r/Jamaica • u/feeteegee • 2d ago
Healthcare Question about Health Coverage and Insurance in Jamaica
Hey everyone,
So I wanted to find out about what sort of health coverage and insurance exists in Jamaica.
My brother was born in Jamaica but moved to Canada in his teens. He has dual citizenship.
Unfortunately our mother passed away, and my brother has had some health complications over the years including heart attacks and stroke. He’s been stable for a few years and is on several medications.
Since our mother passed, he hasn’t had a permanent place to stay and Canada is becoming unaffordable.
I want to move him down to stay with family in Jamaica but I’ve been told the healthcare situation can be tricky. I know there’s public healthcare, but can he purchase some kind of private health insurance in cases of emergency or need for medications? What happens in cases of emergency?
Thank you so much in advance ❤️
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u/FarCar55 2d ago
If you search "health insurance policies Jamaica" you'll likely find dozens of private options.
You can also search the National Health Fund, which offers a card you can use to get low (or no, not sure) rates for some medication and tests.
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u/XaymacaLiving 2d ago
Most local financial or insurance institutions offer health insurance. The problem people complain about isn't the cost of care but the quality of care.
The cost of care is significantly cheaper than the US but the quality of care over there is better.
I would look into the cost of local health insurance as well as the international/global health insurance from institution if you can afford it.
With that said, health insurance (in any country) doesn't typically cover pre-existing conditions so I would be mindful of that. As someone else suggested the National Health Fund can provide discounted medication rates for pre-existing conditions.
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u/AndreTimoll 2d ago
There are a ton of priviate insurances and he can apply fora NHF card will drastically reduced the cost of meds if his is on the approved list.
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u/adventuresfromelle 1d ago
He may not easily obtain private health insurance, unfortunately, given that he already has chronic illnesses. It's best to obtain private health insurance while healthy-- once you're already ill, the premiums are often prohibitively expensive unless he works for a company which pays a portion of the policy.
However, there's the National Health Fund which subsidizes 24 chronic illnesses currently (he may have risk factors for the heart attacks and strokes which are covered by NHF e.g. hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes). With a NHF card (easy to obtain, can collect a form at most pharmacies and clinics and have it signed up by any doctor), he will obtain subsidy sometimes up to 100% for covered medications. Visit the NHF website and search the names of his existing medications to see if he'll obtain coverage (there's a downloadable PDF). Some drugs used in Canada may not be readily available/affordable here but substitutes are often available.
Lab testing and scans can be expensive privately but are scarce publicly. If he can be managed by a GP at the health centre, that's free but wait times can be long and depending on the health centre, some only get a doctor once a week. Seeing a specialist is trickier-- he'll have to get a referral to a clinic at the hospital. Hospital care now is a whole other story, understaffed and severely under-resourced. Definitely won't compare to hospital care in Canada, but at least the primary care is decent.
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u/dearyvette 1d ago
As has already been mentioned, the quality of care—and also the availability of specialists, diagnostics, and interventions—might not look like what you may be used to.
If I needed cardio and neuro, I would want to make sure to live in an area where both specialist care and ambulances are available…these things are not “a given” in some areas.
In public healthcare in Jamaica, waiting (for sometimes months) to see a specialist happens all the time. Getting lab and scan results back can also take months.
Here are some good things to know.
Best of luck!