Health Insurance

[Green Akers]

I was wondering what families from the US have decided to do regarding health insurance for themselves and their family, assuming they bring their family to Dominica. If you have found a comprehensive and affordable health insurance plan for you and your family while you are in school, please let me know.

[dbhlmf]

When my husband and I first got here (he is the student, I am just along for the ride) I got the insurance plan provided by Ross. It was VERY expensive and not comprehensive. I decided to look for something better, and after shopping around, I found Specialty Risk International. They specialize in insurance for long term travelers and have a few different plans.

http://www.specialtyrisk.com

There are MANY travel/international health insurance companies out there. Some people I have talked to just extended their current US health care plan through their local hmo. You might want to talk to your current insurers - if you can't extend your coverage to Dominica, they may be able to suggest a company they like to work with.

Hope this helps!

[FoxTrot]

The insurance we pay is a rip off I think for $274 every 3 months. I wonder if there is anything out there which I can get independently which will cover RX, Dental, Vision, Etc, and still pay around the same amount? Something like Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[imaknotz]

274 a month is a deal. I had blue cross, 1000$ deductable and 10$ copay a visit and I was shelling out 110 a month. That's without an rx plan as well for one person.

[Dru]

No matter what kind of insjurance you get, make sure they offer coverage for evacuation to a US territory. You more than likely are only going to use this insurance for medical-surgical catastrophy. Part of handling a serious even would be to fly you to San Juan or the continental US. If you are serious enough to be evacuated, you more than likely will require a stretcher and a personal (1:1) physician as your attendant. This would cost thousands, so make sure you insurance covers emergent transportation costs.

[FRNC]

No matter what kind of insjurance you get, make sure they offer coverage for evacuation to a US territory. You more than likely are only going to use this insurance for medical-surgical catastrophy. Part of handling a serious even would be to fly you to San Juan or the continental US. If you are serious enough to be evacuated, you more than likely will require a stretcher and a personal (1:1) physician as your attendant. This would cost thousands, so make sure you insurance covers emergent transportation costs.
My daughter used a company call "MedJet" which has since been taken over by

http://www.airambulancecard.com

Fortunately this insurance was never needed but it gave us "peace of mind". This is a supplemental evacuation insurance that covers transportation only.

[diphylobrothum]

Each each semester I have attended I have been paying 721.00 for the ross insurance. If you go to the website - the only thing covered is emergency room visits - no surgeries, no ob/gyn,/ no behavioral, no dental, no vision - and there was stipulation on family practice. Oh, but there was a clause for flying off students from an island. My parents coverage ends jan 1, so i am going to apply elsewhere and defer the ross plan - it is a waste - its only to cover ross's expense of flying you off the island in case of emergency they cant handle.

the b12 worm

[Chianti]

"Each each semester I have attended I have been paying 721.00 for the ross insurance. If you go to the website - the only thing covered is emergency room visits - no surgeries, no ob/gyn,/ no behavioral, no dental, no vision - and there was stipulation on family practice."

This is incorrect. Ross' insurance isn't the greatest, as they will not pay 100% of incurred bills, but saying they only pay for ER visits is wrong. I was in an accident and went to the ER and racked up a $1400 bill. The Ross insurance paid $800. Then I went to a specialist to get treatment which was another $2400. Ross's insurance paid out $1100.

[BrotherMan]

Ross's health insurance plan sucks.

[islandthrift]

The important part of the plan is the emergency evacuation insurance. Otherwise if you need to be flown off in island in an emergency to get to a hospital to better suite your needs, it is $25,000 up front in cash not a penny left before they will fly you off the island.