# insurance



## nansper (Jun 27, 2014)

We are in our 70's and moving to the Ensenada area. Can anyone tell me where to find inexpensive health insurance and auto insurance? We plan to be there around Mid October. 
Thank you for your help


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## terrybahena (Oct 3, 2011)

Please take a look at these 2 forums...Talk Baja- which has become a facebook page, and BajaNomad. Both are forums for Baja Calif. I live a little south of Ensenada...auto insurance is very cheap, wherever you go. As for health insurance you may want to keep medicare (I assume you have only because you mentioned your ages) and then going to the doctor even without insurance is very very cheap. There is also Seguro Popular, however I am not sure of the requirements such as how long you have been here. Sorry to not be more help, but pls check those forums- I believe BajaNomad has a search function to look for subjects, as does this one.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Living that close to California USA, my suggestion is that you keep your Medicare/Supplemental in the USA and utilize it for serious illness. Local, Mexican physicians and pharmacies ought to be able to handle your other, routine needs. I don't know, however, how one keeps the Medicare when residing outside the USA or if Medicare requires a USA address for you. Here's a link to the Medicare website which may answer some of the questions, if you are interested in continuing that relationship: I'm outside the U.S. | Medicare.gov

Edit: I just checked the Medicare website and I doubt it will be of much help at your age. Others here, who may be in a similar situation and situated in Mexico close to the USA border may be able to answer. Best of luck.


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

The main thing is to keep Part B. If you don't, you'll have a hard time paying for treatment in the US if you should need it. It's possible to live outside the US and still keep Medicare, but only in rare circumstances can you use it without returning to the US.
Travel (when you need health care outside the U.S.) | Medicare.gov
Presuming you already have Social Security and Medicare, Part A is free and Part B premiums are deducted from your SS payments. I live in Mexico full time and am enrolled in Social Security and Medicare with my Mexico address. Each month my SS payment is deposited into my Mexican bank account, minus the Part B premium.


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## MJD13 (Aug 11, 2014)

Some thoughts for you from a fellow Medicare eligible ex-pat in northern Mexico. First of all, we have keep Medicare and use local doctors/dentists as needed and pay out of pocket. That's what most of the folks we know do although some have also enrolled in the Mexican IMSS and use that for care, too, as a sort of backup plan to Medicare in the States. For example, one friend has traveled to the States for a couple of knee replacements under Medicare but has had basel cell carcinoma removal handled locally.

We signed up for Humana's Medicare Advantage plan (Medicare Part C) which has a liberal emergency benefit if you are outside of the USA. That's why we chose it. They have a plan with zero additional premium so your out-of-pocket premium cost is confined to the standard Part B premium. We live in Mexico but give them a Seattle, WA mailing address. We live closest to the Arizona border and have signed up for an Arizona PPO type program. They aren't troubled by any of this. There has been no reason to inform them of our residing in Mexico and I would suggest that it's better to stay silent on that point. If we ever have to obtain big time emergency care in Mexico, we expect to pay out of pocket and to get reimbursed later by Humana after filing a claim. 
2. Many auto insurance plans for USA cars driven in Mexico have coverage for hospital expenses due to a car accident. It's worth reading the fine print.

Good luck!


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=nansper;4889273]We are in our 70's and moving to the Ensenada area. Can anyone tell me where to find inexpensive health insurance and auto insurance? We plan to be there around Mid October. 
Thank you for your help[/QUOTE]_

Sincé you are planning to live so close to the U.S. border, Medicare Parts A & B sound good for you, especially if you plan to seek treatment in San Diego County in an emergency. Also, finding good private health insurance in Mexico in your 70s from scratch might prove problematic to say the least. Look into the IMSS Mexican social security health care system or the Seguro Popular which is a health care program for the indigent who cannot afford even basic regular health care. Whether or not you use these services is up to you but I personally would avoid them both, especially Seguro Popular, like the plague. Some expats swear by them - to each his own. 

I am in my 70s as well and my wife is 68 and we are covered by excellent private health insurance by the major international company AXA with a $30,000 Peso deductible and unlimited health care benefits at the nation´s best hospitals under a non-cancelable policy but that is because we signed up for that health insurace program when I was 59 and my wife was 54. No way we could qualify for that coverage in our late 60s and early to mid 70s. 

Now, for those of you reading this who live further down in Mexico as do we at Lake Chapala and in the Chiapas Highlands near the Guatemala border, you will still be covered under Medicare Part "A" for free but I would cancel the fee based "B" if I were you. We cancelled "B" almost innediately upon becoming elligible for it since there is no way we are going to fly back to the U.S. if we become seriously ill and in urgent need for medical attention rather than handle any medical emergency here in either Guadalajara or Chiapas. In fact, the one time I became deathly ill in Chiapas and had the option to fly for free on the insurance company back to Guadalajara or Mexico City, no way was I going to die on that airplane so I had my operation in that flea bitten hospital in San Cristóbal de Las Casas and, luckily, survived it. My point is that when you are ill and need emergency aid or even an operation to survive,, the last thing you want to do is get on a plane for even Mexico City much less the United States.

Living in Ensenada that close to Metropolitan San Diego changes the game as you can get back into the U.S. so easily and quickly overland. 

As someone wrote earlier, normal, routine medical and dental care can be taken care of locally out-of-pocket and that is what most of us do day-to-day.


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