Top Choice If You Have Health Concerns
March 31, 2009
Panama City, Panama
PLUS:
- The Sweetest Deal You're Going To Find In Granada...
AND:
- Best Antiques And Other Panama City Shopping Tips...
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The Safest Haven In The Americas Is Also...
Beautiful, with dramatic ocean and mountain views, warm, welcoming, and
friendly. This is the best of small-town life, Old World charms, and
big-city comforts and diversions...plus beach and marina access.
And, yes,
very, very affordable.
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Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
"This country is the ideal choice for anyone struggling with medical issues,
especially chronic ailments," writes Uruguay Correspondent
Sol Maria Klug.
"I have insulin-dependent diabetes. In my research for an overseas
retirement haven, therefore, my top priority was clear. I needed excellent
and affordable health care.
"That's why I was delighted to discover that Uruguay offers both world-class
medical care and outstanding health coverage benefits, despite my
pre-existing condition.
"It's not only the high quality and the low cost of care that makes this
country so attractive to anyone with an ongoing health concern. It's also
the quality of the food, the quality of living generally, the relaxed,
stress-free way of life...
"Bottom line, though, someone in my position, with an ongoing health issue,
has to be most concerned about the cost of health care. No matter how
healthy you live, you can't predict what medical care you might require
someday.
"Here in Uruguay, I discovered that I was eligible for full health care
coverage at one of the finest medical care systems anywhere, again, despite
my pre-existing condition.
"The Semm Mautone, located minutes from my home in Punte Del Este, offered
me total coverage, not the basic service, but membership in their VIP level
of care. All doctor and specialist visits, emergency room service,
dieticians, ambulance transport, lab work, X-rays, nursing care, physician
house calls, and private room hospital stays, with an extra bed and meals
for visiting family members...all of this, with no co-pays, plus
prescription drugs for a flat fee of US$4 per prescription...for less then
US$100 a month.
"Keep in mind that I am not a citizen of Uruguay. That was not a restriction
to taking advantage of this insurance program.
"The representative personalized the service by driving to my home to
explain the benefits and to take my application. Three days later, I was
accepted, and benefits became effective immediately.
"My coverage extends to the world-recognized British Hospital in Montevideo.
"Unable to cook for yourself? Master Foods, an affiliate of Semm Mautone,
will deliver home-cooked food to your door daily, for US$5 a meal, even if
you have special diet needs.
"I'm not over-stating things when I say that living here in Uruguay has been
like a miracle with regards to my long battle with diabetes."
Kathleen Peddicord
P.S. To clarify: This program through Semm Mautone in Punta del Este is
great health coverage in Uruguay. It is not, though, international health
insurance. As Sol Maria explains, it provides top-notch health care for you
while you're in Uruguay, at both Semm Mautone and the British Hospital in
Montevideo, but it would not cover you at all outside the country...or even
at other hospitals in Uruguay.
This is why we say health insurance and health care is such a personal
issue. Sol Maria has found an option that makes great sense for her and that
is providing her with the coverage she wants at a truly bargain price.
The real problem with international health coverage is that the options are
so many. It can be hard to make sense of them. We're preparing a new special
report called "The Expatriate's Guide To International Health Insurance" to
walk you through the best available choices. It will be available to you
starting next month. Watch this space.
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The World's Most Affordable Places To Retire...
The world's safest retirement havens...friendliest places to live...best
weather...lowest tax burdens...most beautiful, most exciting, most
infatuating places to hang your hat...
Plus best rental options...smartest places to own...
From Cuenca, Ecuador (cheapest)...to Ambergris Caye,
Belize (foreign resident-friendly)...from El Valle, Panama
(sweet mountain living in a top tax haven)...to Mendoza,
Argentina (wine country on a budget)...from Hangzhou, China
(exotic and ultra-cheap)...to Languedoc, south of France
(Old World living on a budget)...to La Barra, Uruguay (the
most elegant sea-side retirement on a budget)...
complete and in-depth reports on the world's top retirement havens for 2009, including
full details on residency, health care, taxes, and itemized monthly budgets.
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"I thought your readers would like to know, Kathleen," writes friend and
fellow expat Jay Snyder from sunny Granada,
Nicaragua,
"that, in response to the worldwide economic conditions, we have decided to
'sweeten the deal' for our last few remaining units at our
Condos de
Xalteva.
"Through May 30, we will provide accommodation at the condos for Live and
Invest Overseas readers gratis, for two nights, on a
space-available basis, so they can take a look-see.
"Should one of your readers decide to purchase during that visit, we will
include the US$5,300 furnishings package at no charge, making it a true
turn-key buy.
"In addition, we will give any LIO reader an additional discount of
US$4,200, this to cover his total trip expenses and then some.
"The cost of living in Nicaragua is one of the lowest in Central America.
Your readers should come check it out.
"One more thing: We have a financing plan available. It's a 15-year mortgage
with a 5-year balloon and an interest rate of 6.7%."
Take a look at what Jay has built in the heart of charming, romantic,
colonial Granada. It's one of the
most impressive condo development properties I've seen anywhere.
"My wife and I will close on an apartment in Panama in May
2009. We are interested in any guidance you can provide us on furnishing the
apartment locally."
-- Johnny and Doris R., United States
The good news, dear readers, is that, no matter what your taste and style,
you'll find furnishings to suit in Panama City.
I like antiques. Best source is Natalia's, in Marbella,
Calle 5, down the street from the Four Points Sheraton, e-mail:
natcvelez@yahoo.com.
Natalia's inventory is renewed regularly and features antiques from both
Europe and the Americas. Prices are not super cheap, but reasonable for what
you're buying. I bought a pair of massive, 300-year-old wooden window
frames, with their original shutters and iron work, taken out of an old
colonial building in Cartagena, Colombia, for US$900 apiece and a painted
Ventian armoire for US$1,100.
Best place for traditional reproductions is Metropolitan Furniture
in Bella Vista, Calle 48, e-mail:
metropolitan@cwpanama.net. Again, not cheap, but a wide selection of
well-done reproductions in the Old World-style.
Also good for imported reproductions: Addison House, in
Obarrio, Calle 57, e-mail:
ventas@addisonpanama.com...and BBK, also in Obarrio.
If your taste runs to the Far East: Banyan Leaf, in
Marbella, Calle 49, e-mail:
mail@banyanleafshop.com.
For more contemporary furniture (particularly sofas): EuroStudio,
Calle 50 and Calle Uruguay, e-mail:
euro@europma.com.
For more affordable but still interesting furniture, plus the best selection
of accessories, mirrors, small, fill-in pieces, as well as linens and
kitchen and bath items: Conway Design in
MultiCentro mall. |
