Any info on Medical insurance & stuff

zakky

New member
Dec 14, 2002
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We are thinking of moving to DR (me hubby and 2 young children) in the near future, possibly not very near a city.

What is the general procedure if you need a doctor. Do you have to register with a practice? I gather from what has been discussed we may need to find various doctors for various fields ie one for the adults one for the kids.

I would really like to pick anybody's brains on how health insurance works (we are from the UK). How expensive is insurance? Do we get it in the DR? Do we use doctors who accept patients with insurance or do we find our own, pay ourselves at the time and then claim back from insurance company? If the latter can you generally get all the costs back or does medical insurance only cover part?

Apologies if there are too many questions or I am in the wrong thread, I have just registered and this is my main concern with moving to the DR at the moment due to bringing the 'little 'uns'.

Any info or direction on where to get it would be much appreciated.

Ali Pally
 

ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
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Do a Search and also Google search

If you search the archives there has been some chat on this topic. Also the UK has several ex-pat insurers for people who started there and move out of the country. Google search on expatriate health insurance UK or similar.
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
13,884
495
83
While you are waiting for more info on health insurance, click the "search" button at the top of this page, then do a search for health insurance. There have been several threads on this topic in the recent past and you will bring them up when you do your search.

Regarding advance registration, no need to register with a practice. Depending on the doctor, you may need to call ahead and get on the list for the day. You are more likely to find that with the specialists in Santo Domingo than with doctors elsewhere. Few doctors give appointments for a specific time. This is because a great many Dominicans have difficulty being on time. So those that require you to call ahead put you on list for day, then see patients on the list in order of arrival. Doctors that don't require calling ahead see patients in order of arrival.

There is no requirement that you have one doctor for adults and another for children, and depending on where you are locating, this may not be an option. But where there is a pediatrician, many people prefer using him/her for the children, just as is also true in the US and many other countries.

The best doctors as a general rule are in Santo Domingo and Santiago. I say general rule because you can find some excellent doctors in other locations. My wife and I live in Sosua. We use area doctors for general things, but for the once or twice yearly visits to specialists, we go to Santo Domingo. Actually Santiago closer, but we lived in Samana for many years and established relationships with SD then. We do have one specialist in Puerto Plata, however, that we believe is as good as one would find anywhere in her field.
 

Dolores1

DR1
May 3, 2000
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www.
Also see http://dr1.com/living/health.shtml

Information there is still current. The government has started a new system of social security, but this may still be many months before it replaces the old system of private medical insurance plans that has worked well. The private medical insurance plans will cover most of your needs. You may choose supplemental local medical insurance for major injuries or operations, and you should consider keeping some kind of foreign medical plan for catastrophic illnesses with a high deductible.
 

Dolores1

DR1
May 3, 2000
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Servicios Dominicanos de Salud is advertising a 20% discount on their individual insurance plans that requirement payment in advance of the year. Call 809 686-5888 Ext. 230-234 for more information.
 

alitown

New member
Dec 17, 2002
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Many thanks for all your info, it's getting a bit clearer now. Checked out archives, most information seems to point to getting insurance once we are in the DR as opposed to just having an expat policy with an offshore company. Is this because the latter are not accepted by doctors as much.

Also, (apologies to drone on) Having a DR policy and an offshore disater plan sound pricy, do you find the overall cost of having both to add a lot to general living costs.

I am hoping we can get a reasonable family policy for similar to uk prices say US$150 per month. Is that reasonable or am I way off the mark.

Many thanks, this is my last question on the subject, probably:).

Ali Pally
 

Dolores1

DR1
May 3, 2000
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You could get a normal coverage plan for half of that, and a full coverage plan for that amount. But in case you need disaster medical services (cancer, major surgery), you would want to keep your foreign medical insurance with a big deductible.