Insurance on the island

which island?

For minimum-required insurance you can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $250/yr. That's about what each of my bikes cost me on STT. Same for my wife's (soon to be ex-wife) 2002 Jeep Wrangler.

For individual health insurance expect to pay minimum $400/month. No, the statistics re individual health insurance premiums aren't good and if you work for an employer who offers health bennies as part of the package you generally won't be eligible to enroll in same for at least six months, The transient society wreaks havoc on the medical system here. Newbies go to hospitals, to clinics, run up huge medical bills which they can't pay and then leave island. Other posters could give you more information. Cheers!

STTResident, It's hardly just newbies who do that.

iabracing, It's worth it to check with your current insurance company to see if Cobra would work here, if only just the hospitalization part.

We will be living on St John.

Come on Trade, I know that, just making a partial point!

jabracing: If you already have an investment in a stateside medical insurance carrier then obviously check with them first to see if their coverage extends to the USVI. Whether you be on STJ, STT, STX or Water Island is irrelevant since they're all part of the United States Virgin Islands.

Car insurance is relatively inexpensive, Your best bet in my opinion is Theodore Tunick on STT and you can reach them at (340) 776-7000. Hope this helps. Cheers!

while its important to check into whether or not your coverage extends here you might also want to find out if any doctors here will accept it. I came here with insurance from a large national company and find that only a few doctors accept it and only one pharmacy. So i have to mail bills in and wait 3 to 6 months to get reimbursed.

Thanks Betty and STT Resident. Any recommendations or numbers for doctors and a pharmacy to check with about our current coverage.
P.S. those newbies that ran up their bills are there because they probably did the same thing here - expensive health insurance might be one of the few things that can compare in both places.

iabracing

I use Drug Farm Pharmacy the most. 340-776-1880. Another is Doctor's Choice who "says" they accept most insurance plans. 340-777-1400.

What kind of doctor did you want? Some you have to pay & then be reimbursed.

I say check into Cobra. I was covered with Cobra and was VERY glad I kept it going because it turned out later that Cobra was better insurance and "cheaper" than what we got later with SRI (which I don't suggest using)
Had to pay out of pocket and then send in for reimbursement, which I never got any money from any of my claims!
Good luck!

On St. John, check Health Care Connection, 693-7444 and Cruz Bay Family Practice, 776-6789 for doctors, and Chelsea Drugstore, 776-4888 for pharmacy, to see what insurance they take. Health Care Connection and Chelsea Drugstore are at the Marketplace, and Cruz Bay Family Practice is at Boulon Center.
As for car insurance, I use St. John Insurance, 777-7559 located at Mongoose Junction, pay about $200 a year for the minimum coverage and have no complaints.
I have SRI Reside Prime health insurance, which I got through Tilloglobe, www.tilloglobe.com, and pay about $1100 a year with a $5000 deductible. I haven't submitted for any claims yet, so I couldn't tell you if they are good or not.
Hope this helps!

SRI NEVER PAID A SINGLE CLAIM OF MINE! I am still fighting with them over several of mine....They were valid claims!

Yikes...maybe I should switch before I have to actually submit a claim for something?

We were about to sign up for SRI for international travel - just wondering if those of you that submitted claims finally received reimbursement from them?
Thanks!

I never have. In fact, they finally sent me a letter stating there would be no coverage due to this or that...w/out going into detail, it was a play on words. They were awful and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. If you have Cobra, keep it until you get to shopping around for your needs on the island....

I have noticed that a lot of the international policies are written for travelers. If you actually live here, I have always suspected that they wouldn't cover you. Is that part of the problem?

ours was not written for "travelers", but w/out going into our medical/personal issues, I would just say that they played with their words and I could've sued and won, but not interested in dealing with lawyers and the cost to make it happen. Just not worth the struggle after it's all said and done. We just went with different insurance.
🙂

KellyMac, sounds like you have Crawford V.I. as your claims adjuster!!!Is it true???
I got a 1/2 baked answer from them two! My backside is still smoking!
How can these jerks live on the island? This is a VERY small place!
I know I asked before, but, Does ANYONE has a positive response regarding insurance here?????
DON~T USE ANY INSURANCE COMPANY WHO USES CRAWFORD V.I as their claim adjuster!
Don`t use Mariam Mathes! They use Crawford V.I. exclusively!
At this point, I can`t tell you who to use, but I can inform you as to who you should not!
Any positive insurance stories? ANY??

I am planning on moving to St. Croix this summer, any advice on insurance there?

my partner has insurance through his job, but he has to pay upfront and then get reimbursed when he goes to his doctor, he had a bunch of blood work done and general physical stuff for a 47 yr old male and he had to pay for everything first and then wait to get reimbursed from the insurance, he was told it was because of fraudulent claims, sounds like a lot of crap to me and this was at beeston hill clinic

Many of the medical facilities do no process your insurance for you. I'm sure it's just too much hassle. Dr. Braslow does accept my Humana insurance and only bills me after is has submitted a claim, but I believe he is the exception. And I've always had to pay upfront for any lab work.

thanks Linda

kellymac: What I mean is that "international" policies assume that you are an ex-patriate, that your residence is the mainland US. I can see that they might work that angle.

nope. It didn't have anything to do with geography or where I lived. It was simply the medical claim that they called "pre-existing" on my skin cancer. I had NEVER in my life had any type of skin cancer and I gave them copies of my past history of medical records and the doctor's information to back it up. Would not pay it and still won't pay for any of my treatments.