Health Insurance

You don't say how old you and your husband are.  We also go to Colombia for several months of the year.  In the States we are covered by Medicare.  When we go to Colombia, we always buy travel insurance for the period of time we are there.  If we need a doctor, medicine, or hospital we pay for it out of our own pocket, we keep all the receipts and get reimbursed from the travel insurance company when we return to the states.  The advantage of this is that we have the freedom to go to the best hospital, clinic, or doctor for our needs and are not stuck in a long waiting line in some clinic or hospital to get an appointment with a doctor that is not appropriate to our requirements.

We are 50 and 53. Not old enough for medicare. I am not worried about the small incidental medical care as it is very inexpensive. I am worried about a catastrophic injury or illness. The EPS will cover us in Colombia, The veterans administration will cover Mike but I am still at a loss for coverage outside of Colombia.

It is very hard to answer your questions as there is much about you and your husband that I do not know.  For example how good is your Spanish and how well are you connected to Colombia society.  If you ever have to fight with a Colombian insurance bureaucracy you better have the tools to do it. 

The first thing to do, if you are going to be running around in tropical areas where there is yellow fever, Malaria, Dengue Fever and many other diseases, is to make sure all of your tropical disease shots are up to date.  I would also make sure where I live has good window and door screens to keep out disease carrying mosquitoes and would put on mosquito repellent everywhere I go all the time.  The supermarkets have some pretty good roll on repellents that are easy to use.  There is a Malaria vaccine that gives some protection but I would probably take the daily protection pills.  Also make sure that all ice you use comes from a filtered system, sometimes you ask people and they do not tell the truth,  I remember once I became deathly ill from drinking a cold cocktail at a woman's house where she assured me the ice was from a filtered system, it was not.

I understand the Colombian medical system has been pushed close to the breaking point by the influx of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who are bringing in diseases that had been eliminated in most places years ago.  If I had a serious  disease there, I would be prepared to go to Medellin, Bogota, or Cali where there are better doctors and hospitals and you would likely have to pay out of your own pocket.  You definitely need to cultivate a close relationship with a good doctor to help in an emergency and you should buy the best travel insurance you can get for all of your additional travel, it might help in an emergency.

I appreciate your response. I am very well connected and have great resources and language skills. I also understand vaccines and and how to protect myself and have done so.

I need and asked for advice on travel insurance. I do appreciate your responses though.

Hello lbucho,

We are ex-pats living in Medellin and we also do a lot of traveling and researched travel insurance last year. This is what we came up with: Our driver/translator  ( who is rock-solid reliable and honest ) has an insurance agent he and his family have been with many years. She sells many different types of insurance including Assist Card which is our International Travel coverage. It covers us anywhere in the world, including trips to the US as long as your stay in the US is not more than 30 days in any one-time period.  We are covered for the whole year. You can customize your coverage but if you travel several times a year it makes more sense to get the years coverage. They had a 50% discount when we signed up so we are not sure how much it will go to at renewal. It is very good coverage for any travel emergencies including pre-existing conditions. Luckily we have not had to use it so we have no first-hand experience of how well the coverage is. Her name is  LILIANA PATRICIA CUBEROS R .
Insurance and retirement advisor
There is a web site for Assist Card as well but Liliana handles everything for you. If you send us a PM, private message, here we will be happy to provide any other info you need.
Cheers, John and Susan

Hi John and Susan,

Thank you so much! I will send a PM to you now.

Laura