# Health Care costs - roughly speaking



## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

I am re-thinking our current healthcare coverage, which is IMSS and out of pocket.

I have lost all faith in IMSS as viable care. We simply cannot continue thinking that because we routinely visit our clinica that we are being healthcare responsible. For example, perhaps twice a year I get lab work done at IMSS. At the same time I have lab work done at a local top-notch lab. Often the results are different enough to cause me to wonder if perhaps my samples are being mixed with another patient. My doctura at IMSS does not know how to properly take my blood pressure. Now that IMSS is IMSS+SP the crowds/lines are even more ridiculous. 

IMSS is cheap enough that we will probably maintain it as a worst case sort of thing, but maybe we will just pay our annual fees and throw the books in a drawer. Having said that, our IMSS insurance has increased in cost something over 300% in the last six years.

Am I correct that if we lived in the US as a retired couple in their 60s we might expect our health insurance to cost something in the area of $20,000/yr with a deductible around $6,000 ? We never had to sign up for Obamacare...

We will get some quotes but can anyone volunteer what we might expect to pay for private health insurance here in Mexico which would be more or less equivalent with what is termed 'bronze' level coverage in the US ? Might it be 30% of US costs ? We have to decide if we want to pay an insurance company that sort of amount, or open our own 'healthcare' bank account into which we throw a similar amount. (That is the approach we took with our home owner/windstorm insurance in the US and over the years it really added up (we never had to tap into it).


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## Jreboll (Nov 23, 2013)

I take it you don’t have Medicare. Regardless you have to be proactive with your health care. Take your own blood sugar and blood pressure. Keep records of all your lab work so you can identify variances. Retake lab work if it doesn’t seem right. It’s done in US hospitals if results don’t seem right. There are free clinics in many US cities. Drop in on them and get checked out once in a while. Hospitals in US are very expensive look around in Mexico to see who provides quality care for the services you might need. Join expat forums specific to the area you live in and many share their experiences. A healthcare bank account is a very good idea.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

A healthcare bank account is a good idea until you have something really serious and then chances are that you will run out of money but if you do not have any other options go for it..
Yes IMSS and Seguro popular vary widely in quality depending on where you are . I guess you can take over the little stuff yourself and have them for big surgery, cancer treatment etc,, or go for the bhealth bank account and prey you will not have something that requires a long and expensive treatment.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

IMSS and Seguro Popular are seperate and will remain that way. AMLO announced that it is not feasible to change that to one system about a month ago in his National Health Plan. IMSS and Seguro Popular had their budget cut by up to 30 percent in 2019 and lost many Dr.s, lab personel and nurses with others like cleaning staff and administrators and promised medicines [40 percent purchased instead of the same amount in 2017] and equipment so both are in turmoil. The 2020 budget is now being debated in congress as it is even more dismal for many Mexican institutes and social programs including public security. Congress missed the Nov. 15th. deadline to pass the budget and the Antitoche farmers union blocked the entrance to the congress building this week because farm aid was only going to go the the smallest farms now not to all farms as before so they hired busses to take them to the Santa Fe convention center to hold budget debates and outside are hundreds of police. It is very ugly now. Morena Senators and congress electees are fighting for their state budget to not be cut drastrically along side of the others from non Morena elected states. Lots of yelling and attacking going on in every session.


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

Like another leader AMLO is killing the country. IMSS is falling apart. Not enough Drs., shortage of critical medicines and more. Yet I read yesterday that AMLO is going to build a bunch of new hospitals. How is he going to do this with all the budget cuts? To the OP: have you looked into expat insurance? Just do a google and you will see all kinds of results. I would never recommend health insurance from a Mexican provider. Don't be fooled by a US name. Met life and the others are horrible. Many Hospitals do not accept that insurance. You pay up front and then fight to be reimbursed. I do not have that coverage but I did do some research on the expat insurance. Not cheap but some very good policies. Most allow you to build your own coverage


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

We will probably start our health insurance investigation with AXA. We already insure our cars and house with them and we get a discount of some sort. My favorite place to go when I need medical attention is the Red Cross Clinic. It is a beautiful facility and normally isn't very crowded. It was rebuilt after the 2017 earthquake. I have no issues at all with the care they provide and as they charge 100 pesos up front (plus supplies used) it keeps down some on the street traffic. The clinic is next to a nice looking hospital but I'm not sure the two are related. I'd love it if you could strike a deal with a place to provide its own private insurance. Short of that we will ask them which insurance companies they work well with.

All my life I have spoken out when I see something that is just wrong, but here in Mexico I don't know where to begin. I have (or maybe had) high BP and IMSS wants me to show up for my 200 pesos worth of medicine and have my BP taken every month. That is such a waste of their time and mine. There is no reason why they couldn't give me several months of meds and see me less often. Last visit the doctura didn't even take my BP... My wife has a mild case of glaucoma. Her IMSS specialist wants to see her every six months and wrote the eye drop prescription so that she gets 60 days worth. We both have the same family doctor, and we always go together, but they refuse to give us appts on the same day. Crazy.

Totally unrelated - we have to go for vehicle inspection every 6 months (we have 2 cars, but they go in different months). They check the exhaust. Every visit the fee keeps inching up - currently 550 pesos. With an appointment it will take about an hour to get through, but they only have a small window (like the first week of the month) where you can get an appt. Otherwise, you need to dedicate just about an entire day waiting on a line that looks like the NY State Thruway during Woodstock. It is just a money grab. I don't think they ever fail any cars. There is no reason those inspections couldn't be annual - but then they wouldn't pull in as much money.


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

Is Axa a Mexican Company? I would never buy their insurance. Insurance in Mexico is different. They do their damnest to never pay. Or take forever. That is why many private facilities do not accept insurance


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

AXA is a huge international company , it is a French corporation and one of the very large insurrance company. It gets pretty pricey as you get older.. make sure you get the policy they cannot cancel. We have had AXA since 2001 for major medical we pay for the rest. 

In Chiapas Seguro popular and IMSS are using the same hospitals, ISSTE is separate. and I sure would not want to go to any of them.
We pay the premium is dollars (US)


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

I tried to get into ISSTE. Not possible unless I work for the Government!


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## Cristóbal1 (Jan 5, 2020)

citlali said:


> AXA is a huge international company , it is a French corporation and one of the very large insurrance company. It gets pretty pricey as you get older.. make sure you get the policy they cannot cancel. We have had AXA since 2001 for major medical we pay for the rest.
> 
> In Chiapas Seguro popular and IMSS are using the same hospitals, ISSTE is separate. and I sure would not want to go to any of them.
> We pay the premium is dollars (US)


Yes it does get pricey as you age. Hopefully it won't price us out of the market. Besides age, receiving treatment for an ailment will also bring a spike in the premium. I had back surgery in Guadalajara in early 2019 and our premium took a major hit when it was time to renew. We can still afford to pay and wouldn't want to be without it but worry if it will still be affordable down the road.


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