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Moving to Mexico | Part 7 of 10 · An honest series by Dudy, creator of My Puerto Vallarta Daily
Dudy shares his family’s personal journey of moving to Mexico — the good, the challenging, the unexpected, and everything in between. In Part 7: health insurance in Mexico for expats — the research, the reality, and the surprises.
It sounded almost too good to be true
I’m about to burst another bubble, and I apologize in advance. Before moving to Mexico, healthcare consumed about 70% of my research. I joined every expat group, read countless articles, asked ChatGPT so many questions that my free account practically gave up on me, and even worked with a healthcare facilitator. On paper, it all looked amazing. Affordable private healthcare, excellent doctors, low insurance premiums… it almost sounded too good to be true. Looking back, for us, parts of it were.
Two very different insurance stories
My husband is 40, healthy, active, at a good weight, and has no pre existing conditions. Getting him private health insurance was easy. He received excellent coverage for around $100 a month.
My experience couldn’t have been more different. I’m 50, do have a few pre existing conditions, nothing life threatening, but they were enough for three out of four insurance companies to reject me outright. The only company willing to insure me quoted about $525 per month. That was our first major surprise after moving to Mexico, and one we simply hadn’t anticipated despite months of research.
IMSS, private hospitals, and reality
In the end, I enrolled in IMSS. It’s good, certainly better than having no coverage, but it isn’t without limitations. For example, if you’re hospitalized overnight, or even for certain day procedures, someone is expected to stay with you. Most services are also provided in Spanish. Google Translate is a wonderful tool, but it’s not something I want to rely on during an important medical consultation.
To make matters worse, when my husband needed emergency care, we chose a private hospital and had one of the most disappointing healthcare experiences we’ve ever had. We paid a lot and received very little in return. This doesn’t mean healthcare in Mexico is bad. Many people have fantastic experiences. It simply means that, like so many other aspects of moving abroad, your experience may be very different from the stories you read online. Do your research, plan for different scenarios, and don’t assume your healthcare journey will look like someone else’s.
Previous: Part 6 — Learning Spanish Changes Everything ← · Next: Part 8 — The Pace of Life →
About this series
Originally shared on My Around the World Daily. Adapted with permission. Dudy spent a year living in Puerto Vallarta, photographing it daily for thousands of followers — read his farewell interview with I Heart Vallarta: CLICK HERE
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