Public health, hospitals for permanent residents, no health insurance?

Hi, the Health System in Australia is far much better, Quick prompt service, you will never get it here. Even in the Private sector, they still have loads to learn.

Now this is a very important topic. I normally live in the UK but will be soon moving to Mauritius for at least 6 months, or more if my wife agrees to join me. I got a health insurance quote for over 300 euros per month just for myself. That is insane money for someone who might want to retire to Mauritius. As a couple that would be half of what is required for a retirement visa! It might be cheaper to pay as required, or fly to SA or India or UK (national health service) for medical care. On the other hand, I am told that services in the private sector are not bad, and if I have to die of a heart attack, I might as well die in Paradise! We all have to go some time.

I've had a quote for health insurance in Mauritius (Allianz) and the cost is beyond our means.
Do expats generally use the free public health in Mauritius, even for hospitalisation? If so, what has been your experience? As a last resort we could return to Australia for treatment for cancer, but what about treatment needed where you can't fly, like after an accident or needing heart surgery?
-@bpotter620

Allianz is expensive.  You may want to get a quote from another provider.

Free public health is cheaper but a) you have to qualify and b) the quality of care is not uniform.  For a) I would suggest reading the expat guide on this site.  For b) there are procedures that the public health system will provide high quality care - my dad had a heart attack and the care - including hospitalization - was exemplary.  But there are other procedures that it would be best to either go the private route or go abroad. 

The issue here is that there are few really good specialists.  If you happen to get the correct specialist and the correct treatment, you would be ok.  As you can imagine, there are so many conditions that can only be diagnosed and treated by specialists that may not be in Mauritius.  For example, my son had a brain hemorrhage in the middle of the night- and he was in the ER after 20 mins, in an induced coma 1 hour after, and was in surgery (at Stanford in California) 2 hours after to stop the bleeding.  He had a couple of rough years of follow on surgeries but he made a full recovery.

In summary, you cannot compare the quality of care that you can get from a large developed country such as Australia with Mauritius.  You should be able to get decent care to treat conditions that are not considered emergency, life-threatening, and time sensitive.  If your condition cannot be treated locally and you cannot have access to alternate treatment facilities (i.e. cannot fly), you can consider the medical facilities as hospices.  I am not sure whether Mauritius allows end-of-life  treatment choices.  And yes, I had family members who died from complications from surgery performed in Mauritius - whereas in the US, the same surgery has an almost 100% survivability rate.

Free public health is cheaper but a) you have to qualify

It seems to be the case that all residents of Mauritius do qualify, but would that include those on special visas of one sort or another?

My understanding is that the application for these visas specifies the need for health insurance, at least initially.

@Hodmandod , I am not sure. I am Mauritian and this is why I am deferring to what is in the expat guide or to anyone who knows about eligibility.