Job Discussion Forums

megraham · Joined: 29 Mar 2005 Posts: 10

Hey, I am planning to come to Chile, I have had a job offer and the company said there were two options, to get Chile health insurance for about 30.000 pesos per month or to bring your own as long as its possible to see a doctor in his office rather than only emergency situations.

I want to look into getting insurance in the states, but I am not sure where to look or where to start...Please let me know if you have ANY information on this.

Thanks
Meredith

john_n_carolina · Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Posts: 700 Location: n. carolina

if i were to take a guess, probably take the Chilean health insurance.

also, check out www.about.com, and put in "international health ins"

here is a list of bloggers actually "living" in Chile....i'm sure they know best...

http://bloggersinchile.blogspot.com/

or, you could join a "Yahoo-Chile" group?

bdbarnett1 · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:04 am Post subject:

I've been trying all day to find info about this! Thanks, J!

I IMed one of my Chilean friends earlier today that I met a few years back when I studied there and asked him about this. He said for every 28000 pesos, you are responsible for 5000 pesos of that. I think he meant for the medical bills, like a 20% copay or something in the USA. Take that for what it's worth Smile

mike30 · Joined: 31 Oct 2006 Posts: 67 Location: Santiago, Chile

There are two options for health insurance in Chile, FONASA or an ISAPRE. FONASA is the national health care and is the cheaper option if your employer is willing to go through all of the hoops to get you set up on it. My girlfriend had the problem that her school took the money out for FONASA each month but never actually got a card that allowed her to get her coverage for the entire year. But if the school gets you on it then it will provide more than enough coverage.

An ISAPRE is a private health care provider, similar to an HMO in the US. The advantage of signing up with an ISAPRE is that you will have better coverage and will be able to go to the top clinics in the city. Of course this costs more money. I don't think that it's necessary to go to the best clinics in town though unless you were to be undergoing a major surgery of some sort.

Buying your own insurance in the US before you come would most likely cost more money and would be a headache if you actually wanted to make any claims.

If you work for a school you must do one or the other, FONASA or an ISAPRE...but if you work independently you can just pay cash. Going to a decent clinic, like AvanSalud costs about US$35, so you really only need insurance for major procedures.