I live in a small town in Mexico. However, I have read that the town has the largest expat community in the world. All I know is the traffic is bad in the summer, worse in the winter, and relatively smooth between the two–when it’s mostly just us locals in town. Trying to get medical insurance and medical care, including emergency care, down here is an experience. I’m not going to repeat the basic information you can get on Chapala.com or the government sites covering Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) and Seguro Popular. Google ‘em. I’m going to relay my own experiences and introduce day-to-day reality into the discussion.
First of all, when I got here four years ago, I didn’t know that all private plans plus IMSS don’t insure people with pre-existing conditions, including diabetes and cardiovascular issues requiring medication. Therefore, many expats who come here to live are unable to purchase health insurance. Now, that’s not as scary as it sounds because anyone—including expats with a temporal or permanente card—can get Seguro Popular just by signing up. This is government-funded health insurance; many things such as doctor visits are free; other things such as hospitalization are very inexpensive (around 2K for a several-day stint, for instance). Also, medical care is nowhere near as expensive in Mexico as in the US, so many, many people are self-insured (doctor visits $30-$40, hospitalization $5-20K).
There is also flight insurance from Mexico, the Carribean, and South and Central America to the US or Canada for about $1000.00 US per year when I last checked, provided you buy in five-year blocks. Then you can rely on US medical insurance for emergencies, and pay regular medical expenses out-of-pocket in Mexico. Alternately, you can travel to the US for all medical care; most people visit the US at least annually to see the grandkids, anyway. Or you can compare prices and choose either Mexico or your home country each time you need hospitalization. Many options sound frightening, but really need not be. It is an adjustment, though, compared with the US or Canada.
Some other surprising and confusing differences: Let’s say you need to go to the hospital on an emergency basis. Not only are there different-priced hospitals, but there are also hospitals with different medical specialties. First, you have to go to the nearest 24-hour clinic, hope they’re actually open, get examined and then referred to an appropriate hospital, depending on your medical problem and your budget. After that, you have to arrange transportation to the hospital and arrange for a translator to accompany you—unless you’re fluent in Spanish. Also—you need to have $2500 pesos available in cash at all times; that is the cost of an ambulance ride. What if you’re unconscious, I was asked once. I don’t know; I’ll post more when I find out.
In addition, there are a couple of ambulance companies, and my understanding is that one of them has only one ambulance. This means that you need to store several emergency numbers in your phone. We supposedly have 911 service here, but I have read that it is not useful if you’re not fluent in Spanish. I have also seen an ad for a fee-based 911 service. It’s complicated.
I’m happy I didn’t know all this before I came; it might have scared me off. However, people who move here are adventurous and are attracted to the unknown. So, if this is you, come anyway and find out. Or not—there are already too many of us gringos here.
