Health insurance

Personal experience, or second hand stories?

Personal experience, or second hand stories?

Both. But mostly firsthand.

IT

I spent a few days there and can't find one single fault with my emergency room admission, surgery and care and rehabilitation afterwards. First class all the way.

I spent a few days there and can't find one single fault with my emergency room admission, surgery and care and rehabilitation afterwards. First class all the way.

Both times I had to go to the ER it took hours to admit me and I had to bring my own pillow and blankets. When I asked politely for a pillow the first time, the nurse sucked her teeth at me and said, and I quote directly: "Honey, this ain't Kmart!" and walked away.

I was also beaten bloody by a security guard when I had a bad reaction to some medication.

The guy who took out my appendix wasn't bad, but I think he was the one who was later involved with the dead chicken incident.

IT

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Thank you. I'm glad yours was a positive one, and I mean that sincerely.

I have another story, second-hand, but directly from the source:

Girlfriend's father or uncle or something had been stuck in a room for weeks because JFL was waiting on some medicine necessary for his care before he could be released. This went on and on. The poor guy just wanted to go home, but they couldn't get the medicine. In the meantime, he's paying for and taking up a room unnecessarily. So girlfriend's boyfriend (a person of some stature in the community) gets on the horn to figure out the delay. Turns out, JFL can't get the medicine because they HAVEN'T PAID THE VENDOR since godknowswhen and the vendor will no longer supply them with product. Girlfriend's boyfriend finds out what the medicine is (medicalized TALCUM POWDER of all things; inexpensive and apparently easy to acquire) and orders it himself from PR on his own dime and has it delivered to JFL so his girlfriend's father/uncle/whatever can be treated and released.

Unreal. IMHO anyway. YMMV.

IT

I was a patient in the cardiac center recently and can't say enough good about the experience but I've heard enough stories from others to believe that my experience was not the norm.

The cardiac center is excellent!

Thank you all for your replies. My husband suffers from Rheumatoid Arthritis and has an intervenous treatment every 8 weeks. It's quite costly and currently his health insurance in the states pays for all of it. We've been kicking around the idea of retiring in VI but were curious about the insurance because of his treatments and I believe your replies have answered our question. I guess we'll just be visiting A LOT!

The cardiac center is excellent!

Yes it is.

1. United Healthcare still gives great coverages for business with at least one employee. The costs are high depending in part on the deductible that you choose.
The affordable Care Act (Obamacare) does allow small businesses in the VI to get a tax credit for 30% of the cost of the premiums to the employer using tax form 8941. This is a major help because it is a credit in addition to the deduction on schedule C if you are a business.
2. Blue Cross announced that they start writing individual plans come January 1 of next hear. Look for the ads.
3. The information given about Cigna Global is correct.
4. You can use AARP or any other Medicare supplement and be fully covered. You can sign up through the AARP office or you can use the Medicare supplement itself through the Medicare office.
5. The local hospitals are comparable to rurally designated JCAHO hospitals stateside. They do not provide tertiary care. So call bladders appendix cesareans you are okay. Heart transplants major burns neurosurgery and metastatic cancer should be done at big hospitals stateside. Puerto Rico is a poor alternative. They lost 1/3 of their better trained physicians to the states. And people in PR who can, always go to the states.
Note of caution, air ambulance will do you no good for an emergency evacuation if you have no major medical insurance.

Note of caution, air ambulance will do you no good for an emergency evacuation if you have no major medical insurance.

That is true. I got all excited about air ambulance service until I realized I couldn't get it because my ER didn't offer insurance and there was no way (IS still no way) to get an individual policy -- whether as a direct EE or a 1099er.

IT

I spoke to a lady at AARP in STX very recently and she told me that I could not get AARP suplement.

that is the same thing hubby was told a few years back

" Heart transplants, major burns, neurosurgery, and metastatic cancer should be done at big hospitals stateside. Puerto Rico is a poor alternative"

I agree with you on the first three- I added the punctuation 😉 ANY heart surgery should be included, as there are no cardiac surgeons- CABG, mitral valve replacement, etc. However, metastatic cancer can be treated with palliative care here easily. I would add that any complex procedures may require off-island treatment.

As to Puerto Rico...I completely agree. Not only do they not speak English to the patients, most of their notes are written in Spanish.

hubby is going to pr for a surgery. so far he has found everybody nice and they speak english to him.

Okay. All the best to him. I want a report afterward...