Laser eye surgery

Yes, a residency visa is required of an Expat seeking IESS medical coverage.  To enroll, you will also need a cédula, the Ecuadorian national ID card, which is readily obtained a few days after getting the residency visa.

You then can sign up immediately online with IESS.

However, only emergency situations are immediately covered.  Three monthly bank deposits must be taken -- yes, you'll need a bank account, which usually requires having the cédula too -- before you can request a non-emergency medical appointment.

A further delay can occur if you need to see a specialist.  First, you wait for the initial appointment, then get a referral to a specialist, then make an appointment for a specialist and wait for that date to come up.

cccmedia

Buenos dias CCC
Once again ;Thanks for the good info. The eligibility requirements should be do-able inside 3 mos.?
The 3 monthly deposits will set me back a lot time wise. My optomitrist is alarmed at the condition of cataracts and indicates a similar time frame here in Edmonton, Alberta between the intitial appt and the actual surgery.
Is it possible to obtain the Laser surgery thru a private plan in a closer time frame with-out the the 3 deposits scenario? I wouldn't think it could possibly cost more that 2 return airfares to Canada ( 1 to meet specialist and 1 for the surgery ) ?
'Just another stumbling block on the Road to Ecuador'!
I await your reply.
P.S.I trust that you'll be able to take some from your'job' here to 'tip a few' somewhere down the road.!
Bill

Lonecowboy wrote:

Is it possible to obtain the Laser surgery thru a private plan in a closer time frame with-out the the 3 deposits scenario?

No -- IMO not possible.  The private insurers in Ecuador will not cover an Expat for a pre-existing condition.  There could be an occasional exception to this rule, but not in the first 12 months of coverage.

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My current position on time-frames in Ecuador is this:  anything that's more complicated than buying fruit takes up to five times as long as in North America.

If you can possibly swing this procedure in Alberta, that might be best, especially with your eye doctor's alarm over the timing.  Negotiating a complicated, slow-moving, Spanish-language bureaucracy is no easy task -- even for those of us who know a few thousand words in español and have been around for quite a while.

See you at the 'juice bar.'

cccmedia

Hola
Not great news but still appreciated. My local Ecuadorian translator knows a clinic in Quito,I believe, she is currently trying to arrange something. Other -wise it sounds like i have a major challenge.