Insurance Faq's
Health Insurance
As with most other things, if you are someone with a preexisting condition, if and how you are accepted for private health insurance will be determined by the companies you apply to and the condition(s) that you may have.
Uninsurable Conditions: These conditions appear on a list provided by each insurance provider, and it varies between companies. If you already have one of these conditions unfortunately you would not be eligible for insurance with that specific company. They usually include the more severe illnesses like Parkinson’s, Fibromyalgia, Insulin-dependent Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, etc. A person must be Cancer-free for at least 10 years to be eligible for insurance with most companies.
If you have a preexisting condition, but it does not appear on that list, then you are still eligible for insurance. These conditions are taken on a case-by-case basis, so it is hard to know up-front how your condition will be accepted. The best we can do is submit an application, and then most companies will ask for some lab testing and a medical history report completed by a physician. They may also ask for supplemental forms to be completed regarding the specific condition, as well as any past documents that outline the diagnosis, treatment, evolution and current condition of the illness. Based on this information they make their decision.
The common outcomes we see are:
- The condition gets included in the coverage like normal
- The condition is included in the coverage, but with a higher deductible, extra premium, or lower sum insured maximum
- The coverage is permanently excluded from coverage
- A moratorium is placed on the condition, in which case it starts off excluded, but can be reviewed at each renewal, with updated medical information, to determine if it can be included in the coverage
All private health insurance providers have a waiting period for certain diseases. A waiting period means that once you are accepted under a policy, and coverage begins, you cannot be diagnosed with any of these certain illnesses until the waiting periods have expired. If you are diagnosed with a disease before its waiting period has expired, this disease would be permanently excluded from coverage as a preexisting condition for the life of the policy.
The waiting periods vary by company. Some of the more elite providers have a standard 60 day waiting period for all diseases. So have them leveled off, like for example, 3 months for kidney stones and mental disorders, 6 months for heart issues, 1 year for cancer, etc. HIV/AIDS is almost always 2 years.
When applying for a new private insurance, if you will be insured with a different private insurer until the time you are accepted by the new company, most companies will let you transfer your seniority to them. That means that any consecutive months or years you were covered by your old policy can be carried over to the new policy to eliminate that amount of time off any waiting periods.
There are 2 main ways that deductibles work with private health insurance in Mexico:
Per Year: This means that your chosen deductible will replenish at the renewal every year. It also means that ANY incurred medical expenses throughout one policy year can be added towards this deductible. The benefit of this option is that you are only needing to meet 1 deductible every year.
Per Event: This means that you need to reach your chosen deductible for each separate illness or disease. But these deductibles expand through the years, and that is where the benefit of this option comes in. If you contract a major disease like Cancer, instead of needing to meet a new deductible every year, you just meet the deductible 1 time for any Cancer-related costs, and then the Cancer is completely covered by the company for the life of the policy.
Also most deductibles are per person, however with certain companies, if there is a family group of 3 or more people on the policy, they reduce the deductibles to 2 or 3 per family unit.
The actual deductible options vary by company but can go as low as 250 USD per year, and as high as 10,000 USD per year.
Age Limit of Acceptance: With both annual private medical insurance and travel medical insurance there are age limits for acceptance. With the private insurance, if you are accepted for a policy by that age, you are able to renew for life. The company cannot cancel you due to age. With travel insurance, once you reach that age limit you are no longer eligible for their insurance, so you cannot get a policy with them. The age limits very for both private and travel insurance, depending on the company, but generally the range is from 65-75 years old. So if you get travel insurance until you are 75, you are no longer eligible for any type of insurance because the cut off age for the private insurance is also 75.
Length of Coverage: With private insurance, once you are accepted you can renew your policy for life. The insurance company cannot cancel the policy due to age or use of the policy, etc. The only reason the policy can be cancelled by the insurance company is because of a lack of payment. With travel insurance, most policies can be bought for 365 days at once, but you can only have coverage for 2 consecutive years at a time. After the 2 years you would need to switch to another company for 1 year, before you could go back to the first company for another 2 years
Renewing vs. Repurchasing: Whether you only buy a travel policy for the few weeks or months per year, while you are out of your home country, or if you plan to use travel insurance as an annual plan in place of private insurance, you are never able to renew a travel insurance policy. It is always considered that you are purchasing a completely new policy. Because of that you are never able to accumulate seniority or any benefits that you normally get with private insurance as you renew your policy through the years.
Preexisting Conditions: As a continuation of the above point, because you are not renewing a travel policy, preexisting conditions are treated differently. With private health insurance, once you are covered by a policy, any injury or disease would be covered for the life of the policy (to the maximum sum value contracted). With travel insurance there are 2 examples of the difference. You buy a travel policy to cover you abroad for 5 months. Then you go back to your home country, so you no longer have the policy. If in that time you contract any disease or suffer any injury, the next time you go to purchase a travel policy to travel abroad, any medical expenses related to those conditions would be excluded as preexisting conditions. It works the same way if you use travel insurance in place of private insurance. Even if you have a travel insurance policy for 365 days, and buy a new policy to start on the 366th day, so there is technically no lapse in coverage, because you are repurchasing and not renewing, any conditions that may have been covered by the prior policy would now be excluded as preexisting conditions by the second policy.
Travel Insurance
No, our plans have been designed by insurance experts, travelers, and digital nomads to make them attractive and easy to use and understand. So once you have paid your premium, there is no other fee that you are responsible for.
With most providers, you need to purchase the policy before you leave home. With our plans, however, you have the option to buy it even if you are already in your destination. This is possible thanks to constant negotiations with our providers. Of course, buying the policy before your departure will always give you more benefits such as trip cancellation, loss of luggage, etc.,
Nevertheless, if your main concern is having protection against medical expenses, our plans are perfect for it and available even if you’ve left home already.
You can extend the coverage of your plan by contacting our team at service@guardianinsurancemx.com or completing the online travel insurance form
With most companies the age limit is 69. With our providers, however, the limit goes from 65 to 85 depending on the plan you want.
Travel Insurance providers can pay directly to hospitals and doctors as long as the client/patient stays a minimum of 24 hours in hospitalization. If the hospital stay is less than that, it will operate via reimbursement
Travel Insurance providers typically work with an open network, meaning you can go to any hospital or doctor in the area where you are, and the company will be able to pay directly provided the hospital/doctor accepts payments from insurance companies, which is the case most of the time
MedEvac Insurance
No. Medical Evacuation companies usually offer coverage only for the service of flying you back to your home country, but all hospital and doctors’ expenses before that have to be covered by the insured.
You are flown back to the hospital or medical facility in the USA or Canada that you elected when you contracted the policy. This benefit differs from the Medical Evacuation coverage on a private health insurance policy. The private health medical evacuation coverage will only evacuate you if the facility you are in cannot deal with the situation you are facing, and at that time, you will only be taken to the closest facility capable of treating you.
Foreign-Plated Auto Insurance
The TIP is the short word for Temporary Import Permit, this document is a Mexican law requirement for vehicles that enter the country with foreign plates.
It’s not a requirement to issue the policy but we recommend to start the process as soon as you enter Mexico since in the event of a claim, this will be a necessary document.
Yes, since the full coverage plan includes the material damages to the vehicle and total theft along with other benefits.
This benefit only applies if the person driving the vehicle is foreign and has their valid driver’s license.
You can list up to two people in the policy with no extra cost.
Yes, this is a quick and easy process, you can just provide the information when issuing the policy and you will receive the documents with these specifications.
The process of purchasing is very easy going once all the necessary information is gathered and you have chosen the best suited plan for you.
Mexican-Plated Auto Insurance
In Mexican insurance policies, deductibles can vary considering the plan selected and these only apply in the event of material damage, total theft, and glass breakage.
In both material damage and theft, the company will apply the deductible based on the value established in the cover of your auto insurance policy. In the case of glass breakage coverage, the deductible is just 20% of the repair cost.
In Mexico, there is no federal law or regulation that requires all motorists to carry third-party liability insurance. This coverage is regulated by each Mexican state, meaning that the minimum required amount of liability coverage will vary by state, with some states not requiring the coverage at all. The standard amount of liability coverage that we give our clients is 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 MXN, but that value can be increased to 7,000,000 MXN. That value is per event and covers property damage, injury, and death to third parties outside the insured vehicle.
Very similar to the US, Canada, and other countries, auto insurance in Mexico has 3 general levels of coverage. They are:
- Basic: The basic coverage includes third-party liability coverage, occupant medical expense coverage, legal assistance, and roadside assistance.
- Limited: The limited coverage includes everything in the basic coverage, as well as total theft of the vehicle.
- Full: The full coverage includes everything in the basic and limited coverage, as well as total and partial damages to the vehicle.
✓ Commercial Value: Having your vehicle insured this way means that you will not see a vehicle value stated on your policy, but instead you will just see it listed as “amparada” or covered. This means that the premium you paid for the policy was based on the commercial value of the vehicle at the time. It also means that in the event of a claim the insurance company will pay out the commercial value at the time of the claim. Commercial value is determined by a Mexican system, like Kelley Blue Book, that the Mexican insurance providers use with the Vehicle Identification Number.
✓ Fixed Value: Having your vehicle insured this way means that you will see a stated MXN value for your vehicle on the policy. This means that the vehicle value on the policy stays the same throughout the entire policy year, and then at the renewal, the depreciation is applied, and a new value is placed for the next year. This is different from the commercial value listed above, where the vehicle is depreciated throughout the policy year.
✓ Factura Value: If you are purchasing a new vehicle from a Mexican dealership, you will get a factura, which is a formal invoice. As long as the vehicle year is of the ongoing year or one year older, and the factura is not more than 30 days old, we can send it to the insurance company, and they will place the vehicle value on the policy as the same value you paid for the vehicle.
All our plans have medical expenses coverage included. This provides coverage for any medical fees related to any accidents that people may suffer while inside the insured vehicle. The standard amount we give for this section is 200,000 MXN, but it can be increased with a corresponding effect on the premium. It is also important to note that the sum insured value is the maximum value the company will pay out for all people in the vehicle combined, per event. The value is NOT per person.
Even the most basic policies will include some form of roadside assistance. The coverage of roadside assistance includes a variety of different services that most people are not aware of. Some of the services that are commonly included are:
- Tow truck assistance
- Someone to bring you gas if you run out
- Assistance with a flat tire
- Cables to power a dead battery
✓ Death of the Driver: Similar to a small life insurance policy, this coverage will pay out a contracted amount, in the event that the driver of the insured vehicle dies in an accident, to help with funeral expenses and other related expenses. This coverage is usually very inexpensive at 50 MXN onto the premium for every 100,000 MXN in coverage desired.
✓ Transportation Expenses: This coverage will provide compensation for transportation expenses (usually a rental car) ONLY if the vehicle is declared a total loss. The compensation is usually set for a maximum number of days and/or a maximum MXN payout value.
✓ Cancellation of Deductible: This coverage comes into effect in the event of a total loss or a total theft. If this coverage is included in the policy, you would be excluded from paying the corresponding deductible.
✓ Agency Repair: This coverage is offered to vehicles that were purchased directly at the dealership in the current year. Once the factura of the vehicle is issued the vehicle can purchase this coverage for the next 7 years to have the repairs at the agency.
Some Mexican insurance companies will include some type of USA and Canada coverage in their policy for Mexico, at no extra cost. All you need to do is ask for the form that shows that coverage. Other companies will include coverage, but at an extra cost, so this coverage needs to be requested before the policy is issued, to make sure it is included. With the companies that include USA and Canada coverage for free in their Mexican policy, the coverages, and terms you get vary by company.
Some companies will only offer liability coverage in the USA and Canada, and some will extend the full coverage to the USA and Canada if that is the coverage that was contracted for Mexico. The term can also vary. With some companies, the free coverage is only meant for short trips, of no more than 30 days in the USA and Canada. Others will be for the full year.
Besides the coverages that can be included in the Mexican policy, some companies offer various strictly USA and Canada policies, which need to be purchased for a full year and are non-refundable. These policies are also usually very inexpensive, at about 100 to 300 USD annually, depending on the coverage you want. Usually, the options will include liability, occupant medical expenses, legal assistance, and roadside assistance, but not all will cover your vehicle against damages or theft.
Property Insurance
When you are looking at how to insure the structure of your property, there are a few different methods that can be used:
Replacement Value: The best way to determine this value is to take the number of square feet (or meters) and multiply that by the cost of construction per square foot (or meter). The other way, which is not as recommended, is to list the price that you paid for the structure.
Market Value: To determine this value, you need a realtor to come to the property and appraise its market value based on many different factors. The insurance companies will not do this for you. The biggest situations where we see this used is when people own a condo unit. Sometimes the homeowner administration board of the condominium will have a master policy on the structure in place, and sometimes they will not. If they do not have a master policy, and the condominium takes major damage, because there was no insurance policy in place, they may decide not to rebuild at an out-of-pocket cost, in which case your unit would not be rebuilt, so it would be better to have market value, so you can buy a similar property in the area.
It is important to note here that we cannot under-insure structures. It is best to list the value at 100%, but in the interest of reducing the premium, we are able to go as low as 70% of the total value. In doing that, we still need to notify the insurance company of what the 100% value is. If we list a value that is anything lower than 70% of the total value, they will consider it under-insured, and you will only be compensated a value which is proportional to the value we insured it at versus the total value.
Property insurance in Mexico is one of the few types of insurance that has co-payments as well as deductibles. Below is a brief example to show you how each of these would be applied to your claim.
For hurricane/severe weather coverage the standard deductible is 2% and the standard copayment is 20%. So, let’s say you insure the structure of your home for 100,000 USD, and it takes some rain and flood damage for 50,000 USD. The deductible is applied to the total value of the structure (100,000 USD), so you would need to pay the first 2,000 USD. That 2,000 USD is subtracted from the amount of damage leaving the new damage total at 48,000 USD. Of that 48,000 USD you pay the 20% copayment, which is 9,600 USD. So in total, you pay 11,600 USD of the damages and the insurance provider pays the remaining 38,400 USD.
The 2 biggest deductibles and copays are the hurricane/severe weather and earthquake/volcanic eruption coverages for the building structure and interior contents. The basic fire and lightning coverage should have no deductible or copay, and neither should the liability. The other smaller coverages may or may not have deductibles or copays, and if they do, they are usually percentages of the total damage
Structure: This section provides coverage to the external, and sometimes internal, structure of your home or condo/apartment unit. It is important not to include the land value when calculating this value.
Contents: This section provides coverage for ALL contents and personal belongings within the unit. This includes A/C units, kitchen appliances, electronics, furniture, clothes, etc.
Third-Party Liability: A minimum amount of liability coverage is required on all property insurance policies. It is usually rather inexpensive at about 10 USD for every 100,000 USD in coverage. This provides coverage in case any third party may come on your property and get injured and try to take legal action against you. Especially in condo units it is also important to make sure this coverage includes “Cross Liability”. This provides coverage in case something originating in your unit causes damage to the surrounding units. The most common example is a water leak. If you are a renter, it is also important to ask for “Renter’s Liability” so you are protected against any damage you may do to the property you are staying in.
Outdoor Constructions: The values of any outdoor constructions on the property need to be accounted for separately, and should not be included in the structure section value. This includes pools, palapas, casitas, retaining walls, etc. as well as things that may be attached to the main structure, such as solar panels, terraces, patios, etc. To provide coverage for all items we need a list of each item and its corresponding individual value.
Severe Weather/Hurricane: The three above coverages have the option to have this coverage included or excluded on the policy. In some areas of Mexico, this coverage may not be offered to properties within a certain distance of water, or it will not be offered during hurricane season. It is important to remember that this is not JUST hurricane coverage, but it also includes damage from wind, rain, flooding, mudslides, etc. This coverage usually makes up a bulk of the policy premium.
Earthquake/Volcanic Eruption: Similar to the severe weather coverage, this coverage can be either included or excluded for the structure, contents and outdoor construction sections.
Betterments and Improvements: This coverage applies to condo units more than anything. If you buy a unit and then do any remodeling or make any upgrades, these costs, and increase in value, need to be accounted for in this section. This includes things like new cabinets, new flooring, new countertops, etc.
Extra Living Expenses/Loss of Rental Income: This coverage will take effect if you are not able to live on your property, or rent it out, due to damages or repairs to damages covered by the policy. Generally we can place an amount for either 3, 4 or 6 months, and we need to specify which. For the extra living expenses, hotel and other accommodation receipts will be required in order for the company to reimburse you. For the loss of rental income you will need to provide proof the property was being rented (rental agreement), or proof that had it not been damaged it would likely have been rented out during that time (past rental history).
Glass Breakage: Any major damage to exterior windows and doors is generally covered under the overall structure section mentioned above. This separate glass section provides coverage for two other things. The first is minor damage to exterior windows or doors. So for example, a coconut falls through a window, or a kid throws a rock through a window. Usually when just 1 pane of glass is damaged. The second is interior glass. Most commonly this is shower doors and enclosures, but can also include any large mirrors, glass banisters or railings, etc. This coverage, along with the severe weather and earthquake coverages, are usually the three most expensive on any property policy.
Power Surge: Your electronics are covered against any major damages in the general contents section mentioned above, except power surges. This coverage is usually very in expensive and well worth it. It is important to include A/C units, kitchen appliances, washer/dryer, TVs and other electronics, etc.
Theft of Contents: The general contents section above covers damages. This section covers theft. It is generally recommended to put a value of about 10-20% of what you listed in the general contents section, as it is unlikely all of your belongings will not be stolen. It is important to make sure this coverage is not limited to “forced-entry” theft. That means that if your belongings are stolen and there is no sign of a forced entry, you would not be covered. So if they came in through an open window or your door was left unlocked.
Cash and Valuable Documents: This section is a sub-limit of theft of contents, so its value can never exceed the theft of contents value. This is to cover small amounts of cash (up to 10,000 USD), and any valuable documents that may be kept on the property at a given time.
Artwork/Jewelry/Collectibles/Memorabilia: This section is a sub-limit of theft of contents, so its value can never exceed the theft of contents value. For these items to be covered by the policy, at the time it is issued we need appraisals, descriptions, and photographs of each item.