Health care in the Virgins

I cannot tell you from experience but the short time i have been in STT i see allot of people getting on a plane to go to Puerto rico and living most of my life in Puerto rico i could tell you Hospitals in P.R are NOT good. You do the math???

St John has a handful of physicians and dentists as well as a clinic. For major problems, you will be evacuated to Schneider Hospital on St Thomas. If needed, and if you have air ambulance insurance, you may be evacuated off the island to another facility. As roki says, you do NOT want to go to Puerto Rico, where the care is inferior to that of the USVI for most illnesses IMHO. So, make sure that your air ambulance insurance allows you to go where you want, not to the closest facility offering the services you need.

Most of the big resorts do offer insurance after you have been employed for a while (3 months +) Not too sure about rokipatel's "do the math" statement. Maybe he is saying it's still expensive if you have to leave island for treatment. There is kind of a chart on health care. If you are young and it's not serious, have it treated here. Older and maybe something that could be serious, go to Puerto Rico, SERIOUS, go to the states. There are, of course, exceptions, and it is getting better. Insurance on your own is getting out of control. Mine has tripled in the last couple of years, and I really have doubts about the coverage. If you have an option to cobra or stay on a family plan in the states, look into it.

I would prefer to stay here & use the STT hospital but the last time I did it was so expensive that the insurance company urges going to PR. I have no problem with the care here though. Juanita's correct that if you're full-time at a resort, most likely insurance will be available.

When i say do the Math i am not talking about the cost, i am saying that if your alternative is Puerto rico and it is not good so do the math and go to the STATES. U.S virgin Island health care is not good and allot of people here in the Island have told me. I know maybe Puerto rico could be better but nothing like the health care you could get in the state of florida or any other. Now Health care cost in Puerto rico is way cheaper than USVI and the States i know the Government of Puerto rico heavily subsides the Health care industry and more than half of the people have insurance pay by the government. In Puerto rico there are great Specialist and Doctors from Harvard and other great medical schools and there are also great facilities but the problem relies that Hospital staff are very unhappy with there paid and service in Hospitals is terrible for example a registered nurse in puerto rico makes 22,000 dollars a year the same nurse makes in the States starting 50-60,000 dollars a year and allot of nurses in puerto rico know that and they are pissed so they don't care if they give you the wrong medicine or wrong care they simply don't care they rather move to the states and make the money and allot are being recruited. So because cost in Hospitals in Puerto rico are around 40% less than in the U.S hospitalization is more cheaper but that does not mean is crap.

And some insurance only pays a fraction of the cost if you opt to go to the States short of an emergency where no other care is available. Not everyone has the $$ even with insurance.

Thanks for the help. Three months before the insurance kicks in will be no problem we can easily extend our insurance to last six months after we arrive. My wife has had cancer in the last year, here in the states my insurance has to cover her no questions asked, is it the same there?

noodle: It depends. Some physicians here do not take stateside insurance. I would call the specialists she is likely to need and ask. You will want air ambulance insurance. Again, make sure they will take you where you want to go. With a pre-existing condiditon, I am not sure how that will pan out, however.

There are several oncologists on St Thomas, some attached to http://www.ckci.org/. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are available.

My prejudice about PR seems to fit with roki's explanation. The physicians all seem to do a good job, but the ancillary staff and nurses don't speak English, which is difficult for many of our residents.

I am moving to St. Croix in June for a few years and one of our reasons for coming are that I suffer from some chronic illnesses that would benefit from the climate and hopefully stress-free environment. (I am hoping that my personality doesn't turn out to be able to make even paradize stressful). Due to an accute problem with blood levels I am going to need a good internist within a few weeks of arriving in St.Croix. A good practice group with an attached lab would also be sufficient.

My current plan was to come back to DC every 3 three months for ongoing treatment but would love to find a good neurologist on the Island.

Ironically, the problem that I am having right now is a severe Vitamin D deficiency! I am having bone pain that feel like muscle spasms and pronounced fatigued. The high dose of Vitamin D supplements I have to take for 10 weeks makes me constantly nauseous. The best part is that I have to take the supplements for 10 weeks and have my blood levels checked again- I move to STX in 6 weeks - hence the need for an Internist on arrival. I can't stop thinking that if we already living there I would never have this problem! The beach will cure me and keep my levels up without the hideous supplements.

I would greatly appreciate any reccommendations or direct referrals that you would like to give.

TIA.

Cheers,
Anna-Lisa

As for stress-free environment, not likely unless you have tons of money and don't have to work or personally attend to the tedious, time-consuming, and frustrating activities of daily living such as shopping, banking, driving, going to the post office, etc.

Won't being at the beach and in the sun a lot help the Vitamin D issue?

I know people with chronic illnesses who have moved to the VI with good success. But the availability of specialists on STX, at least, is spotty at best. One person who posts here, HipCrip, goes to Puerto Rico for her medical care. I suggest you come down yourself and check out what's available before making a decision about moving.

Okay, let's say I have a job there and they offer health insurance. Will I be able to get coverage for my wife through the company's plan even though she had cancer before? Can they turn down my wife or make me pay more? I'm not talking about independent health insurance I'm talking about company sponsored insurance.

Most of the business that offer health care to their employees here only offer it to the employee not the spouse or family. The bigger employers like the local govt offer family health care.

At the Buccaneer, health insurance is automatic after one year employment. It is only for the employee. Even at extra cost, it is not available for family members.

and the big resort on the north shore does not offer domestic partners insurance because they,well they discriminate but it's odd because they do allow single plus one for married people and then family for children,i should think being a big resort trying to get "branded"by a chain hotel group they'd get with it and become part of the 21st century

I heard about a co worker of my husbands that had to go to the ER on STT for a few stitches, it cost him $800.00 (had to pay BEFORE treatment) and they would not accept his BSBC from the states.

Well, this tidbit of info makes things harder for moving.

i don't think that is true crazy because vi hospitals are mandated by law to give care to anyone in need regardless of wether they can pay or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRW,

You are correct, to a point. I worked at a hospital in Michigan and I know that they have to provide a certain amount of "free" care as they take in government funding. However, once they reach that figure, they do not have to treat you. You can drop dead on the floor, or be shoved into an ambulance and moved on down the road.They can send you to another health provider.

Remember, they are still a business and yes they are forced to follow certain processes due to funding. But, believe me, don't think they will not put you out if they can.

Hmm. So it sounds like maybe some of the bigger corporate resorts offer insurance to a spouse but not the little places. Does anyone know for sure if Caneel Bay or the Westin Hotel on STJ offer insurance for spouses or not?

Unfortunately, people cannot get sent to another hospital here. The legislature did pass a law requiring everyone to get care regardless of ability to pay, but the hospitals are aggressively going after people to pay. There was a time when people would refuse to give their insurance info because they didn't want to pay the co-pay. There is no such thing a free health care.

How does everyone feel about this? If you have insurance, you pay more! Even if you are not filing on your insurance. In my case, I have a hugh deductable. I have insurance for MAJOR stuff. So, if I go to the hospital for something relatively minor and choose not to use my insurance, I get charged more simply because I have it. ( I choose not to use it because it's not going to pay anyway. It simply flags that I might be sick, so my premium goes up. Had that happen.)

They say they are not charging me more, they are charging the uninsured less. I couldn't seem to make them understand an "identity".

So, if you buy insurance to keep from causing a financial drain on yourself or the territory, you get penalized. It's another case of the middle class carrying the ball for the poor. The wealthy can afford insurance that pays everything, and the poor get free, or highly discounted, medical care.

This is why I'm glad both Obama and Hillary are making affordable health care a big deal. I don't know if either of their plans will actually do anything, but we can hope.

The movie "Sicko" comes to mind. I want to think it isn't a true reflection of health care in this country, but it seems like every week I hear a new story that proves it is.