Do you guys have a health/dental plan or pay as you go?

shindig said:
My aunt/uncle live there full time and I love it down there, my goal is to move there when I get enough passive income to live off. They rent out their house in san diego and live off that, along with retirement moneys.

My aunt has leukemia and actually gets her $200/day medicine for free down there. Medicare and her private health insurance don't work outside the states, so she was able to show hardship and gets it for free.

They have 85 acres of jungle they've owned since the 1970's and bought a house when they moved down there full time in the mountains in a place called: San Juan de Puriscal where it's in the 70's year around. Decent house cost $60k and he has a full time skilled construction worker constantly building shit for $4/hour
Click to expand...

Puriscal is nice, up in the moutains away from the big city but close enough to run into town. Atenas is similar but much more accessible to San Jose (now that the highway is built out to the beach - 45 min from SJ to the sand).

Back in the old days, lots of really nice property here for pennies. Locals have been educated though and don't give away land anymore, but if you look around and play hard ball you can still get some decent deals.

I have private health insurance here and it's expensive $3K /yr, but they cover 90% of the cost of most things including meds. You can go through Caja which is government insurance and get everything for free but there are ups and downs to that.
 


small biz health insurance plans are available for companies with only one employee in my state. check em out
 
nickCR said:
Puriscal is nice, up in the moutains away from the big city but close enough to run into town. Atenas is similar but much more accessible to San Jose (now that the highway is built out to the beach - 45 min from SJ to the sand).

Back in the old days, lots of really nice property here for pennies. Locals have been educated though and don't give away land anymore, but if you look around and play hard ball you can still get some decent deals.

I have private health insurance here and it's expensive $3K /yr, but they cover 90% of the cost of most things including meds. You can go through Caja which is government insurance and get everything for free but there are ups and downs to that.
Click to expand...

Ah man you live there you lucky bastard. When I was there in San Jose there was an ice cream place where I got this platter of like 30 different scoops of various sherberts I've never had since.

We cruised to both coasts, had an inflatable boat and caught so many fish and dove for hours in crystal clear warm water. My uncle's an entomologist and we went to the biggest national jungle forest for 3 days chillin in a camper with a generator and mercury vapor light catching moths the size of birds, caught some narly jungle trout with huge teeth in the river just upstream from a hydro electric dam. As we were leaving I told my uncle we should separate the bugs he didn't want to lose, even though he had some documents for the museum he worked for, and the official as we left confiscated the shit we showed him. But we still had the good stash.

His jungle land is west of Puriscal, like 20 miles from the coast but takes 40 min to drive.

Insurance here is over $1k/mo paid by the employer who usually gets a better plan for the price since they're insuring a large group. I have to pay $15/mo for the dental insurance above what the employer pays.
 
Well I got my bill for some significant tests so figured I'd post the results with health insurance:

$40 co-pays x 5 = $200

Cost of MRI: $10,203
Cost of bloodwork: $800

Insurance pays for MRI: $1,750
Insurance pays for bloodwork: $260

Hospital bills me for $270

Total cost to me $470 (co-pay + bill) plus whatever my work pays for premium monthly(more than $1k/mo).


So tbh, if the hospital settles for $2k for $11k worth of work, paying $2k out of pocket without insurance wasn't a bad bet in this case, assuming you're paying the monthly premiums (which would be more than 2k in a couple months).

 
Vetraz said:
Do you travel at all? I am surprised no one mentioned medical tourism. I was in Thailand in February, went to a dentist, had 3 fillings and cleaning done - cost me a wopping DKK408. The money I saved probably paid for the ticket.
Click to expand...

Yes, Thailand is very cheap, just make sure not to catch super-aids or hep from the dentist.
 
shindig said:
I'm in my later 20's and have recently nailed the insurance with probably $20k+ in costs, all originating from a pain in my face. I haven't got the bill yet to say the exact amount, but spent an hour in the MRI 2 weeks ago with and without contrast, which found something, which led to a spinal tap last week and crazy blood tests. The neurologist is like $400 for 15 minutes, they verify your insurance or require payment before seeing them. My friend's MRI was $4k for 15 minutes and I spent a full hour being zapped. That shit is cooled with liquid helium ffs.
Click to expand...

Sorry bro, but you and your friend and particularly your insurance company is getting fucked royally. The real cost of an MRI is no more than maybe $500. Then add some extra like depreciation and staff. An MRI doesn't cost more than maximum $1500. I've actually once paid out of pocked for a CT scan in Tokyo which cost me $600. Now I know there's a big difference, but don't tell that an MRI has to cost $4K?

The hospitals and greedy bastard doctors are majorly scamming insurance companies, which then results in even higher premiums.

Of course the doctors themselves need expensive insurance to cover against malpractice lawsuits. They also need to pay big debts for student loans.

But really, you are getting fucked over. Health care really doesn't cost that much. It's a scam.
 
rusvik said:
Sorry bro, but you and your friend and particularly your insurance company is getting fucked royally.
Of course the doctors themselves need expensive insurance to cover against malpractice lawsuits. They also need to pay big debts for student loans.

But really, you are getting fucked over. Health care really doesn't cost that much. It's a scam.
Click to expand...
It wasn't 4k, the actual bill was $10,203 for the MRI. It was with and without contrast, so more comprehensive than a basic one. The hospital is accepting $2k of the $10,203 as payment. $1730 from my insurance and $270 from me.
 
When I quit my job to go self-employed, I got health insurance which I paid for every month and never missed a payment.

The first fucking time I need to use it, they denied my claim.

Don't use cheap health insurance plans. They're absolute fucking garbage. If you're going to do it, do it right. I learned my lesson the hard way.

And @OP - I'd just pay for dental stuff as it comes up. None of it is overly expensive unless you get into the cosmetic stuff. And most big cities have extremely cheap dental clinics anyway.
 
To me, the difference in cost is mind boggling. For example $800-1000 for a root canal in the US vs $30 here in Romania. And I know you're thinking the quality of service must be inferior but it isn't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back