https://koltin.mx

Again, I am not related to them in any way, shape or form.

Another option is to talk to an insurance agent. I am happy to refer you to one.

Medical facilities are not great in zihuatanejo, but there are great facilities in bigger cities.

I remember as a 20 year old a friend who, like me, was single with no dependents buying life insurance. I commented that it seemed to me like betting that you’re going to die. If you don’t die, you lose. The only way to win is by dying.

Insurance: The Necessary Evil

You are correct in one sense. With all insurance, you are betting that some peril will befall you. However, it is bet that you hope you lose. You don't want a fire to consume your house. You don't want to have your car totaled in an accident. You don't want to have serious health problems. You don't want to die prematurely. Yet, these things do happen. That is why we buy the insurance. We buy the insurance in case one of these perils befalls us. But in a very real sense, if we don't have to use the insurance, we win. Why? Yes, we are out the insurance premium. But we don't have to suffer the loss of our home, our car, our health, or our life (prematurely).

Having said that, are insurance companies not-for-profit entities? Hell, no! How do you know an insurance company is making money? Their doors are open. Some people choose to self-insure. This appears to be a viable alternative with regard to health insurance in Mexico. However, I do like the idea of investigating the catastrophic life flight insurance.

In the case of the 20 year old buying life insurance. Assuming this person did not have children or others that depended upon him or her for their financial wellbeing, the odds are that a life insurance agent convinced this person that buying life insurance was a good long-term investment. LIAR! A 20 year old person without dependents does not need life insurance, period. But we insurance agents do need to make our boat payments so we will sell someone a whole life policy, cash value life policy, universal life policy, variable life policy, ordinary life policy, straight life policy, etc. even if the client has no need whatsoever for life insurance. Notice the long list of different names for these accused policies? That is because once consumers get hip to how they are being screwed, the industry changes the name. The new name is permanent life insurance. (My apologies. I get a bit hot under the collar when I think about the injustices our industry metes out upon the population.)

Look, if you have a spouse or children who depend upon you for their financial wellbeing, there is a very high probability that you should have life insurance. Research term life insurance. It is cheap and will give you enough life insurance in the sad event that you die prematurely. But again, if after 20 years and the kids are grown and your spouse could survive on your own and the term life runs and you didn't die, congratulations! You lost the best against yourself but you are still alive.

Again, my apologies. I can talk about finance and investments far longer than any reasonable person would ever want to listen.

Check out chapter 10 on Life Insurance from our Principles of Money Management class at https://wonderprofessor.com/121

Thank you for reading.

Tim's example is a good one. Ambulances here are to get you quickly to a hospital/clinic so you can be treated. They are not paramedics, more of delivery service. Something to be aware of if you choose to live here.

In the event of an emergency I’m wondering if this type of amazing care is available in Zihuatanejo?

Insurance??? Pay cash, take care of yourself. Go to a private clinic/hospital and get amazing care.

I’m Canadian and in my experience, Canadians like certainty.

Defined benefit pension plan? Count me in.
Government medical services plan? Yes please.
I have had $5,000,000 third-party liability car insurance since it became available and $3M when that was the limit.

Insurance provides a level of certainty.

When it comes to medical insurance for Mexico I get a weird diversion. I start thinking of gambling

If an insurance company wants $1k/year for a $50k medical transfer policy I have to figure out how much I want to bet against myself. I would be betting there is a one in fifty chance that I will need to be medically transferred. I have no way of knowing what the odds are.

I’m not a gambler. But if I were, I wouldn’t want to gamble where the house knew the odds and I didn’t.

I remember as a 20 year old a friend who, like me, was single with no dependents buying life insurance. I commented that it seemed to me like betting that you’re going to die. If you don’t die, you lose. The only way to win is by dying.

I wish I knew the odds of needing medical evacuation. In the meantime, I’m reluctant to bet against the house when it knows the odds and I don’t.

This does remind me though that I need to find a lawyer in Zihuatanejo who can be my legal representative in the event that I become incapacitated.

I can’t recall what I was quoted when I briefly checked a few companies a few years ago, but it was six figures.

Lots to think about. I have Skymed for evacuation if needed I believe at the rate I locked in about 7 yrs ago it’s about $350 USD per year for a single person. they have many more expensive plans. They usually do a promotional tour in the Zihua area in late November.

I will be in the area in November and early December. If SkyMed is doing some promotion then I hope I’ll hear about it.

At least for us, air evacuation makes no sense. Where would be evacuated to? Could we possibly afford medical care in the US? Then what? We live here....

IN 2018 I was having chest pains in Zihua and ended up at the Star Medicina hospital in Queretaro it was a state of the art facility with prices expensive for Mexico. I was put thru a rigorous stress test and after I got the radioactive dye, the docs, there were 3 of them determined I had a blockage on the left side. I then decided to go to Phoenix as it appeared I was destined to get a stent and I wanted the rich Uncle to pay for it. It turned out that the stress test yielded a false positive and I got on with life. I will look into IMMS, I took a laborer who suffered a seri0us head injury in December and had hemoraging on the brain. He received excellent care and after he was discharged a week later the specialist came to his house weekly. The general public hospital is a different story completely, underfunded etc.

Eminently reasonable!

I looked at long-term travel insurance. It was either unavailable due to age, or unavailable because I was not a tourist (due to residency), or available for only short stays. In any case, it provided zero coverage in Guerrero outside of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Not Troncones; not Buenavista; not Panta. Not the municipio of Zihuatanejo. Only Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. That would be useless to me. Michoacán wad limited to the city of Morelia.

I checked out Canadian health insurance for ex-pats. They were very expensive for that duration.

I talked with long-term ex-pats in Mexico who had bought Mexican health insurance. I was in for a shock. As a Canadian I think of medical coverage like our government medical services coverage. Go do a doctor? No charge. Go to a clinic? No charge. Go to a hospital? No charge. Have surgery? No charge.

It turns out that medical insurance is like car or house insurance with deductibles and co-payments.

One longtime resident (under 70) told me they pay US$5,000/year. They have never received a benefit because it doesn’t cover physician office visits, clinics, or minor procedures. They have never had a medical situation in which the cost exceeded the deductible. They only have the insurance because their kids insist that they don’t want to be financially ruined if there were a major medical expense.

I looked at paying for seguro (now Bienestar) but I heard that people with purchased Bienestar are triaged lower than employees with Bienestar. I know how long my employees wait and I don’t want to be after them.

Then I looked at medical evacuation insurance to at least get me back to Canada if needed. (A gringo acquaintance had a friend visiting from the US and needed medical evacuation due to a broken back due to a rogue wave while fishing. The cost was US$50,000.) That insurance is very pricy too.

At this point I am resigned to being “self-insured”. Of my savings I think of $50,000 as being my self-insurance for medical evacuation.

So far we have had, between us, hernia surgery, a wasp sting, a scorpion sting, and most recently, a heart issue.

An echocardiologist comes here every 6 weeks or so. Amazing. 3500 pesos, with the written report, sent us to the one cardiologist that is here permanently. Did a 48 hour holter monitor, a comprehensive written study, and agreed with the echo guy. Three drugs, amazing difference in life. Total cost for him, 7,000 pesos.

Hernia surgery, with everything, pre tests, etc,. 1600 USD, four surgeons. Maybe they were bored? Wasp sting, anaphylaxis, 2000 pesos. Scorpion antivenom, and I'd do it again, 3000 pesos. Drugs are cheap. One of the heart drugs is 1,000 pesos per month, but that is OK.

Insurance??? Pay cash, take care of yourself. Go to a private clinic/hospital and get amazing care.