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Mexican Health Care Suggestions


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Hola! 🇲🇽 New to Lakeside and MX, living here year-round. We want Health Insurance (age 64 & 61). Who do you recommend we talk with? What insurance companies do you suggest? IMSS? How about Clinics, hospitals, doctors, etc you'd recommend? I'd welcome bits and pieces of any help!  What would you do now if you we're Newbies like us? Thanks for your help, I tried searching the many topics on the Board without much success. 

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I would talk with/meet with Francisco Gutierrez; he does home, auto and health, speaks english and spanish and is honest and straightforward. uc?export=download&id=1pvLFFujKehIiNTQRzL_Y9aYRigetqORA&revid=0B6gVPNyys8FVZmdHMkFqcmxFZHV1MXhVeFFuZVlOR3VORHBnPQ
My husband and I have different health insurance companies due to pre existing conditions.
You will get a myriad of responses as each of us likes different things. Majority of us have catastrophic insurance which would cover the big stuff - accidents, cancer, etc, etc but not the day to day (sniffles) stuff.  Vumi, WEA, Met Life, GNP Seguros, Best Doctors, I believe, are the names that come up the most. You are likely looking at least $3,000 US per year which goes up  annually.

Each health insurance co, depending on the level of coverage, have a list of doctors and/or hospitals they prefer to deal with.
Find yourself a local doctor for the day to day stuff and have a good relationship with your insurance agent who can help you in a crisis.
We have both the Hospital San Antonio and Ajijic Hospital at the moment with Hospital Ribera opening sometime. There are some top quality hospitals in GDL with price tags to match. Several specialists come lakeside on a weekly basis and the good thing is you just call and make an appointment, you don't need a referral from your GP.
You want an MRI/CT/Xray all are available locally (with varying quality/price) but your doctor can set up an appointment for you (if in GDL) or tell you where to go locally; same goes for labs (lots to choose from).
IMSS doesn't exist any more and has a new name (can't remember) but that, I understand, is very specific you must go to a particular doctor and be referred to a particular service. Although it is much cheaper.
Pharmacies, if you have the time to shop around, they are as common as dentists and veterinarians.

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I second the recommendation of Bellon. We found that most insurers and policies covered the same things at very close to the same rates. So it really came down to which agents we thought would be responsive and helpful when we had a claim. However, please pay close attention to the policy exclusions. Many, many things are excluded for time periods of six months to two years. It's so bad that policies are arguably quite useless for the first year or so.

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On 8/27/2020 at 4:53 PM, WideSky said:

I would talk with/meet with Francisco Gutierrez; he does home, auto and health, speaks english and spanish and is honest and straightforward. uc?export=download&id=1pvLFFujKehIiNTQRzL_Y9aYRigetqORA&revid=0B6gVPNyys8FVZmdHMkFqcmxFZHV1MXhVeFFuZVlOR3VORHBnPQ
My husband and I have different health insurance companies due to pre existing conditions.
You will get a myriad of responses as each of us likes different things. Majority of us have catastrophic insurance which would cover the big stuff - accidents, cancer, etc, etc but not the day to day (sniffles) stuff.  Vumi, WEA, Met Life, GNP Seguros, Best Doctors, I believe, are the names that come up the most. You are likely looking at least $3,000 US per year which goes up  annually.

Each health insurance co, depending on the level of coverage, have a list of doctors and/or hospitals they prefer to deal with.
Find yourself a local doctor for the day to day stuff and have a good relationship with your insurance agent who can help you in a crisis.
We have both the Hospital San Antonio and Ajijic Hospital at the moment with Hospital Ribera opening sometime. There are some top quality hospitals in GDL with price tags to match. Several specialists come lakeside on a weekly basis and the good thing is you just call and make an appointment, you don't need a referral from your GP.
You want an MRI/CT/Xray all are available locally (with varying quality/price) but your doctor can set up an appointment for you (if in GDL) or tell you where to go locally; same goes for labs (lots to choose from).
IMSS doesn't exist any more and has a new name (can't remember) but that, I understand, is very specific you must go to a particular doctor and be referred to a particular service. Although it is much cheaper.
Pharmacies, if you have the time to shop around, they are as common as dentists and veterinarians.

Wide Sky, thanks for the detailed information!  

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On 8/27/2020 at 4:53 PM, WideSky said:

I would talk with/meet with Francisco Gutierrez; he does home, auto and health, speaks english and spanish and is honest and straightforward. uc?export=download&id=1pvLFFujKehIiNTQRzL_Y9aYRigetqORA&revid=0B6gVPNyys8FVZmdHMkFqcmxFZHV1MXhVeFFuZVlOR3VORHBnPQ
My husband and I have different health insurance companies due to pre existing conditions.
You will get a myriad of responses as each of us likes different things. Majority of us have catastrophic insurance which would cover the big stuff - accidents, cancer, etc, etc but not the day to day (sniffles) stuff.  Vumi, WEA, Met Life, GNP Seguros, Best Doctors, I believe, are the names that come up the most. You are likely looking at least $3,000 US per year which goes up  annually.

Each health insurance co, depending on the level of coverage, have a list of doctors and/or hospitals they prefer to deal with.
Find yourself a local doctor for the day to day stuff and have a good relationship with your insurance agent who can help you in a crisis.
We have both the Hospital San Antonio and Ajijic Hospital at the moment with Hospital Ribera opening sometime. There are some top quality hospitals in GDL with price tags to match. Several specialists come lakeside on a weekly basis and the good thing is you just call and make an appointment, you don't need a referral from your GP.
You want an MRI/CT/Xray all are available locally (with varying quality/price) but your doctor can set up an appointment for you (if in GDL) or tell you where to go locally; same goes for labs (lots to choose from).
IMSS doesn't exist any more and has a new name (can't remember) but that, I understand, is very specific you must go to a particular doctor and be referred to a particular service. Although it is much cheaper.
Pharmacies, if you have the time to shop around, they are as common as dentists and veterinarians.

ours with Bellon GNP is $2000 per year, 65 and 63.  We have the Bronze plan.  No "boutique" hospitals that are in the Blue plan.  But it includes Country 2000 and other very very good hospitals that are excellent and we have had great experience with them.  

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On 8/27/2020 at 4:53 PM, WideSky said:

I would talk with/meet with Francisco Gutierrez; he does home, auto and health, speaks english and spanish and is honest and straightforward. uc?export=download&id=1pvLFFujKehIiNTQRzL_Y9aYRigetqORA&revid=0B6gVPNyys8FVZmdHMkFqcmxFZHV1MXhVeFFuZVlOR3VORHBnPQ
My husband and I have different health insurance companies due to pre existing conditions.
You will get a myriad of responses as each of us likes different things. Majority of us have catastrophic insurance which would cover the big stuff - accidents, cancer, etc, etc but not the day to day (sniffles) stuff.  Vumi, WEA, Met Life, GNP Seguros, Best Doctors, I believe, are the names that come up the most. You are likely looking at least $3,000 US per year which goes up  annually.

Each health insurance co, depending on the level of coverage, have a list of doctors and/or hospitals they prefer to deal with.
Find yourself a local doctor for the day to day stuff and have a good relationship with your insurance agent who can help you in a crisis.
We have both the Hospital San Antonio and Ajijic Hospital at the moment with Hospital Ribera opening sometime. There are some top quality hospitals in GDL with price tags to match. Several specialists come lakeside on a weekly basis and the good thing is you just call and make an appointment, you don't need a referral from your GP.
You want an MRI/CT/Xray all are available locally (with varying quality/price) but your doctor can set up an appointment for you (if in GDL) or tell you where to go locally; same goes for labs (lots to choose from).
IMSS doesn't exist any more and has a new name (can't remember) but that, I understand, is very specific you must go to a particular doctor and be referred to a particular service. Although it is much cheaper.
Pharmacies, if you have the time to shop around, they are as common as dentists and veterinarians.

Wide Sky, thanks for the detailed information! 

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16 hours ago, Shag said:

ours with Bellon GNP is $2000 per year, 65 and 63.  We have the Bronze plan.  No "boutique" hospitals that are in the Blue plan.  But it includes Country 2000 and other very very good hospitals that are excellent and we have had great experience with them.  

Shag, thanks for sharing!! I'll ask Bellon about this type of a policy.  What are your deductibles? Is the $2000 EACH of you of as a couple?

We are fortunately in good health - no issues or meds - and the first quotes he gave me were $4946 and $6125 annual premiums for both of us, with deductibles of $2200 and $1400 respectively. They sounded high to me and that's why I came to this Forum to try and improve my brain power! LOL! 🌵🍺

 

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I've posted my opinion on this before. We came here from Canada where the cost medical was part of the income tax you paid and just went to docs hospitals without requiring further payment nor high insurance costs. I did due diligence in planning our move to here including med costs.I knew that would be our highest annual expense factoring in  all that that entails. Even though we have had some big med expenses over 14 years, surprisingly our med slush fund continues to grow. I liken med insurance industry to that house in Vegas that ALWAYS wins they make their huge profits by selling you something that you may not need for a long time and hope that you don't need them to pay out for you. Some sort of med insurance would have cost us waaaay more than our actual cash expenditures for All our med needs including drugs and dental.

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1 hour ago, happyjillin said:

I've posted my opinion on this before. We came here from Canada where the cost medical was part of the income tax you paid and just went to docs hospitals without requiring further payment nor high insurance costs. I did due diligence in planning our move to here including med costs.I knew that would be our highest annual expense factoring in  all that that entails. Even though we have had some big med expenses over 14 years, surprisingly our med slush fund continues to grow. I liken med insurance industry to that house in Vegas that ALWAYS wins they make their huge profits by selling you something that you may not need for a long time and hope that you don't need them to pay out for you. Some sort of med insurance would have cost us waaaay more than our actual cash expenditures for All our med needs including drugs and dental.

Just curious. Does your "med slush fund" include coverage for major cancer surprises?

 

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38 minutes ago, David77 said:

Just curious. Does your "med slush fund" include coverage for major cancer surprises?

 

Yup 'cause I ain't going through chimo or radiation just for a few months more and not have good quality of life in those few extra months. I have other issues that suggest my demise is neigh in any event, so I am attempting to have excellent quality of life with the time I have left.

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1 hour ago, David77 said:

Per Weexpat Insurance agents: Cutoff can be a high as 75

Are you referring to WEA insurance? If so, that is no longer available. This happened before when LCS offered a group plan, then the insurer pulled out and left a lot of people, many in their more senior years, scrambling to find a replacement. The only way to avoid this is to stick to Mexican insurers, which have to follow Mexican rules.

 

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4 hours ago, Jubilacion said:

Shag, thanks for sharing!! I'll ask Bellon about this type of a policy.  What are your deductibles? Is the $2000 EACH of you of as a couple?

We are fortunately in good health - no issues or meds - and the first quotes he gave me were $4946 and $6125 annual premiums for both of us, with deductibles of $2200 and $1400 respectively. They sounded high to me and that's why I came to this Forum to try and improve my brain power! LOL! 🌵🍺

 

Ok, yes he gave us the Azul plan at first.  We were not aware of the Ambar (bronze) plan so the next year we told him we just had to reduce the cost.  So explained that the middle class mexicans use Country 2000 and other good hospitals and you dont need the "boutique" hospitals.  So we switched.  Here is what we pay and we are 65 and 63, no pre existing conditions.

2020-2021 year     56,027.30 pesos  about 2,858.00 US  It went up $9000 pesos from last year.....We pay this year simi anually which is 5% more which is $2,801 pesos more about $142 US with the peso rate when we did this at 19.60.  So we paid 29,414.33pesos march 21st and september 21 we have to pay another 29,414.33pesos which is about $1,500US which another guy on here said was about $3,000US per year ( I was wrong about the only $2,000US)  So that $3000 is for us as a couple not each person.  

 

That amount you mentioned sound like the highest plan the Blue plan (Azul)  Actually we are thinking to go with the even cheaper plan next time.  He said we would not want it.  But we have learned with Country 2000 that when admitted you pay $2000 US down and can pay the bill out.  So that is $1000US cheaper than the deductable.  the deductable is $3000 per illness.  I dont know Im going to look into it because we are healthy.....who knows.  Well hope those figures helped.  It also covers illness and accidents that happen in the states.  

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2 hours ago, CHILLIN said:

Are you referring to WEA insurance? If so, that is no longer available. This happened before when LCS offered a group plan, then the insurer pulled out and left a lot of people, many in their more senior years, scrambling to find a replacement. The only way to avoid this is to stick to Mexican insurers, which have to follow Mexican rules.

 

WeExpats Insurance Solutions

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1 hour ago, David77 said:

WeExpats Insurance Solutions

Yes, thank you David, you are absolutely correct. weExpats is a broker specialising in expat policies. Also, I have been told that the WEA website has a lot on insider recommendations for alternate companies and coverage.

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