One of our first things to do when we arrived in Merida was to ensure our family had medical insurance. We had met Julieta Morales, who is an agent for Seguros Merida, in February on our first visit to Merida. We had sent several emails back and forth over the last few months to set up our policies before arriving. That way when we arrived we would be covered and just have to finalize the paperwork with signatures. I had quotes from two other companies but we liked the speed with which Julieta responded to our requests and we had already met her in person. It is important for you to find an agent who fits with your family needs and understands your family.

The policy with AXA has us covered for a year with a $6000MN deductible. We had the option of paying all upfront, monthly, or quarterly – the payment plans have an increased price for the financing.

I have included some email excerpts I had previously received from Julieta as I was trying to understand the whole Mexican Insurance procedures.  Julieta was also a wealth of information in providing us with names of Doctors and Dentists who speak English. This is important as when you are in an emergency situation you need to know you will be understood.

Here is an excerpt from one email Julieta had sent me as I was trying to understand the policies she had shown us.

There are no policies in English Available, I thought they might have the conditions translated by now, but they don´t, the company said they were working on the english version… but the English speaking clients are such a small % I think it’s not a priority.

The main things you have to know about the AXA policy are the following:

• unlimited sum coverage in Mexico with a $6,000 pesos deductible for illness, with a 30% coinsurance when attended out of hospital, if you are hospitalized for more that 24 hrs. and use the net doctors the company will eliminate the coinsurance of 30%. There is a waiting period of one month for all illnesses.
• There  is a 2 yr. waiting period for  certain illnesses  such as:  Hernias, gall blader, apendicitis, reflux, catarats, sinus and adenoid, tonsils, kidney stones, gyno treatments ,prostat, hemorroids, varicose vains, spine problems.
• For accidents you would be covered immediately with no deductible or coinsurance.
• you have $50,000 USD emergency coverage when traveling out of Mexico with a $50 usd. deductible
• For pregnancy you must have been insured for at least 10 months with the policy and the company gives you aprox. 22,000 pesos as an assistant payment with no deductible or coinsurance.
• all the treatments, medicationas, lab tests, scans, therapy, hospitalizacion and doctor’s fees are covered for each illness.  It must be a diagnosed illness. Check ups are not covered. to be covered you must go over the deductible.
• Dental treatments are not covered, unless it is needed due to an accident.
• Other exclusions are: autoinflicted illness such as drug addiction, anorexa, obesity, psychological treatments, selective plastic surgery, fertility treatments, hair loss treatments.

I recommend you get the policy for one trimester and when you get your fm3, I can switch you to Metlife which is a better policy.  I hope you can make a decision with this information.
Have a good day.

Here is another email from Julieta to me outlining what she needed to have our policy started on the day of arrival.

Happy for your new plans in living in Yucatan! I truely hope you enjoy and feel happy here.

Regarding the health insurance, I can issue the policy starting on the date you tell me… remember it takes one month for the illness coverage to kick in.. the accidents are covered as soon as the policy is issued.
If you are not in a hurry and want to do it when you arrive, we can wait till then.
if you want me to start the policy before you arrive I will  need the following information from each one of you:

• full name
• date and place of birth
• address & ph. in mexico
• reference address in US
• height
• weight
• drink alcohol bevg.
• excersize? what type and how often
• Have you ever been hospitalized, if so for what reason and what yr?
• Do you have any present conditions?
• Have you had any type of operations? if so what type and in what yr?
• For Lyn, how many pregnancies? all natural?
• Kurt and Lyn type of work you do or plan to do.

After you send me this information I also need you passport scanned where your picture and signature is.  There are many forms of payements if you want to divide the payements there is a financial charge, for semestral 5%, trimestral 8% and monthly is 10%.
For monthly instalmentes I would need a credit card no. since it would be automaticaly charged by the insurance company.

Here is another excerpt from an email outlining the yearly cost for insurance from three different insurers for our family:

Good morning Kurt,

You are absolutely right!
I got your quotes, but there were lost among all my emails… I really need to organize my emails…
I quoted with 3 different companies:

Allianz anual cost $28,893
AXA anual cost $27,110
Metlife anual cost $27,136

As you can see pretty similar, but the best option is Metlife since it’s the one that offers $100,000 usd coverage for emergencies out of mexico.
These amounts include all your family.
Please don’t hessitate to contact me if you have any further questions…
Good evening

Contact Information:

Agente Julieta Morales Vera
Email: julieta.morales@segurosmerida.com
Telcel: 9991 63 35 61
Iusacel: 9999 49 31 32

Seguros Mérida – Oficina
Calle 72A No. 489 x 17 Col. Garcia Gineres
C.P. 97070 Mérida, Yucatán, México
Email: contacto@segurosmerida.com
Oficina: (999) 285 72 82