Health insurance in Mexico

I am in a similar situation. Over 70, permanent residents, INAPAM. (I am Canadian.) I spend about six months in Mexico each year, but spread out over seven months.

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.