Expat Healthcare & Health Insurance in Paysandu, Uruguay

Many expats are eligible to enroll in the healthcare system and many take advantage of this. Enrolling is not that difficult; just a lot of paperwork involved. The cost per year is about US $500.

We are under the impression that pre-existing conditions are covered, but again we do not have first hand experience in this area. There are public hospitals and we have heard that they are to be avoided as the quality, service and comfort is just not there. It has been compared to a "cattle call" so to speak, with long wait times and bad bedside manner.

When a newcomer asks about medical care, we tell them to go to COMEPA. Along with the facilities being modern and having English speaking doctors, we have only heard of good reviews coming from that hospital. We are not familiar with serious medical conditions or the hospitals and doctors that treat them; however in Montevideo, Uruguays capital, there is a British hospital that is all the talk amongst expats, so I would definitely recommend this hospital along with giving Buenos Aires, Argentina as an option.

The emergency services seem to be reliable, although we never have had to use them. There are fire trucks and ambulances seen all throughout Uruguay. Our local private hospital COMEPA is about 10-15 minutes away from our farm. The method of calling an ambulance is like the states 9-1-1.

For specialized or alternative healthcare Buenas Aires, Argentina is a go-to hot spot as there are many options there and it is near Uruguay. Returning to our home country for healthcare would be an option for serious medical conditions because specialists are limited here and there's always the language barrier.

Common prescriptions are readily available at our local pharmacy without a prescription. The prices are quite reasonable and easy to order. There doesn't seem to be much regulation or limit to the amount of medicines that are purchased. We are able to place large order to be picked up in a few days.

We have private healthcare insurance; however we have not used it yet. Our experience has been with alternative (naturopathic) doctors. These types of doctor have been paid out of pocket as the average healthcare insurance does not cover alternative healthcare. The healthcare insurance that we have is accepted by the private hospitals near us. We chose our healthcare provider due to the nature of our living situation; we live on a large farm and part of the farm insurance includes healthcare for our family and any hired help.