Medical Insurance

Hi Miguel!

1) The medical insurance is obligatory to live here
2) EPS - that covers basic medicin.
- first you need a medical appointment
- than you have to authorize it
- going to the hospital, medical... if you need a specialist normaly a general medic has to authorize it and you start again with the process
- to get the appointment it usually tkes weeks, sometimes even some months!
3) you always have the chance to pay personally - you will get an appointment fast - its cheaper than US or Europe
4) medicina prepagada or policy - not complicate, but expensive - calculate 300 USD and more per month - you will reach 70 and it increase a lot, furthermore it increases every year 6-7% !
Maybe its cheaper to search for an additional insurance in another country

I hope i could give you some hints

Thank you so much "paevti" . Much appreciated.
I don't know how old are you...I am 67...and in very good health, exercise etc.
Would you live with just the EPS (I think one pays approx 70.000 pesos=35 $US) monthly
and with the money you save from insurance have a medical fund for "emergencies"

I assume that if one has an accident with broken bones, etc, or you get cancer or kidney stones (for ex.)  EPS will take care of that (and one can "accelerate/improve things" buy paying privately -parts of the process- to whomever
is involved.. (specialist, hospitals).
From what I read costs are 40% (or less) of what they would cost in the US...

2. How does the long term stability looks like in Colombia. I am half Argentinean but I would nor return to
Argentina...too jumpy economically, inflation, rates of exchange, unpredictable short-medium and also long term..

Thanks again. It is kind of you
Miguel

Would you live with just the EPS (I think one pays approx 70.000 pesos=35 $US) monthly
and with the money you save from insurance have a medical fund for "emergencies".

I think that decision you have to make on your own.Depends a lot how much money do you have.  My opinion: If it doesn't hurt you pay a policy. But the amount you can save will also cover a lot, especially at your age. ... But important is to save something if you just use EPS. 

I assume that if one has an accident with broken bones, etc, or you get cancer or kidney stones (for ex.)  EPS will take care of that (and one can "accelerate/improve things" buy paying privately -parts of the process- to whomever
is involved.. (specialist, hospitals).From what I read costs are 40% (or less) of what they would cost in the US...

EPS will cover that generally , BUT: Does not cover all medicine (cancer!) and  you have to pay a part like 10% for operations

Look which EPS do have the best service in Medellin...... it is not the same in all cities. The best EPS in my opinion is SURA or SANITAS, cruz blanca and ALLIANSALUD are also good

2. How does the long term stability looks like in Colombia. I am half Argentinean but I would nor return to
Argentina...too jumpy economically, inflation, rates of exchange, unpredictable short-medium and also long term..
I am not the right person for that question 

Good information here.  What is the level or quality of care you receive in Colombia under these plans?

Hi there, I may be able to help expats with regards to health insurance. My boyfriend's dad works for Coomeva one of the best private health care providers in the country and I am on a plan with them. Send me a private message if you are in Cali/going to Cali and are interested as if you get it through my boyfriend's dad he looks after everything for you and might be able to get you a discount.

You don't even need a cédula or citizenship or anything. I'm on it with a touirst visa and it's great. I know the packages differ for age/type of care but I pay $80,000 a month and I get any elective appointments, checkups (blood tests, general health checkups), as well as emergency care all covered!

Hope this helps and feel free to contact me about it. I also wrote it all up in my blog which is the only blog about Cali on this site so check it out.

Marie

Hello my name is Roy Meyers, I am an American and my Colombian wife and I are looking for Insurance. Would like to talk to your boyfriends dad about insurance, can you send us his email or phone #. Thank you.

Hi Roy. I have sent you a private message with the contact details to get the insurance

Hola para todos:  If anyone knows a website or has a phone number that we can call in Colombia in regards to Medical Insurance that would be great. My wife is Colombian from Envigado (near Medellin) and she has a large family in Envigado as well. We are both retired and she draws her pension from Colpensiones in Colombia. She can put me on the basic Medical Insurance offered through Colpensiones but we need to have additonal coverage to cover the cost of medicines we take so we do not pay for the prescription medicines in full where the additional medical coverage would cover at least part of the prescription medicine. My wife says obtaining prescription medicines is difficult in Colombia but I am sure there must be some plan that makes it easier to obtain the medicines. We are considering moving to Envigado in December 2015. Any information, website links, phone numbers that anyone could share would be appreciated. Thank you all.