# Expats retired from Canadian Gov/Military/RCMP? PSHCP Healthcare coverage.



## realfortin (Sep 26, 2014)

Hi, if anyone is a former CANADIAN Federal government employee - including military - and is bringing their private insurance plan (PSHCP) with them to Mexico, I would love to hear from you on what options you looked at for supplementary coverage or even if you ditched PSHCP. 
I'm retiring from the military after 28 plus years this year and we are moving to Mexico shortly thereafter, hopefully full time.

I know that the PSHCP plan for out-of-country is switched over﻿ to a company called All﻿ianz Glob﻿a﻿l. ﻿﻿﻿It then covers only out-of hospital expenses, ie anything done at a clinic. Nothing at a hospital is covered except the actual bed. Any surgeries, prescriptions or services in the hospital aren't covered. This seems really dumb at first glance and doesn't justify the expense since you will have to get coverage for any accidents or major illness. 

What options did you look at? Was it worth keeping PSHCP and just supplementing with more coverage? Did yuou just opt out of PSHCP and get other private coverage? 
Are you a year round expat or just a snowbird?

Also, the dental seems like a good option at first glance. 

Thanks in advance for any info you may provide, I hope you are all enjoying your retirement away from all of this snow! 

RF


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## HolyMole (Jan 3, 2009)

realfortin said:


> Hi, if anyone is a former CANADIAN Federal government employee - including military - and is bringing their private insurance plan (PSHCP) with them to Mexico, I would love to hear from you on what options you looked at for supplementary coverage or even if you ditched PSHCP.
> I'm retiring from the military after 28 plus years this year and we are moving to Mexico shortly thereafter, hopefully full time.
> 
> I know that the PSHCP plan for out-of-country is switched over﻿ to a company called All﻿ianz Glob﻿a﻿l. ﻿﻿﻿It then covers only out-of hospital expenses, ie anything done at a clinic. Nothing at a hospital is covered except the actual bed. Any surgeries, prescriptions or services in the hospital aren't covered. This seems really dumb at first glance and doesn't justify the expense since you will have to get coverage for any accidents or major illness.
> ...


That's an interesting personal snapshot, amigo: a Canadian expat in Ecuador, located in Hawaii, moving to Mexico!
When I retired from the Federal government in 2006, we were thinking of moving permanently to Mexico, so, at the time, I looked into the Public Service HealthCare Plan's supplementary coverage, (or is it the Comprehensive coverage?). Whatever, I think it covers more than you have indicated, but the Plan documents are needlessly complicated, so it's almost impossible to know exactly what's covered and what isn't. I offered several scenarios to the Plan people.....common or garden variety things like "What if I break my leg in Mexico and require surgery?".......but could never get a comprehensible answer. Once, I was told "Oh, you'll probably have similar coverage to what you would have had in Canada....", which was no help at all.
In frustration, and knowing there must be hundreds of Canadian retirees in Mexico who are either ex-civil servants/RCMP or armed forces, I posted your very questions on this forum.....and got no responses, as far as I can recall.
I always thought that the Federal Superannuates (now the National Association of Federal Retirees) would be the one organization who should be able to provide members with a clear understanding, in layman's terms, of PSHCP coverage, both for those continuing to reside in Canada as well as ex-pats.
I never joined the Federal Superannuates, but would have pursued that avenue, had we decided to move permanently. 
As it was, we discovered we could afford to spend half the year in Mexico and the other half at home in the Okanagan....the best of both worlds, we figured......, so that's what we did for 11 or 12 years. Recently, health concerns dictate that we limit our Mexican trips to the maximum "40 days outside our home province" that the PSHCP covers. This year, we spent 40 days in Zihuatanejo, flew home for 6 days in February, then flew back to Zihua for another 40 days. Ah, the joys of growing older!
Good luck with your research.


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