Hello
We are considering getting major medical coverage here in Belize and wondered if anyone could relay their experiences. Thanks so much!

we tried with SAGICOR.
they would insure me but not my wife, and to find out why has been a serious uphill climb with no answers yet!
yesterday we tried RF&G and found out we could not afford them.
back to the witch doctor we go,,,

We insure with BUPA worldwide (formerly AMEDEX) via RF & G. As Barnacle has said - it truly is expensive. For us it is currently a sacrifice that we are willing to make because went through a major medical emergency and the family member that was affected wasn't covered at the time - the emergency REALLY cost some bucks. We had to borrow from friends and family to cover the bills and could have bought a small home with the amount that was billed.

I haven't need to use the coverage (thankfully) but I do know friends that have used the policy with no problems and great results.

The Belize Medical Health Parners? (formerly Universal Health Care) in Belize city have a policy of some type that handles a lot of regular screenings and I imagine emergencies too. I would guess that Belize Medical Associates probably has a similar program.

We use International Medical Group. http://www.imglobal.com/
Although we have never made a claim, thank goodness.

BUPA is expensive, but if you have one major incident the insurance will have paid for itself many times over.
We started out with Winterthur International long ago, and their rates became much too high - then they also notified us that the coverage would stop at age 65. BUPA does not have that 65-years cutoff, and that was/is reassuring.
Any coverage as good as BUPA or close to it, at lower rates would be a godsend, but at a certain point in time you can't switch due to whatever pre-existing conditions might apply to you.
Perhaps a possible approach is to form a company of some kind and get a group policy?
By the way we have processed claims with BUPA (AMEDEX at the time) and found the service very good.

Thanks for the information, everyone!

Actually we have met with Sagicor (Capital Life) and it seems fairly reasonable. We were just concerned that they wouldn't live up to the promises and wanted to check out other options as well. Apparently they have international providers under contract, so they cover Belize, Mexico and USA as well.

Don't forget you need a medivac airlift - cash cost was US$18K from the US to Belize and back(payment to be made before the plane is ordered and flight plans are filed.) Ambulances should be covered too. Hotels for accompanying family member.

"put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning..."

BUPA has the medivac coverage - that's our only experience in a lear-jet - sure glad we had the insurance.