SXM Covid insurance requirement

From Island92.




COVID INSURANCE UPDATE




At today's Council of Minister's Press Briefing we learned the planned effective day for the implementation of COVID Insurance will be January 11, 2021. This means that those visitors submitting travel approval requests will start to see a change online 5 days prior at www.stmaartenentry.com when they submit their test results for approval to travel to St. Maarten. There will be options on the website for those visitors already on island to purchase the COVID insurance. A press release and video tutorial will be forthcoming shortly. The cost remains $30 per adult (15 and over) and $10 for children (14 and under) valid for trips up to 180 days.

Sooooo ..I will arrive on the 10th...the EHAS form will be live for payment on the 6th....will I need to buy the SXM insurance? I do have a purchased medical coverage policy

My understanding is that all visitors are required to have the insurance including those already here. Awaiting the promised details.

Is there any information as to what the insurance will cover? I have checked with international air evacuation services for medical emergency. They require that a person be hospitalized and stable for transfer back to the States. Is the hospital in ?Philipsburg able to admit a patient visiting from out of country who acquires Covid? Do they have any ability to treat patients with advanced symptoms? I read here that their insurance would cover air evac. Is there anywhere the policy is explained?

Not yet.

Elaine--I'm not sure how they could enforce that, frankly. And I got the impression that visitors would have the OPTION to purchase the insurance if they arrive before January 11. These are details which need to be cleared up, for sure.

Guess I will find out when I get my test back and fill out the EHAS

..and, as was mentioned previously, this insurance supposedly was similar to Aruba which does NOT cover transfer back to the States

...and they (SXM) DID originally mention evac coverage

I'm all approved for arrival on Sunday - There was no requirement or provision for buying insurance. There were question asking about insurance and covid insurance. I answered that I have both which I do. I was approved in less than an hour after submission. It may be different for other of course, but that was my experience.

It was stated that the insurance link would be active 5 days (1/6) before the 11th so it makes sense that it wasn't there when you applied

Coverage explained here

Well, that is useless. Medical evac, up to $20,000????????????? No way that is good enough. Medical evac for Covid will cost easily $50,000.. Talk about a waste of $30... I had hoped to not worry about buying other insurance to cover for Covid, but that is useless. Regular travel insurance would cover Covid medical expenses anyway.

WOW talk about a money making scam... Good Grief!

Sadly, I did not expect it to be any more than just that.

...and it now looks like it is actually starting on January 10th not the 11th.....the 10th is my arrival date so I guess I will have to waste the $60 for two....I have a much better policy I purchased

Why do you think the date has changed? There is no word from government

Herald article says roll out is January 10th.
https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/maximum-limit-for-benefits-of-covid-19-insurance-is-50-000

And another TDH article in yesterdays paper says January 11th.

PM just this minute said portal for insurance goes live today and insurance is required as of Jan 11.

Has anyone asked her about the fact that her vaunted trip evacuation coverage is freaking useless, since it won't actually cover anything CLOSE to the cost of an actual evac??

....and the SXM Website now is back to the 11th also

The cost of the evac will depend on where the "nearest qualified hospital" is.

What's the cost to evac somebody to San Juan?

Asking because I have no idea...

ANY medical evac is going to cost well over $20,000. Period.

While not specific to SXM, here is a recent article pertaining to medical evacuation insurance. It indicates around $30,000 for starters.

ARTICLE

FYI, I just completed the EHAS application for my husband and I this morning at 9:30 am CST, and received the approval 30 minutes later as I was typing this message. There was no link or anything asking us to purchase the island covid insurance, just the question on the form asking IF we had Covid insurance.

As I understand it, the SXM issued insurance is not required until January 11.

Yup...same here but no approval yet.....

Can't beleive it ! We received ours this morning in 20 min

APPROVED! Wife in 3 hours....mine in 4....I was concerned because I had to create a pdf from the webpage screen capture and the results did NOT state the lab performing the test nor the TIME of the test....just rt-pcr...date taken...date reported

Great effort at the RI Convention center and was very well organized with results in around 36 hours....and we are MA residents

Glad you got your approval. Enjoy your trip!