BajaNomad

Medical Insurance for Canadians in Baja

Marie-Rose - 1-7-2007 at 09:18 AM

2007 finds us in the enviable situation of spending more than 4 months (not necessarily consecutive days in a row ...and my stay will probably more like 5 or 6 months) in Baja. Just wondering if there are any Canadains in the same position... what do you do for medical insurance? We are finding our old policy quite expensive. Any suggestions?

BigWooo - 1-8-2007 at 11:33 AM

I don't know if any of these links will help, as I don't know how the Canadian insurance system works, but my wife and I have been researching international insurance for after we retire. Below are links to some international insurance agencies we've been looking at. Maybe there is a policy somewhere in this list that will be useful to you.

http://www.specialtyrisk.com/worldwide_health.htm

http://www.internationalcitizens.com/international_health_pl...

http://www.hthworldwide.com/

http://www.mnui.com/index.asp

http://www.allnation.com/products/goldandsilver.htm

baja829 - 1-8-2007 at 01:29 PM

I don't know about any Canadian medical insurance, but for a little over $200 per year, you can have full Mexican Social Security coverage. You need to apply in Mexicali or TJ, or other large city. They will provide you with a medical book and you can get your medicines free and all Dr. and emergency visits. It is socialized medicine and it does work.

Riom - 1-8-2007 at 04:33 PM

Does anybody (ideally non-American) currently use any of these expat policies? I've been looking into them also, for when I move more full-time to San Felipe (or maybe eslewhere in MX) in the next few years. It would need to cover lengthy trips to the US/Canada (so the Mexican state system is not suitable, by itself).

One key problem I noticed with some of the expat policies was that the ones I looked at could be cancelled by the company at any renewal, for any reason (or no reason). So if something happens that might become long term, they can just drop you.

To get back to Marie-Rose's problem at the beginning of this (which is much shorter term), have you had quotes for single trip travel insurance from more companies? They do vary widely, as do the maximum trip lengths. For those under 60, worldnomads.com has some flexible deals for example.

There is of course a big difference between international medical insurance and travel insurance - the latter will try to send you "home" to be treated, when it saves them money, rather than letting you sort things out locally and continue your trip/stay.

Bob H - 1-8-2007 at 05:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by baja829
I don't know about any Canadian medical insurance, but for a little over $200 per year, you can have full Mexican Social Security coverage. You need to apply in Mexicali or TJ, or other large city. They will provide you with a medical book and you can get your medicines free and all Dr. and emergency visits. It is socialized medicine and it does work.


I think this is their web site, but it's all in Spanish.
http://www.imss.gob.mx/imss

Bob H

Marie-Rose - 1-8-2007 at 08:15 PM

Thanks everyone. After doing my research I ended up going with the same company (Blue Cross) that holds our company extended health policy. Apparently there is "small print" on all insurance policies that say that if you hold an extended health they will use that before paying out anything!! Cost us just over $500 for a years policy, multiple trips under 30 days allowed and then we paid extra for the days over 30 for this long spell.
It woiuldl be interesting to explore the Mexican health policy if one was staying over 6 mts. I know that we actually visited a very good physician in TS and the cost was so minimal we never claimed for it on our extended health.