Canadians will know what I mean - our Medicare stops when you're out of Canada more than 6 months total in a calendar year. Yeah, it sucks. Single
trip insurance covering Mx and excluding the US costs from $180/month for those over 65. Plans including the US cost double of that. Here is a
good search engine for all these products: http://www.squaremouth.com. Ok, half-decent hospital in Hermosillo or something comparable in BCS will have to do, and it's closer than SD.
May be I'm getting paranoid after reading too much fine print - is somebody living in a trailer 8-9 months a year, coming there 2 or 3 times a year
for less than 6 months at a time, is he considered "ON A TRIP"? because if he is not, then the only alternative is annual "hospital plan" (not a
"travel insurance" or "single trip insurance"), and this costs from $6000 a year. Some "single trip" plans say you're covered when "traveling outside
home country". Home country is defined as the country where you have a fixed residence (I do) and some plans also say "where you receive a regular
mail" (still thinking what to do with that sh-t). Some plans say "...when on a trip to destination outside home country, the trip is mostly done by
common carriers, and another home is not a destination". Ok, trailer is not a "home", but where the heck I'm supposed to use common carriers for
several months after my plane landed in Loreto or La Paz?
Common sense tells me that anybody in Baja on FMT visa for 6 months at a time or less, who doesn't own any home, for all legal purposes is "on a
trip", but may be I'm wrong?
[Edited on 4-1-2012 by Alm]redmesa - 3-31-2012 at 07:24 PM
What is your question?
Canadian medical covers you out of the country for up to 6 months. It will pay equalivalent to Canadian cost wherever you get treated. The U.S.
medical is way more expensive than Canada or Mexico so extra travel insurance for the U. S. is always advised. If you are treated in a Mexican
hospital, keep all receipts translated to English and submit for reimbursement in Canada.Alm - 3-31-2012 at 08:17 PM
My question is - whether a "single trip insurance" with specified destination "Mexico" will cover me at all. Because (see above) the very definition
of "trip" is not always clear in such plans.
Another question that may be insurance professionals would know (there were some on the forum), is whether such a plan would cover me if an evacuation
from to BCS to SD takes place because SD is "the closest adequate facility" and evacuation clause is included in the plan. Once again, trip
destination is Mx, sickness occurs in Mx, but the closest adequate treatment facility happens to be in SD.
Quote:
Canadian medical covers you out of the country for up to 6 months. It will pay equalivalent to Canadian cost wherever you get treated.
It pays equivalent of Canadian provincial plan only if you are treated in another province of Canada. I read that outside Canada our Medicare covers
only $80 per day of hospitalization. And again, you are NOT covered at all, when you spend more than 6 months in a calendar year outside
Canada, even if each period of absence is less than 6 months. You have to re-apply for Canadian Medicare upon return to Canada and wait 2.5 months.
You might not get caught when you've hurriedly return to Canada to receive a treatment after spending 9 months in MX, they might not realize that
you're not eligible, as long as you maintain Canadian address and file taxes every year. But when bill is from Mx, they will sure check how long
you've been out of the country.
[Edited on 4-1-2012 by Alm]bajaguy - 3-31-2012 at 08:34 PM
Fly back to Canada every 5 months, stay a week, buy something, save the receipt to prove you were in Canada, fly back to MexicoAlm - 3-31-2012 at 08:41 PM
Bajaguy - I wish it were that simple. I've edited/clarified at the same time when you answered. It's 6 months TOTAL absence, in a calendar year.
From local Medicare: "Residents who spend part of every year outside B.C. must be physically present in Canada at least six months in a calendar year
and continue to maintain their home in B.C. in order to retain coverage."
B.C. is British Columbia.windgrrl - 3-31-2012 at 09:02 PM
Although Canadian public health care is partially federally funded, it is a provincially administred program which results in benefits varying from
province to province. Each province has eliginility requirements, e.g., Ontario: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/ohip/trav...
[Edited on 4-1-2012 by windgrrl]Alm - 3-31-2012 at 10:32 PM
In BC it's max 6 months absence in calendar year. Rules of other provinces are very similar - max 7 months absence in Ontario, for example. Longer
absence is allowed as an exception, in BC it's once in 5 years. Federal advice on getting a "supplemental" health insurance while abroad is a good
one
As if $75 a day paid by Canadian plan makes any difference at all. Hospital stay in US can be over $750 a day, on top of professionals charges.
Anyway, my goal was not to discuss Canadian healthcare. Getting private insurance is exactly what I'm planning. I just need to find out whether
a) Single trip insurance will work when the "trip" is basically stay in one place, and
b) Whether a single trip insurance that says "Destination - Mx, excluding the US, emergency medical up to $$$, emergency evacuation up to $$$" will
cover treatment in SD. Because SD might be the closest "appropriate facility" where they would evacuate me. Not likely to happen, because there is a
whole bunch of private hospitals in BCS and Sonora, all are closer than SD and some are quite modern, but who knows...
