they won't take you. I got mine at age 63 and have been very pleased with it for almost 8 years now.

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Oh, on all the suggestions to look into IMSS, here is my thinking. I was relunctant on this because I didn't want to put Bernd through what I thought were longer waits, crowded situations, etc. And, I believe that his age precludes joining anyway.

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Retired at age 55 and healthy. US health premiums 10 years ago for mid-50s retiree were sky high. Decided to self-insure in Mexico. And it's worked out ok for me.

But age 65 is knocking on my door and now it makes sense to return to the US for Medicare and an AARP supplement. I am still unsure whether that's the path I should take. Financially it makes sense, but moving back is a major upheaval. But may be better to do that now, rather than wait until I have a medical emergency down the road.

My younger sibling and some friends who had intended to follow me in early retirement to Mexico, have now decided to retire early in the US, thanks to the new Health Care Act which allows young retirees (even with pre-existing conditions) to get affordable health care in the US starting next year.

Note that AARP is not the only place to get Medicare supplements - and you SHOULD consider other alternatives.

And the offerings under the Health Care Act ain't gonna be as "affordable" as everyone thinks. But that's off topic and political, so I should probably shut up about it.

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We've had no luck trying to find an insurer here willing to cover us for travel and cancellation insurance for return flights out of Mexico.

Problem? we're healthy, just "Too Old"

I've been told that anyone with an American Express card is automatically insured. Might be worthwhile looking into.

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