# Early retirement - health care



## Stephen100% (May 30, 2018)

Hi, my wife and I are taking early retirement in July and moving from the U.K. to Cyprus. I am 58 and my wife is 62. We have owned a house in Cyprus for 12 years. I am trying to understand what the health care situation will be for us both. Can anyone advise ? Many thanks


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

You will have to take out Health Insurance until one of you is in receipt of the UK state pension, in your case this will obviously be your wife (very brave of you though to declare her age :bolt.
The most basic which covers Immigration requirements costs around €175/person/year after that the sky's the limit.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Hi Stephen,

The period of time you have owned a house here is irrelevant to the subject of healthcare. 

Unless either of you plan to work or set up as self employed (and therefore pay into the Social Fund, which is the equivalent of our National Insurance Contirbutions in UK), you will need private medical insurance at least until your wife is 66 (or whenever she is in receipt of a UK State pension). Once your wife receives a UK State pension, you would *both* be eligible to Cypriot healthcare the costs of which, if used, being met by the UK. This, of course, is dependant upon *no change* in current policy as a result of Brexit, which most Expats here believe will be the case.

Private medical insurance is widely available, but not cheap. We pay €3,600 annually for ours, although the are cheaper policies available.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

David_&_Letitia said:


> Hi Stephen,
> 
> This, of course, is dependant upon *no change* in current policy as a result of Brexit, which most Expats here believe will be the case.


There was an article in the Cyprus mail a couple of days ago that the UK and Cyprus have agreed that things will stay the same for UK expats in Cyprus.


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## Stephen100% (May 30, 2018)

JonandGaynor said:


> You will have to take out Health Insurance until one of you is in receipt of the UK state pension, in your case this will obviously be your wife (very brave of you though to declare her age
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for your help. It is much as I expected and I have looked a a few options of Health insurance that offer a basic “tick the box” option as well as more comprehensive options - I have been looking at Abbeygate as they can exlude pre existing conditions 

Many thanks for your help
Stephen


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

Stephen100% said:


> I have been looking at Abbeygate as they can exlude pre existing conditions


I trust you mean include !!!

Pete


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## Lewism1 (Jun 6, 2018)

*Question*

Jon and gaynor, healthcare for €175 euros, are you able to share which company?


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

Trust, who have offices in most towns, supply this policy; although i believe most insurance companies offer similar cover. I think its called Immigration and Foreign Nationals Health Policy. In fact it was our local Immigration Office who told us about it when we applied for our MEU1.


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

David_&_Letitia said:


> Hi Stephen,
> 
> The period of time you have owned a house here is irrelevant to the subject of healthcare.
> 
> ...


Be careful regards private health care. Most of the policies are worthless. I have just had a claim rejected because or pre-existing. Cyprus health care insurance treats 'pre-existing' differently to the rest of the world. For example, if you have a heart attack and they find the cause is blocked arteries, they will claim that the cause started before you began your health care insurance.

My wife has just had a trapezioctomy (thumb operation because of osteoarthritis in her joint). The symptoms were not evident until the second year of insurance cover but the insurance company will not pay out because they claim it is pre- existing, even though there were no symptoms and it had not been diagnosed before we started the policy. I am about to start legal action against this company although my expectation for a successful outcome is v low. 

Be very very careful.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Cliveann said:


> Be careful regards private health care. Most of the policies are worthless. I have just had a claim rejected because or pre-existing. Cyprus health care insurance treats 'pre-existing' differently to the rest of the world. For example, if you have a heart attack and they find the cause is blocked arteries, they will claim that the cause started before you began your health care insurance.
> 
> My wife has just had a trapezioctomy (thumb operation because of osteoarthritis in her joint). The symptoms were not evident until the second year of insurance cover but the insurance company will not pay out because they claim it is pre- existing, even though there were no symptoms and it had not been diagnosed before we started the policy. I am about to start legal action against this company although my expectation for a successful outcome is v low.
> 
> Be very very careful.


Thank you for the warning, which I am sure is given in good faith. There is little doubt in my mind that if an insurance company is able to legally avoid paying out, they will. The terms ‘Shysters’ and ‘Crooks’ come readily to mind. Some companies are better than others, however, but I always advise against the health insurance policies which cost just €175 which may be Immigration compliant but are of little use in my opinion for much else. We were offered such a policy when we first came over and we didn’t even need a medical to establish our current state of health as a risk to the insurers! That in itself must indicate the value of such a policy.

The policies we went for required us both to have a complete medical check up including x rays, blood tests etc. We also had a long question and answer session with a consultant about our medical history. For me, the medical revealed conditions which I was unaware of which the insurers refused to cover and also conditions which they agreed to cover with an increased premium due to the increased risk they were taking on. Our policies categorically state that in the event of any future dispute, the initial medical report will be used to assess any pre-existing conditions. 

I have heard of the example you gave of blocked arteries being quoted as a pre-existing condition which precluded a claim after a heart attack. However, I believe that the policy wording in that particular case was that “pre-existing conditions *whether known or unknown* would not be covered” which was the outrageous get out clause for that particular company. Your advice is sound that we should all be very, very careful when taking out health insurance. I am sorry to hear of your particular troubles and wish you well in your battle with your insurers.

Letitia and I have each claimed on our respective policies for hospital in-patient treatment, and there was no problem with our insurers paying out, although they increased our premiums for a period of 5 years as a result effectively paying the company back what they paid out to the hospitals!


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

Your last sentence sums up the current situation in Cyprus. This morning I received a call from the insurer trying to explain pre-existing. I pointed out that we had no knowledge, nor was it diagnosed and further it was not picked up at the initial medical we had to undertake by the insurance company. Any condition, short of an accident, can be explained away as pre-existing because we start deteriorating from birth! I wanted to warn expats about this policy but I am not sure what the best online mechanism is to achieve this.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Cliveann said:


> I wanted to warn expats about this policy but I am not sure what the best online mechanism is to achieve this.


Can you name the company in question?


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

Not yet as I am seeking legal representation too challenge their decision.


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

David_&_Letitia said:


> Thank you for the warning, which I am sure is given in good faith. There is little doubt in my mind that if an insurance company is able to legally avoid paying out, they will. The terms ‘Shysters’ and ‘Crooks’ come readily to mind. Some companies are better than others, however, but I always advise against the health insurance policies which cost just €175 which may be Immigration compliant but are of little use in my opinion for much else. We were offered such a policy when we first came over and we didn’t even need a medical to establish our current state of health as a risk to the insurers! That in itself must indicate the value of such a policy.
> 
> The policies we went for required us both to have a complete medical check up including x rays, blood tests etc. We also had a long question and answer session with a consultant about our medical history. For me, the medical revealed conditions which I was unaware of which the insurers refused to cover and also conditions which they agreed to cover with an increased premium due to the increased risk they were taking on. Our policies categorically state that in the event of any future dispute, the initial medical report will be used to assess any pre-existing conditions.
> 
> ...


I've made two claims on my cheap and not to be trusted policy, both were paid out promptly with no questions, just renewed and no premium increases nor exclusions of the reason for my claims.


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

Ji Jon,

I am also from Wales originally!

Back to the issue of medical insurance value. Ours was reasonably expensive and we had pre-policy medicals. Their clause is as follows "pre-existing condition includes any treatment of any medical condition which the member already had when he or she joined and which the subscriber should have told us about but did not tell us at all or did not tell us everything unless we had agreed otherwise in writing that there was no need for you to tell us. This includes any physical defect or medical condition or symptoms whether or not being treated and any previous medical condition which recurs or which the member should reasonably have known about even if he or she has not consulted a medical practitioner."

Gobbledegook or what! I pointed out that in my wife's case that she had no symptoms prior to an accident even though it must have been present (osteoarthritis). They really are notorious this mob. They are associated with AXA PPP in UK and my next steps are:

1. Request that my premiums are repaid for the past two years.
2. Take on legal representation to challenge the decision.
3. Seek compensation for the stress and upset it has caused our family.
4. Payment for all travel, administration and legal costs.

Will I win - mmm but they are going to get a scare and hopefully lose business amongst the expat community.


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

Who are you insured with please?


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

We have two insurance policies.
An expensive one with Ethniki General Insurance Cyprus Ltd which covers us for multi million euro inpatient treatment, holiday cover abroad and a few other benefits and a cheap one from Anytime Insurance arranged through Trust Insurance Ltd, as recommended by Immigration; although this also covers inpatient treatment to a limited amount we just use this for minor outpatient claims. The reason being it was cheaper to do it this way than have outpatient cover with Ethniki.


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## Cliveann (Aug 13, 2013)

Thank you.


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