Health insurance

wouldnt that depend on your state? call up the irs and ask them?

For the young, health insurance is overrated and mostly unnecessary. Be thankful you can defer that monthly insurance premium until you move back to the states. Its much cheaper to pay the cash rate for routine health maintenance in the VI than to have insurance. We went without for 10 years and came out well over $100,000 ahead over that period by not having health insurance and just paying cash.

For the young, health insurance is overrated and mostly unnecessary. Be thankful you can defer that monthly insurance premium until you move back to the states. Its much cheaper to pay the cash rate for routine health maintenance in the VI than to have insurance. We went without for 10 years and came out well over $100,000 ahead over that period by not having health insurance and just paying cash.

Until something happens. I agree dr visits will not put you in poor house. A serious injury or illness will. Catastrophic would be fine for me. We have been paying out of pocket for my wife and son for almost a year. They will be going on my insurance soon but at the tune of $7500/yr

Until something happens. I agree dr visits will not put you in poor house. A serious injury or illness will.

I had great coverage for my first 10 years here but after that nothing - and fortunately didn't need it. HOWEVER (and something I'm currently experiencing) you just don't know when something might happen, and an accident can entirely turn your life upside down and devastate you financially when you have no coverage. Until something changes here it's something which any prospective newcomer needs to very seriously consider.

This is why I love the expat insurance I now have from Cigna Global. Its modular so I can choose the coverage we want. We only have the catastrophic/cancer coverage with the MASA add-on which gets us to any facility in the Southeast.

But, doing the math, we would end up paying substantially more for the routine doctor/dentist/optometrist/prescription coverage than we actually spend in a year, by thousands. I know this doesn't hold true for everyone, but we're in our 50's and healthy.

Every healthcare operation I've visited, including JFL in the VI has a cash rate that is way lower than what they charge insurance companies. Heck, if you hold off an paying JFL long enough, they offer you a huge discount.

Why pay more if you can avoid it?

Well since we aren't expats and do not qualify we are stuck with what there is. It isn't a great situation, but it is what it is.

we did not have it for the first few years here. found out we both needed surgery. at least 10 grand each-waited and waited. finally got insurance and had to wait the 1 year due to pre existing conditions. finally got our surgeries. our premiums are not hat bad and if we go to PR our costs are practically nothing-no deductible needs to be met in PR but does here, and the care is great. our co pays and deductibles and prescription costs here are high.

very glad for the insurance and for PR

Well since we aren't expats and do not qualify we are stuck with what there is. It isn't a great situation, but it is what it is.

Both Healthcare International and Cigna offer their expat insurance to Americans in the USVI.

They "offer" it yes. I'm pretty sure it says though not for Americans.. Wink wink. I'm not about to play the denied claims game after paying premiums..

I'm about to be insured by one of them, as of 8/1, and they are very much aware of my residency, as I communicated with them several times. I know USVI residents insured by both, and they have paid out claims for them.

That are American citizens?

I just checked. Cigna Global cannot give a quote for whole family and Healthcare Int has a premium of 5800/yr for my family. Meh. Looks like BCBS

That are American citizens?

Yes, as am I.

As for premiums, you can't really compare accurately between the benefits and geographic locations. But after spending most of my career in health insurance, all I can say is, you get what you pay for. Hubby and I spent around 13K per year, pre-Obamacare, for direct bill with a 5K deductible.

I know for an additional 1500/yr I will get very good BCBS coverage with prescription, MASA etc

Sparty... I had no problems getting Cigna Global coverage for our family (me. wife, daughter). My wife is an American, me and daughter are Canadian. We're paying about $500/month for the catastrophic/cancer only + MASA premium.

FWIW, I directly emailed Cigna Global today and specifically asked them if they offered health insurance coverage to US CITIZENS residing in the US Virgin Islands. This was their response:

"Dear Ms *****,

Thank you for your enquiry.

Unfortunately, at Cigna Global, we are unable to provide any cover for anyone who will be living in US Virgin Islands.

This is due to our licensing terms and conditions.

I am sorry we would be unable to help you on this occasion and thank you for your interest in Cigna Global.

Kind regards"

I know several people living here (and obviously there are posters here too) who qualify for their coverage as expats for themselves and their family because they are NOT US citizens. This has been discussed many times over on this forum - US citizens who are residents of the USVI are NOT expats. If you're a US citizen who has been told that Cigna Global can offer you coverage, all I can say is, "good luck with that" and suggest you dig a little deeper. 😀

An additional service you might want to consider is SkyMed who offers air ambulance service to Puerto Rico ($120/yr), Florida ($216/yr) or "City of Choice" for $420/yr.