Individual health insurance in the USVI

I have been looking for the same thing. every insurance agent I talk to said no one does individual policies here. and they usually give me a brochure for supplemental coverage.

and insurance from the states is no good here.

You have discovered one of the major weaknesses of the USVI: Individual health insurance is scarce.

Here are some ideas:
- Sign up with Healthcare International. It's the only individual health insurance that's writing new policies, that I'm aware of. More info at: https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,185065
- Get a job where the employer provides health insurance
- Create a small business with at least two employees (like you and your spouse) and provide group health insurance to your employees (yourselves)

One solution above worked for us. We created a "small business", just 2 of us. Next we applied for a group policy through United Healthcare using American Mefical Plans in St. Croix as the agent. Had it for years and it worked fine for us.

I'm checking with a friend who gets his through Puerto Rico but lives on STX. When I get the info, I'll post it here. Good luck. The idea that we in the VI's have to jump through such hoops to get health insurance when we're willing to pay for it is disgusting. So backwards.

Fingers Crossed, please check for a private message from me that I just sent.

Thanks for the ideas! I'll look in to these options. I really appreciate it!

I've never had health insurance and at the prices I've been quoted, I likely never will. The USVI should market itself as a haven for ObamaCare refugees from the mainland.

I've never had health insurance and at the prices I've been quoted, I likely never will. The USVI should market itself as a haven for ObamaCare refugees from the mainland.

We actually are leaving STX partially because of the headache with health insurance - I have not been insured on STX for three years now.

I just bought us a new policy in FL (where we're moving) and it is half the price of what we were quoted prior to the ACA ("Obamacare" ) with no preexisting condition clause, which we both have preexisting conditions, and it's great coverage. For us this is a boon.

The USVI really needs to solve this issue. It's affecting a lot of people and doctors.

Julie, I am sad to hear you and your family are leaving.

We have BUPA individual health insurance, that we got years ago when we started our own business. It costs about $5K per year for a family of three with a $2500 annual deductible. Doesn't cover much day-to-day expense, I call it "hit by a bus" insurance. I'm not sure you can get new policies from BUPA at this time but Marshall & Sterling and Leeward Insurance (and possibly also Annaly Insurance) broker for them.

I've never had health insurance and at the prices I've been quoted, I likely never will. The USVI should market itself as a haven for ObamaCare refugees from the mainland.

We actually are leaving STX partially because of the headache with health insurance - I have not been insured on STX for three years now.

I just bought us a new policy in FL (where we're moving) and it is half the price of what we were quoted prior to the ACA ("Obamacare" ) with no preexisting condition clause, which we both have preexisting conditions, and it's great coverage. For us this is a boon.

The USVI really needs to solve this issue. It's affecting a lot of people and doctors.

I hope you are not moving because of the healthcare and Obamacare because from what I'm seeing here is quite a bit different than promised. So I hope and pray that you find affordable health insurance at a reasonable price with reasonable deductables. But I would want to verify anything before I moved.

I've never had health insurance and at the prices I've been quoted, I likely never will. The USVI should market itself as a haven for ObamaCare refugees from the mainland.

We actually are leaving STX partially because of the headache with health insurance - I have not been insured on STX for three years now.

I just bought us a new policy in FL (where we're moving) and it is half the price of what we were quoted prior to the ACA ("Obamacare" ) with no preexisting condition clause, which we both have preexisting conditions, and it's great coverage. For us this is a boon.

The USVI really needs to solve this issue. It's affecting a lot of people and doctors.

I hope you are not moving because of the healthcare and Obamacare because from what I'm seeing here is quite a bit different than promised. So I hope and pray that you find affordable health insurance at a reasonable price with reasonable deductables. But I would want to verify anything before I moved.

It is partially why we are moving, yes, and we are very happy, and so are our friends and family around the country. What is portrayed in the media is generally the extremes. There's a long way to go, sure, but so far it is a huge improvement - not having a preexisting condition clause alone is tremendous.

We already have purchased the insurance and have our cards and are using it, and it is night and day compared to what we were experiencing in the VI. There's nothing left to "verify." If you'd like to discuss further, I suggest opening a conversation in Under the Coconut Tree.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

I've been reading about how many insurance companies are using Obamacare to cancel existing policies and then re-sell a new policy just to make more money. That should be criminal.

Like most things I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Greed and medicine are a sad combination.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

I've been reading about how many insurance companies are using Obamacare to cancel existing policies and then re-sell a new policy just to make more money. That should be criminal.

Like most things I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Greed and medicine are a sad combination.

I agree, greed and insurance go hand in hand:), but from what I'm seeing is not the insurance companies cancelling policies only to resell them at a higher rate, the substandard policies (according to the new Affordable Health Care act) do not meet the minimum standards. If any part of the individual or combined policy doesn't meet the standards of the new law, then the policy has to be changed to meet it and I think the insurance companies would rather drop the coverage and reissue the policy rather than adding to it. This way they can jump up the cost, which is expected when they have to include birth control (which should have been covered all along), pre-existing illness, (I fall into this category having a bad ticker) and covering children until they are like 26.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

This was the plan from the git go. That is why you haven't heard a word from Harry Reid (daddy Obama) or Nancy Pelosi (momma Obama) about the troubles and issues with the new rollout. They Know the only fix for this travesty is a single payer system. But this is what happens when one political party controls both houses and the presidency, it reminds me of a quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

I've been reading about how many insurance companies are using Obamacare to cancel existing policies and then re-sell a new policy just to make more money. That should be criminal.

Like most things I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Greed and medicine are a sad combination.

I agree, greed and insurance go hand in hand:), but from what I'm seeing is not the insurance companies cancelling policies only to resell them at a higher rate, the substandard policies (according to the new Affordable Health Care act) do not meet the minimum standards. If any part of the individual or combined policy doesn't meet the standards of the new law, then the policy has to be changed to meet it and I think the insurance companies would rather drop the coverage and reissue the policy rather than adding to it. This way they can jump up the cost, which is expected when they have to include birth control (which should have been covered all along), pre-existing illness, (I fall into this category having a bad ticker) and covering children until they are like 26.

I agree with your point. I also see other policies that are compliant being cancelled. I think both are going on.

It's a tough call for me. I have friends who have chronic illnesses that were dropped by their insurance years ago who now are able to be insured again. But then I see people losing plans they have been happy with for years, and some winding up paying more - and some less, like us. There really isn't a solution that is going to be comfortable for everyone.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

This was the plan from the git go. That is why you haven't heard a word from Harry Reid (daddy Obama) or Nancy Pelosi (momma Obama) about the troubles and issues with the new rollout. They Know the only fix for this travesty is a single payer system. But this is what happens when one political party controls both houses and the presidency, it reminds me of a quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

I think you're being a bit dramatic, its hardly a 'travesty'. You know what would make it a lot smoother? If republican governors and other legislators would stop doing absolutely everything in their power to prevent it from going smoothly.

Its the equivalent of your wife buying a car you don't like, you then slash all the tires and take a sledgehammer to the engine, then sit back and see "I told you this car was a piece of shit and will never work!".

Amen to that DonExodus!

I think you're being a bit dramatic, its hardly a 'travesty'. You know what would make it a lot smoother? If republican governors and other legislators would stop doing absolutely everything in their power to prevent it from going smoothly.

Its the equivalent of your wife buying a car you don't like, you then slash all the tires and take a sledgehammer to the engine, then sit back and see "I told you this car was a piece of shit and will never work!".

Hear hear! Applauds!

I think you're being a bit dramatic, its hardly a 'travesty'. You know what would make it a lot smoother? If republican governors and other legislators would stop doing absolutely everything in their power to prevent it from going smoothly.

Its the equivalent of your wife buying a car you don't like, you then slash all the tires and take a sledgehammer to the engine, then sit back and see "I told you this car was a piece of shit and will never work!".

Hear hear! Applauds!

Thank you DonExodus. You have put the feelings of most Americans into a few sentences. It is time to move forward. What the US and especially the Virgin Islands needs is universal healthcare. Equal healthcare for everyone paid for by everyone.

Here ya go: Universal free health care! http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/06/3734393/doctors-say-venezuelas-health.html

Universal healthcare isn't free...you pay for it through your taxes rather than be raped every month by profit hungry insurance companies.

Venezuela's healthcare issues and toilet paper shortages are indicative of much bigger problems.

What a stupid comparison East Ender has made.

The US will have a single payer system within five years is my bet.

Here ya go right back at ya with a slightly different perspective on universal health care. Personally I have enough faith in my country that somehow we will eventually end up with a program closer to that of the more successful developed countries of the world than that of a struggling country like Venezuela.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/06/heres-a-map-of-the-countries-that-provide-universal-health-care-americas-still-not-on-it/259153/

One good thing about this forum, it will be here for a while, so that we can look back and see just how much of a tragedy this over reach really is, pushed through by one party, "remember, you have to pass it to read what is in it", this was the first malfeasants of public office, the lie that was perpetrated by our President that "You will be able to keep your individual plans and doctors if you like them period" to later changing his statement to the American people to "You will be able to keep your individual plans and doctors if you like them period if it doesn't change", (second malfeasants of public office) to the glorious rollout fiasco. Yes, please compare this over reach to a COMMUNIST COUNTRY, because that seems to be where this is headed. Yes, the only way to fix this white elephant is a single payer system, which will be here well before 5 years I'm afraid. Then we will all be on Medicaid with the same insurance as everyone else EXCEPT for the entitled to include the politicians that voted for it, unions and anyone else that gets a waiver.

But you got to love liberals, who just can't admit when they are wrong even when it's starring them in the face. If this had been a republican president, he would have already been impeached.