Learning about how health insurance in Colombia works is probably one of the most important things to do while doing entrepreneurship in the country. I’m no expert in health insurance, but I’m gonna share some of my own experience below.
During my first time in Colombia I had an international health insurance from my home country, Sweden. It worked in the following way: if I got sick I went to the hospital, paid in cash for everything and then asked the doctor to fill in a form which I then could send back to the insurance company in Sweden in order for them to transfer the stated funds to me. This had some drawbacks.
First of all I had to make sure I had a lot of cash with me while visiting the hospital, and I am not sure what would have happened if I would have entered the emergency without this. I also would have had to pay a certain amount of money in order for the Swedish insurance company to even compensate me in the first place, and even if they did there would have been a basic fee to pay in order to get the larger compensation. Needless to say this means that for any minor ailments I needed to pay in cash, which I quite often did.
At the time of writing this I am not sure of which other more international alternatives there are for getting health insurance. I am sure there are more practical options which allows you to have a more smooth process. Today I am however going to talk about the local health insurance in Colombia.
Choosing a health insurance in Colombia
There are quite a few health insurance companies to pick from. I chose the one called SURA (Suramericana) since I had been given this recommendation. Some people told me that they are the best alternative. If that is really the case I don’t know. I didn’t have a bad experience with them, but when it comes to recommendations people often just repeat what they have heard other people say.
One person says “X is the best health insurance in Colombia” to a second person and then that second person repeats basically the same thing when asked about the same topic, without really having verified the information as such. And then there is the issue of in what way/aspect one company is better than the other. Cost? Coverage? Proximity to supported hospitals? Other things?
EPS – the basic health insurance in Colombia
Anyhow, the most basic thing you are required to have, at least when living in Colombia, is the EPS. If you are working in a Colombian company the employer pays this for you, along with your pension and other social security costs. If on the other hand you are studying in Colombia or otherwise not employed by a Colombian company you will have to register as an independent. If you are not going to stay in Colombia for the foreseeable future also make sure they won’t charge you pension. The pension plan in Colombia is a whole other topic btw.
The cost of the EPS is based on your income as an independent. However if you study you make sure they base the EPS fee on the minimum salary. At the time of writing this the EPS would hence cost equivalent to about 10-11 dollars per month. This amount may however change due to exchange rates and inflation.
Paying a little extra in order to get a lot better health insurance in Colombia
The EPS gives you access to health care, but since it is cheap the hospitals you will have access to won’t really be that good. What you then need to do is to get some kind of complementary plan that costs a little more and gives you access to a lot better hospitals and health care (which the insurance agents are very happy to provide you with). The complementary plan is often called ‘medicina prepagada’ and the cost for me was about 25-30 dollars extra each month on top of what I was already paying for the EPS health insurance in Colombia.
This complementary plan for health insurance in Colombia however makes all the difference. The hospital experience in Cali while having this plan was always a very pleasant experience. Very polite staff, clean hospitals and quick attendance. It wasn’t crowded either. I can without a doubt say that the health care experience with such an arrangement was ten times better than what I was used to back in Sweden, without a doubt.
Back in Sweden I have had to wait several hours in the emergency and there have been times that they have not received me at all in the emergency even though I was sick in a lot of pain. The hospital staff in Colombia has furthermore always had a significantly better attitude than what I was used to back in Sweden.
Medications
The only drawback I had with my health insurance in Colombia was that the medicine you bought at the pharmacy, after receiving a receipt from the doctor, was quite costly. Back in Sweden there is a limit to how much you pay for medicine, and the rest of the cost is then subsidized.
There might however be complementary plans in Colombia in order to get a limit to how much you pay for the medicine you get at the pharmacy, but I am unaware of this at the present moment. That’s all for now. Stay safe!
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