Purchased hubby's insurance in Varadero upon arrival Sun., 24 Nov. 2013.
We had occasion to visit the International Clinic on Thurs., 28 Nov where hubby was diagnosed with pneumonia. Other than a small charge for delivery of antibiotics and cost of cough medicine, there were NO additional out of pocket charges. Hubby has interstitial lung disease and is on oxygen 24/7 and was using his portable oxygen concentrator when we visited the International Clinic.
At no point did the clinic staff question his insurance coverage. The doctor who saw him after his chest xray, gave us her recommendations (2 days of antibiotic injections, followed by 5 days of antibiotic tablets).
We provided the Assistur insurance form that we had received when insurance was purchased at the airport. The doctor wrote down the insurance number and advised us that she had to email Assistur's office in Havana but that Guy's medication would be delivered later that day to our room on our resort.
Guy received his first injection and we were advised that a clinic RN would come every 8 hours to administer the next injection. Later that evening, the clinic RN came directly to our room, I paid the driver the 5 CUC for delivery and Guy's recovery commenced.
I saw the bill that the doctor wrote up at the clinic. We would have had to have paid almost $400 out of pocket (and non-refundable) if we had had insurance from home.
Assistur, from what I could see on the form, for Option A coverage, provides $10,000 for hospital stay, $10,000 for repatriation and some other things (one being dental, I think).
This insurance cost us 40CUC; my insurance was $40 purhased before departure here in Saskatoon BUT because I have pre-existing conditions, there are things (chest/ear issues) that would not be covered.
SOOO - when I head back to Varadero on 22 Mar 2014, I will be purchasing MY insurance upon arrival in Varadero...
Denise
