JP mentioned that he thought this forum needed more information about health insurance in Ecuador. There are international plans available, and you can click one of the ads on this website to see extactly how expensive they are. It seems that most run $400 plus a month. As you know, Medicare is not good in Ecuador. Many expats here do have insurance coverage from their home country that provides coverage for medical care here. I know my insurance carrier GEHA pays out of country coverage and some Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans also pay here, and I am sure there are others that I am not aware of.
Medical care here is definitely cheap by US standards, but it can mount up to be a sizeable amount. Case in point--my daughter-in-law was visiting me this summer when she had an accident in a local spa and received 2nd and 3rd degree burns to her lower leg. Thank goodness her Blue Cross/Blue Shield offered out of country coverage. I don't know if you all know, but businesses here have virtually no personal liability for anything that happens on their premises whether it is because of neglect or not, ie, a bus on the road to Cotacachi was going too fast and missed a curve a few months ago killing several people and hospitalizing 40 others, yet the company had no responsibility to these people. I been told that things are changing alittle in that regard, but it is a very slow process. Anyway, my daughter-in-law was in the hospital on 3 occassions, had to have the wounds cleaned every other day, and had a skin graft. The entire cost of her treatment was just at $6500 which is a real bargain, but we had to pay the full amount each time she was in the hospital. One time the business office was closed, so we couldn't pay, but they refused to let her leave unless they kept her passport. By US standards that was really cheap, but a lot of people might not have the $6500 cash.
As I have mentioned before, the free medical care here is not top notch. A mason that works for me had his appendix rupture in March. His wife took him to the free hospital where she was told that he would be dead in an hour, and there was nothing they could do. She took him to the private hospital where they were able to save his life, but it cost $3000, which the family was able to scour up. Most of the working folks I have spoken to only use the free care for minor things vaccinations, well baby care, ob care, etc. If something more serious comes up, they go to the private doctors and pay the $20-$40 a visit.
I think there are 3 major health insurance companies here in Ecuador; there are a couple of others, but rumor has it that they don't honor their committment to pay.
The three that I know of are:
Salud, SA
Humana, SA
Ecuasanitas
The only one of these three that has doctors anywhere close to where I am is Ecuasanitas. If you are in the major cities, they all appear to have doctors there. Also, some of the major hospitals, ie, the Metropolitan Hospital in Quito have their own plans, but you have to go to that hospital and to their doctors. It appears that they consider people over 65 to be high risk, so they do not want to insure them.
I just received a message from another blog that an active contributor who lives in Vilcabamba has had a health crisis--seizures, stroke and aneurism and was in a coma in a Quito hospital. I know from his contributions that he has medical insurance from the US that pays out of country. The expense getting from Vilcabamba in far southern Ecuador to a hospital in Quito in northern Ecuador for a medical emergency was probably significant by Ecuadorian standards.
As JP points out, these medical emergencies can happen out of the blue with no precursors. The emergency might only cost $20,000 in Ecuador when it costs $200,000 in the US, but if you don't have the $20,000????
I think all those insurance companies have websites, so check it out.
Carol
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