Health insurance and medical care in Malta

Hi Dave!

My husband and I will be retiring to Malta in the next couple years also. I'm a citizen now, and he will be soon, so we are in slightly different situations. However, I've researched the QM2 as well, since we'll be bringing over pets as well. On the QM2, it's a week's voyage to Portsmouth or Hamburg (if I'm remembering correctly). So even if you take your doggos over on the ship, you still have to get them into a plane or train across the continent. Plus, on the QM2, dogs have limited time out of the kennel -- they can't be in your cabin. For flights, we always fly from DC, connecting in Frankfurt or Munich. It's a long voyage. If you go the route of flying to Portugal and then getting into a train/car, that could work, though I'm not sure you can take a car from the continent onto the ferry to Malta. Plus, driving from Portugal to Sicily would be a super long trip. FYI, starting in June, Delta will start flying direct and non-stop from JFK to Malta, so that might be an option you would like to look into. For us, I've been thinking of getting our pets up to NYC into a pet-friendly hotel/AirBnb, then taking that single flight.

For healthcare, I've never had to get anything in Malta, so unfortunately I'm not a good resource to help you! Sorry! However, I do know that generally speaking, once you have your residency card, healthcare is supposed to be gratis at the governmental services buildings, i.e., the hospitals. But not so at private clinics. For prescriptions, I'm assuming it's the same, but better to check with someone who knows better. I also know that either Medicare or Medicaid does not work anywhere overseas, but I can't remember which.

I hope at least the first part was helpful!

Justin

In shopping for private health insurance in Malta, I've seen estimates averaging around €600 per year with preexisting conditions always excluded. However, in my experience, out of pocket costs in Malta have been lower than copay costs in the USA.

We recently moved to Malta. We're EU citizens as well as US citizens. So our process was different. However, the health care is the same, as we had been living in the US for many years before coming here, and have no European Health cards. Preexisting conditions are not covered by anyone. Medications are not covered by anyone. Anything related to your preexisting condition is not covered. If you are over 65 you won't be able to get on the National insurance even if you are working. So basically, the private health insurance would be for catastrophic coverage and new diagnoses. Medication is not as expensive as in the US generally speaking, although, with my Medicare plan it is cheaper to buy my prescriptions in the US. For our college aged son, the medicine he takes is less expensive here than in the US. He will be able to get on to National Insurance as a student, and if he is working here since he is young. I would shop around. We are going to be looking for a different insurance company, as the process to submit claims is onerous.  Sorry to be a bummer.

@David Glassark

Depending on your health the out of pocket costs can be significant and can even exceed the cost of healthcare in the US.  One thing to look for is to get the schedule of reasonable fees for the insurance which are often found online.  Be aware that this amount is the maximum amount that the insurance will pay, not what is customarily charged,  So it works in the opposite manner to insurance in the US where you may the first so many thousand in costs and the insurance pays the rest.  The way it works here is that the insurance pays the first so many thousand and you pay the rest with no upper limit.  So for some examples I have seen insurance that will pay 35 or 40 euro for a doctors visit while fees charged are typically 50, 70 or 90 euro.  So you pay the 90 up front and then can claim 35 or 40 back.  For larger surgeries I have seen surgeons fees of 4000 euro, 1700 of which can be paid by the insurance.  Other than that the health care is reasonably good and the private facilities are nice and compare well with most places in the US.  For common ailments and procedures there is usually no problem finding someone who can provide care similar to the US.  For more complex care you might be looking at care elsewhere in Europe or back in the US.  So expect to pay some out of pocket for your pre-existing conditions as well the rest of the cost of everything else.

For the air travel with a 20kg dog you are looking at a crate in the hold.  Lufthansa are considered the best for this and have service into Malta.  Depending on your dog this might be fine or more than they can easily bear.

You can go to the Health Centres which are free.