Nevis is gorgeous with friendly people and a lovely warm climate. But, like anywhere, there are downsides. One of the first things anyone of my vintage would consider is health care. Coming from America, where medical care is costly but available and often covered by insurance, moving to a new country can be daunting.
Let’s look at availability and cost here in Nevis.
There are several doctors and one hospital here, several dentists, an optometrist and some specialists. There is a medical school on the northeast side of the island but this offers the classroom part of schooling and students go to the US or Canada for clinicals. As is true in many small towns in the US the medical expertise exists but is limited in specialty areas. There is no resident cardiologist nor are there dialysis nor MRI equipment on the island. There is an ophthalmologist on St. Kitts. The extent of services has improved over time although many non-natives prefer to go to the US for surgery or cancer treatments and St. Kitts and Nevis citizens may go to Cuba or larger islands for care.
We have heard anecdotally that the medical care that is available is good quality and our experience has been good. A bad cut required treatment and we found the ER physicians and nurses available within a couple minutes, competent and caring. A friend received extensive and good physical therapy after arm surgery.
There are a handful of dentists on St. Kitts, although not all of them reside here full time. The routine, preventative care we received appeared comparable to that in the US, using ultrasound cleaning tools and familiar fluoride treatments.
We have experienced problems with getting prescription medicines. There are four pharmacies on Nevis but they don’t have all the medicines we are used to getting on a routine basis at drug stores in the US. For a few we had to get the meds for 2 weeks instead of 30 or 90 days. It is possible to use some mail order facilities in the US or elsewhere provided the facility will accept the prescription.
Care in Nevis is inexpensive compared to US prices. An ER visit that required a doctor, nurse, other staff and supplies for 45 minutes was about $24 (US dollars). The posted rate in the hospital ranges from XC$ 30 to 60, or about $12 to $24 in US dollars for a visit. Hospital rates are around XC$ 100 per night and surgical theater is XC$ 200, or roughly $40 and $80 in US dollars.
Dental visits for routine preventative care totaled US $180 for two people. The dentist we use posts her prices at the desk so there are no surprises. We were able to get an appointment for the day after we called and the receptionist apologized for not having an opening that day!
Prescription prices are much higher here than the co-pays we were used to, but similar to the cash prices for generics in the US. Neither of us needs anything outré and thus we find our prescription costs are almost double what they were with our drug coverage in the US.
Medicare will not cover care provided here. Almost no US insurance will cover anyone here either. You can purchase international insurance that will cover in St. Kitts and Nevis, or anywhere in the world, but it can be very expensive and frankly, we decided to go without.
If you are over 65 and on Medicare it is a very good idea to keep paying your part B premiums and seek a part D drug plan in case you need to go back to the US for treatment. If you drop your coverage then you can face a penalty if/when you need to reinstate it, plus the risk that you might need coverage unexpectedly.
To summarize: Medical care is available and is inexpensive. It is somewhat limited and Americans who live here are likely to return to the US for non-routine treatment or surgery. Some prescription medicines are not readily available in full month supply. Dental care seems similar to the US and less costly.
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