IESS and Permentant Resident Visa

BailCedeno wrote:

I am coming to Ecuador on a tourist visa on May 1st. I am getting married and applying for my visa and cedula around the beginning of June. Can I obtain health insurance through the IESS before I get my visa,,, ?

Dear Ball,

Welcome to the Ecuador forum of expat.com ...

You will need a cédula ID to apply for IESS health coverage.  That means having a visa.

The "tourist visa" you mentioned is actually a tourist stamp, not a visa, although Expats often refer to the stamp as a visa or tourist visa.

cccmedia

BailCedeno wrote:

If it is recommended to get a travel insurance, what is the best/ cheapest?

IMG Global has some low-cost plans for travel insurance.  Plans for seniors are available.  Choose a higher deductible for lowest rates.

There is a wait, often several months, before IESS coverage kicks in for most medical attention, once an application for coverage is submitted.  So you may wish to opt for travel insurance by the month in the meantime.

Get quotes at GoHealthPlan/IMG.

cccmedia

When they ask for Health insurance does this differ from travel insurance? I'm looking for something that I can pay less than 100$ a month. Something that is basically just for me to have in order to get my visa, and in the case that I for some odd reason in up in the hospital. I don't mind the private fees in seeing a doctor and getting a prescription as in the past it has usually cost me less than 60$ a visit.

Through the IMG (Global) are there plans less than 100$ a month?


Thanks!

Check the website I provided above or imglobal.com ...

Last time I checked, there were plans with the higher deductibles for around $100 or less for a single person.

cccmedia

Great info ccc  Hope to be there in 6 months or so--sell the house and a few other details. Any problem with providers accepting the global insurance?
Thanks Nate

I have travel insurance from Allianz that costs me about $10 per month and it reimburses for emergencies. I plan on keeping it, as I travel internationally.

I discovered two weeks ago while applying for my residency in Guayaquil that the
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana now has a list of government approved health insurance providers. The Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores agent explained that to qualify, the insurance provider must be on the list. Allianz is not on there

I contacted all 20 providers on thelist in search of quotes, fewer than half replied.
To save you a ton of time:  as of May 2019, the cheapest health insurer on their list is Ecuasanitas.
They have a list of preferred specialists and provider covering most of the country.
The cost is $34 per month.  It covers 70% to 90% of costs (read the policy for details).
I needed to pay $105 up front for the first 90 days of coverage. Then the monthly payments will come out of my checking account.

Actually, the cheapest I've found is through BMI Seguros (for 2 people is ~$28/month)
(Edit: no idea on the cost for only one person) -->

BMI was one of the ones who didn't return my inquiry. Your quote beat mine. Still $34 isn't bad-- On facebook's ecuador expat group, some people say they pay over $100/month for some providers.

I'll shop again for policies in 12 months!

Dear lebowski888

Do you know where we can access this list that shows the approved health providers.

Thank you.

Jolene8180 wrote:

Dear lebowski888

Do you know where we can access this list that shows the approved health providers.

Thank you.

This list would have been very helpful to me in March when I started the residency process!! Somebody just happened to post the link in Facebook's expat forum yesterday, and I happened to read it and bookmark it. I found the same list printed on paper in a government office in Guayaquil. 

Of course, subject to change. Current as of June 2019--- Below is a link to Ecuador's approved health insurance providers is directly from the Ecuadorian government:

http://appscvsmovil.supercias.gob.ec/po … NK0yHLA8po

Thank you very much.

Yes, indeed it's going to be very helpful to us and I'm sure it would've been to you too.

Looking for recommendations for an immigration attorney  in Salinas,, only one I find with an office there is Ecua Assist. They have offices in Manta, Cuenca and Quito. If anyone has used them or heard good or bad about them please share. I am getting  down to the wire and would like to settle on a firm to use.
Thanks for any input.
Nate

Well, here we are (2021) again and "the scuttle butt" says IESS is going bankrupt.  Did you subscribe to Ecuasanitas?  Do you have any news info on the current IESS situation?  I have had IESS for 5 years.  Thank you for the information

sischauf wrote:

"[T]he scuttle butt" says IESS is going bankrupt.  Did you subscribe to Ecuasanitas?  Do you have any news info on the current IESS situation?  I have had IESS for 5 years.

No, and Yes.

The Lasso Administration is new in town.  Presidente Lasso appointed his vice president, an experienced hospital administrator, to figure out the financial morass at IESS healthcare.  The latter toured big-city IESS hospitals and has been talking with doctors, administrators and staff to understand the IESS situation.

Part of the problem may be that the federal government doesn't have and/or doesn't want to pay IESS money it is supposed to be provided to do its work.  Another part of the problem may be a need to clean up corruption common at IESS hospitals.

Lack of transparency means Expats may not know whether the threat of bankruptcy will take down the IESS healthcare system, at least until the investigation(s) are done and legislators have their say.

cccmedia in Quito

Thank you for the additional insight.  I am from Salinas. So many of my Ecuadorian friends have told  me that the main reason  they voted for Laso was because, when campaigned here, he promissed to build a new IESS hospital in La Libertad (a neighboring city).  That does not seem very promising at this point.  Studies seem to take quite a while. Thank you again.

parrotsrest wrote:

Looking for recommendations for an immigration attorney  in Salinas, only one I find with an office there is Ecua Assist. They have offices in Manta, Cuenca and Quito. If anyone has used them or heard good or bad about them please share. I am getting  down to the wire and would like to settle on a firm to use.

Nate

Dear Nate,

My Quito immigration attorney, Sebastian Cordero, has many clients on the Ecuador coast.  He has been going there monthly to accommodate their requirements, often pertaining to real estate opportunities.

He is highly competent, knows the immigration and motor-vehicle systems and property law .. and is bi-lingual.  One time he accompanied me to the national ANT office (motor vehicles) for a meeting with ANT's national director to clear up an apparent obstacle to obtaining a drivers license.

In our most recent exchange, I asked Sebastian if he would again represent me before ANT to get the agency to waive the Spanish-language-classes requirement to restore my expired drivers license.  He looked into this .. and discovered that ANT had just decreed that (due to The Situation) motorists with expired licenses can drive legally on those licenses until the end of the year (2021).  He also told me that I would not need representation to obtain a new license as the classes requirement does not apply in my case.

When I applied for my permanent visa in 2014, and the U.S. State Department flubbed the timely processing of an apostille, Sebastian obtained for me the obscure 45-day extension of the time a tourist may remain in Ecuador .. enabling me to remain in the country until I received the apostille and the visa was successfully processed.

email... scordero(at)rcpabogados.com

cccmedia in Quito

I've tried to open the link on 2 browsers. I see nothing on the page that opens. Or is that what you're showing?