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Hello Michellehodges and welcome to ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

While waiting for members to share with you an affordable health Insurance, I invite you to ask for a free quote with our partner here : Expatriate health insurance Puerto Rico

Regards
Kenjee
½ûÂþÌìÌà Team

Our family of 5 is moving from VA to PR in 2 weeks. We just purchased MCS PPO and the cost is about $750/mo. It's less than we are currently paying, and the coverage seems good. I can let you know in 6 months if it is working out.

Suzanne, your family must be so excited on your upcoming move.  I know you are probably very busy with all the details of packing and what not.  Are you shipping anything and are you renting a furnished home?  It sounds like your health insurance is reasonable.  Good luck with the move~

Hi Suzanne. Best of luck on your move to PR. Where in VA are you coming from? We moved there from Newport News, VA. Concerning healthcare. I have no idea how good your health coverage is or what it covers. But I would suggest that you read back through some past posts concerning peope's experiences with the healthcare system in PR. Without trying to sound disparaging I'd just like to say that you shouldn't expect to get the same level of care that you get in the states. Understand this before and and expect to excersizie a bit more patience when seeing a doctor or going to the hospital. But reading the past posts should enlighten you and help prepare you mentally.

Hi Suzanne:

I use the SALUS clinic next to the American Military Academy, on the border of Bayamón and Guaynabo.  It's a one-stop-shop for all physicians, dentists and specialty services.  I've had pretty good experiences - feel free to PM me and I can give you details.  They schedule appointments and, for the most part, stay fairly close to schedule.  I always budget an extra hour past my appointment time to actually get seen by the doctor/dentist.  Hope this helps!!

Trekrider, that is good to hear some positives about the healthcare

Thanks Suzanne, I'll check them out. Patience is definitely needed in the Caribbean, it was the same when I lived in the British Virgin Islands. In fact, many expats, including me, will see specialists in Puerto Rico and don't give birth in the BVI as the health system is worse there than in Puerto Rico. Both my boys were born at Pavia, Santurce and I had complications for both. Without the Dr's at Pavia and Ashford Presby, both myself and my 2nd child wouldn't be hear today. I'm certainly not saying that the health system is rock solid, however in my case, I had a good experience. It's certainly great to have recommendations, thanks Trekrider. The Neonatologist that took care of both my boys is now a very good friend of ours, so I feel more comfortable in knowing someone has our back.

I've spent half my life expat so I am good to go where patience is concerned We are moving from Ashburn in Northern VA, where it is freezing cold right now. Renting a furnished apt in Ocean Park and USPS-ing about a dozen boxes of "stuff". My kids (3 teen girls) will have to find a way to survive with that! I am not about to let "stuff" control our lives to we will go relatively sparsely.  Counting down the days - we fly out January 3rd!

Hi Suzanne
you said previously that you are sending your kids to St. John.  Do you have a contact there and an email you can send my way.  I tried emailing the admissions department but the email came back as undeliverable.  My husband and I will be down January 28 - 31st to tour through schools and St. John's is the only one I cannot seem to contact.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Yes, I've been chatting with Annette Hequin and her email is ahequin@sjspr.org. Schools are all closed till the 8th at least, so don't be surprised if no response till then. I also talked to Jovita Casanova at TASIS mailto:casanova.j@tasisdorado.com and thought they were super disorganized, and Paola Donzalez PGonzalez@robinsonschool.org at Robinson, who was very helpful but did not have the classes we needed. I didn't go to Baldwin but I emailed with Ely Mejias emejias@baldwin-school.org who was very responsive. Good luck!!!

Hi Suzanne,
I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas? Would you mind providing me with the contact details for your insurance? Thanks so much.

Thanks a ton! I sent my emails out so we will see what response I get.  I already have Robinson and Parkville scheduled.

Michellehodges wrote:

Hi Suzanne,
I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas? Would you mind providing me with the contact details for your insurance? Thanks so much.

Hi Michelle-
Here is what we received - her email address is included!

From: Melissa Rexach Urgell [mailto:rexachinsurance@outlook.com] 
I looked for options on the market and MCS (Medical Card System) is the insurance company with the best offer on the market; best benefits, best price.
Total monthly premium will be $676.55 for the five members.
This option includes Medical, Unlimited RX, Dental, Vision and a life insurance of $25k.

Thank you so much for sharing that with me, I really appreciate it.

suzanne12345 wrote:

I've spent half my life expat so I am good to go where patience is concerned We are moving from Ashburn in Northern VA, where it is freezing cold right now. Renting a furnished apt in Ocean Park and USPS-ing about a dozen boxes of "stuff". My kids (3 teen girls) will have to find a way to survive with that! I am not about to let "stuff" control our lives to we will go relatively sparsely.  Counting down the days - we fly out January 3rd!

Hey Suzanne,
I just wanted to wish you the very best of luck with your move to Puerto Rico tomorrow. May it be everything you hope for a more. It's an exciting chapter for you and your family and may 2015 be an amazing one. Take care.

Hi, Suzanne, I just wanted to wish you safe travels today and wish many blessings to you and your family on this new journey in your lives.  How exciting it must be!

Thanks for all the good wishes! We arrived - with the 2 dogs - yesterday, just in time to escape the polar plunge in the US, and everyone is happy. Now we need to hit Costco and Walmart to stock up the apt!

Welcome to the island! I hope you guys are going to be happy here!

I live in Hampton Roads at the moment and we are planning to move this year... I saw you moved with 2 doggies... how did they get there? I have a 12 yr old min schnauzer and he is my 2 legged child in a 4 legged schnauzer form ;o)  I want him to be safe and as comfortable as possible or "daddy" can get quite nasty when it comes to his baby. We've thought about driving to FL and chartering from there so that he can be with me on the plane. He's never been on anything besides my lap in the front seat of the car and traumatizing him isn't something I'm wanting to do.

BearNVa,
We flew the dogs from Dulles on a direct flight with United. Just the week before someone tweeted a pic of a dog cage left on the tarmac in the rain for hours (and caught lots of flak), so I think (hope) that United got the message to take better care of the animals.  we have an 11 year old Brittany who is my baby and she had no problems. I totally understand the concern, though, and iif you can swing the short charter flight i'd go for it.

We use Triple S BC/BC and it is less then half of what we paid in NJ.

Thank you, Hector Pagan, for the information~

I came across this lecture and thought it might be of interest.

Thank you, frogrock, for the video.  I just got around to watching this, interest video.  It seems we are covered as we have Blue Cross Blue Shield but I need to check with them to see what kind of coverage we have in PR.  I'm bookmarking this thread for further reference 

suzanne12345 wrote:

Michellehodges wrote:

Hi Suzanne,
I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas? Would you mind providing me with the contact details for your insurance? Thanks so much.

Hi Michelle-
Here is what we received - her email address is included!

From: Melissa Rexach Urgell [mailto:rexachinsurance@outlook.com] 
I looked for options on the market and MCS (Medical Card System) is the insurance company with the best offer on the market; best benefits, best price.
Total monthly premium will be $676.55 for the five members.
This option includes Medical, Unlimited RX, Dental, Vision and a life insurance of $25k.

Now that you have been in that program for a while, how about letting us know how happy are you with it and what do you not like?

One point of confusion (on my part) I was under the impression that MCS was for medicare beneficiaries, you look too young for medicare. Do they cover regular folks not on medicare?
Thanks