Written by Steffan Grund · Insurance specialist (Versicherungsfachmann BWV) · Updated Facts checked: | Topic | 2026 fact |
|---|---|
| Visa insurance rule (M pensionado) | Resolution 5477 of 2022, Article 77: cover in Colombia against accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalisation, death or repatriation, for the planned stay |
| Minimum sum insured | None stated in Article 77 |
| Public system (SGSSS / EPS) | Open to residents in general; the M pensionado visa does not allow affiliation, except under a treaty |
| Contribution if you can join | Usually around 12.5% of income (GOV.UK) |
| Medicina prepagada | Voluntary private plan; by law contracted only with people in the contributory regime |
| UK agreement | None: no NHS, no S1 |
| Medicare in Colombia | Does not pay, except narrow cases; Medigap emergencies capped at USD 50,000 for life |
| Care Expat World zone for Colombia | Zone 1: worldwide except the USA, China and Singapore |
| Entry age for Care Expat World | Start cover by 1 December of the year you turn 64; no end date once you are in |
| Exchange rates used | TRM 3,157.94 pesos per US dollar; ECB 1.1150 dollars per euro (both 27 October 2026); 3,521.10 pesos per euro (our calculation) |
Sources: Resolution 5477 of 2022 (Cancillería normograma), Decreto 780 of 2016, GOV.UK Living in Colombia, Superintendencia Financiera (TRM), European Central Bank, Medicare, Care Expat World terms.
Tick each item your consulate's checklist or Article 77 asks you to prove. The checker compares them with the three Care Expat World levels and marks each one as covered, not covered or uncertain. It does not tell you the consulate will accept the policy; only the consulate can say that.
Item ratings come from the Care Expat World benefit table and terms as summarised in our plan registry (read 27 October 2026); "uncertain" means the benefit is not listed there or the visa term has no clear match. Premiums: Zone 1 from our price registry, age = calendar year minus year of birth. We make no claim that any consulate accepts this plan.
You have four realistic options in Colombia: the public system through an EPS, a Colombian voluntary plan such as medicina prepagada, a long-term international plan, or travel insurance. Which ones are open to you depends mainly on your visa. GOV.UK says residents can register with the public system and can also buy private insurance from Colombian or international providers, but the M pensionado visa, the route built for people living on a pension, bars EPS membership unless a treaty applies. The table sets the four options side by side for someone aged 50 to 64.
| Option | Who can join | Cost basis | Where it pays | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS (public system, SGSSS) | Residents in general; not M pensionado holders unless a bilateral or multilateral agreement applies | Monthly contribution, usually around 12.5% of income (GOV.UK) | The EPS network in Colombia | Closed to the pensionado visa; for other visas, joining is reported to be compulsory once you have a cédula |
| Medicina prepagada (and complementary plans) | By law, people affiliated to the contributory regime (Decreto 780 of 2016, Article 2.2.4.4) | Private price per person, set by the company; no official price list | The company's private network in Colombia | Usually needs an EPS first; terms, exclusions and age rules are in the contract |
| Long-term international insurance (for example Care Expat World) | Anyone accepted after a health interview, before the year they turn 65 | Monthly premium in euros by age band; Zone 1 from €140 at 50–54 | Worldwide except the USA, China and Singapore (Zone 1) | Check its wording against the visa items; no home-country cover for US/UK citizens |
| Travel insurance | Usually anyone, often with age limits | Per trip or per year | Depends on the policy | Built for trips with an end date; the visa asks for cover for the whole planned stay |
The options can be combined. Someone on a visa that allows EPS membership can hold an EPS, add medicina prepagada for faster private access and keep an international plan for travel and for the years ahead. Someone on the pensionado visa has fewer pieces to work with, which is why this page spends time on the visa wording. For the visa itself, read our Colombia retirement visa guide; for what life there costs, see the cost of living in Colombia. Our general guide to expat health insurance explains the terms used here.
Foreign residents can in general join Colombia's public health system through an EPS, but holders of the M pensionado visa cannot, unless a bilateral or multilateral agreement says otherwise. The public system is called the Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud (SGSSS). An EPS (entidad promotora de salud) is the body you register with; it manages your membership and arranges care through its network of clinics and hospitals.
GOV.UK's Living in Colombia guide, updated 26 February 2026, says that if you are resident you can register with the public system, that you or your employer pay a monthly contribution, and that this is usually around 12.5% of your income. That is the general picture for residents. Article 77 of Resolution 5477 of 2022, the rule for the M pensionado visa, is more specific: it says the visa "will not allow its holder to join the Colombian social security system, except as provided in bilateral or multilateral agreements". We found no agreement covering US or UK pensioners.
| Your status | EPS membership | Source and confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor (no visa or tourist stay) | No; you rely on private or travel cover | General rule: the public system is for residents (GOV.UK) |
| M pensionado visa | Not allowed, except under a treaty | Resolution 5477, Article 77 (official text read) |
| Other M visas and the R (resident) visa | Reported as compulsory once you hold a cédula de extranjería | Colombian legal guides (secondary); confirm with Cancillería |
| Working in Colombia under a contract | Contributions through the employer | GOV.UK ("you or your employer") |
This matters later too. Cancillería says that time on the pensionado visa can count toward the resident (R) visa after five years of continuous stay, and guides report that R visa holders must join an EPS. If that happens to you, your international plan can carry on next to the EPS or you can cancel it; Care Expat World lets you cancel after the 12-month minimum term to the end of the following month. Do not cancel private cover until the EPS has confirmed your membership in writing. Our overview of healthcare systems by country sets Colombia's public system against those of other retirement countries.
Medicina prepagada is a voluntary private health plan sold by Colombian companies, and the law says such plans may only be signed or renewed with people affiliated to the contributory regime, so a pensionado without an EPS may be refused. Decreto 806 of 1998, now compiled in Decreto 780 of 2016, defines an additional health plan as an "optional and voluntary" set of benefits financed with money other than the mandatory contribution. It names three types: complementary care plans, medicina prepagada and health insurance policies (pólizas de salud), the last two governed by their own special rules.
The key line is Article 2.2.4.4 of Decreto 780 (Article 20 of the 1998 decree): these contracts "may only be signed or renewed with people who are affiliated to the Contributory Regime", as contributors or beneficiaries. A university guide for foreign staff in Colombia describes the same practice: you need an EPS to buy prepagada or a complementary plan. We found no official text on how companies apply the rule to M pensionado holders, who are barred from the EPS by their visa, or whether it reaches pólizas de salud sold by insurers under their special rules. So treat medicina prepagada as possibly closed to you and ask the company in writing before you plan around it.
| Question | Medicina prepagada | Póliza de salud (Colombian insurer) | Long-term international plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervisor | Superintendencia Nacional de Salud (Supersalud) | Superintendencia Financiera | Regulator of the insurer's home country (Barmenia: Germany) |
| EPS needed first? | By law, contributory-regime membership | Unclear for pensionados; ask the insurer | No |
| Where it pays | Company network in Colombia | Per policy, mostly Colombia | Zone 1: worldwide except the USA, China, Singapore |
| Price list | Not published officially; per company | Per insurer | Published by age band (prices below) |
| Currency | Pesos | Pesos | Euros |
| Pre-existing conditions | Entry exams before signing; Colombian courts have held that a company cannot discover a pre-existing condition afterwards to refuse care | Per policy questionnaire | Video health interview; surcharge, exclusion or refusal possible |
Supersalud describes these plans as private contracts paid with your own money; their terms, exclusions and limits are those agreed in the contract. Before you sign anything in Colombia, ask for the maximum entry age, how prices change with age at renewal, which clinics are in the network, and whether you can keep the plan if you later leave the EPS or the country. A peso plan has one advantage over an international plan: no currency risk if your income is in pesos. If your income arrives in dollars or pounds, that advantage is small.
The M pensionado visa requires health cover in Colombia, or a health policy with cover in Colombia, "against all risks" of accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalisation, death or repatriation, for the planned length of your stay. That wording sits in requirement 4 of Article 77 of Resolution 5477 of 2022, which we read on the Cancillería normograma on 27 October 2026. The same wording is used for other M visas (Articles 76, 78 and 79) and for many V visas, including the digital nomad visa.
Three points in the text matter when you buy. First, it lists seven named risks, including maternity, and it does not waive any of them by age. Second, the cover must run "for the time planned for your stay", and the M pensionado visa can be valid for up to three years, so a short policy that you hope to renew may not be enough. Third, the article names no minimum sum insured and does not say whether the insurer must be Colombian or whether a foreign policy is accepted. Those gaps are why the only safe answer to "will my policy do?" is to send the wording to the consulate and ask.
The visa page owns the rest of the application: the pension of at least three Colombian minimum wages (COP 5,252,715 a month in 2026), police certificates, the medical certificate and the cédula. Our Colombia pensionado visa guide sets them out, and retirement visas by country compares Colombia's insurance rule with those of other retirement countries.
On paper Care Expat World covers four of the seven named risks at every level, adds maternity only in Comfort and Premium after a 10-month wait, and lists no disability or death benefit, so two items stay uncertain at every level. The table compares each item in Article 77 with the three levels, using the benefit table and terms summarised in our plan registry. A tick means the benefit is listed; it does not mean the consulate accepts it.
| Visa item (Article 77) | Basic | Comfort | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accident (accidente) | Covered: treatment; rescue costs after an accident up to €5,000 | Covered; rescue up to €10,000 | Covered; rescue up to €15,000 |
| Illness (enfermedad) | Covered: outpatient and hospital treatment, medicines, diagnostics | Covered | Covered |
| Maternity (maternidad) | Not covered (only pregnancy complications) | Covered after a 10-month waiting period | Covered after a 10-month waiting period |
| Disability (invalidez) | Uncertain: no disability benefit listed; life-sustaining aids only | Uncertain: no disability benefit; medical aids up to €1,000 a year | Uncertain: no disability benefit; medical aids up to €1,500 a year |
| Hospitalisation (hospitalización) | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Death (muerte) | Uncertain: no death benefit or transport of remains listed | Uncertain | Uncertain |
| Repatriation (repatriación) | Covered: medically advised transport back home | Covered | Covered |
| Valid in Colombia | Covered: Colombia is in Zone 1 | Covered | Covered |
| For the whole planned stay | Covered: no end date, 12-month minimum term | Covered | Covered |
Read the gaps honestly. If your consulate reads "maternity" literally, Basic does not match, even for a 62-year-old man; Comfort and Premium list it, but only after 10 months, and a pregnancy that exists when cover starts is excluded. "Disability" in an insurance list can mean treatment after an injury, which the plan pays, or an income or lump sum for permanent disability, which it does not offer; only the consulate can say which it means. "Death" may refer to sending remains home, which our benefit summary does not list. Repatriation in the medical sense, meaning transport home when doctors advise it, is included at every level.
Two further practical points. Care Expat World's documents say nothing about visas, and its binding terms are in German, with English as a service translation; none is in Spanish. And cover starts on the 1st of a month, no earlier than the day you cross the border, at most four months ahead. If you apply for the visa from abroad, ask the consulate what proof of cover it wants at that stage. Full benefits are on our plan details page.
Long-term international cover for Colombia costs from €140 a month at 50–54 up to €800 a month at 60–64, depending on level and deductible, which is roughly COP 5,915,000 to COP 33,803,000 a year at the rates of 27 October 2026. The table shows the yearly cost for three typical choices, with peso and dollar amounts converted at the Superintendencia Financiera's TRM of 3,157.94 pesos per dollar and the European Central Bank's 1.1150 dollars per euro (3,521.10 pesos per euro, our calculation).
| Age | Basic, €3,600 deductible, per year | Comfort, €1,200 deductible, per year | Premium, no deductible, per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50-54 | €1,680 (€140/month); about COP 5,915,000 or USD 1,870 | €4,020 (€335/month); about COP 14,155,000 or USD 4,480 | €6,120 (€510/month); about COP 21,549,000 or USD 6,820 |
| 55-59 | €2,400 (€200/month); about COP 8,451,000 or USD 2,680 | €6,060 (€505/month); about COP 21,338,000 or USD 6,760 | €7,860 (€655/month); about COP 27,676,000 or USD 8,760 |
| 60-64 | €3,900 (€325/month); about COP 13,732,000 or USD 4,350 | €7,860 (€655/month); about COP 27,676,000 or USD 8,760 | €9,600 (€800/month); about COP 33,803,000 or USD 10,700 |
Premiums: Care Expat World Zone 1 from our price registry. Yearly figures (12 × monthly) and peso and dollar conversions are our calculation, rounded to COP 1,000 and USD 10. Pesos and dollars move with the TRM and the euro rate; the premium is charged in euros.
Three cost drivers are easy to miss. The deductible: with a €3,600 deductible you pay the first €3,600 of bills in each calendar year yourself, so your worst case is the premiums plus that sum. The age bands: Care Expat World moves you into the next band from 1 January of the year you reach it, so the jump from 55–59 to 60–64 arrives on a fixed date. And the currency: Colombia's peso has swung widely against the dollar, and a euro premium paid from a dollar or sterling pension moves with two exchange rates. As a yardstick, the pensionado visa's income floor is COP 5,252,715 a month; Comfort at 55–59 with a €1,200 deductible takes about COP 1,778,000 of that a month. For how premiums rise across all ages, see what international health insurance costs; for rent, food and electricity, see our Colombia cost of living guide.
Travel insurance is rarely enough to live in Colombia, because the visa asks for cover for your whole planned stay and travel policies are built for trips with an end date. Many travel policies also limit the length of a single trip, exclude pre-existing conditions and set an age limit or a higher price at older ages. They suit a scouting trip before you move, or a visit within the 90-day visa-free stay that the FCDO describes for British visitors, but they are not a plan for retiring there.
If you buy a travel policy for the visa because it is cheaper, read three things: the term (does it cover the full stay, up to three years for the M visa?), the risks listed (all seven named in Article 77?), and renewal (can the insurer refuse to renew once you have a claim?). An application refused because the cover is too short costs the study fee, which is commonly reported to be non-refundable, and time.
No: Medicare does not pay for care in Colombia except in narrow cases, and the UK has no reciprocal health agreement with Colombia, so neither the NHS nor an S1 helps you there. Medicare's fact sheet on coverage outside the United States limits payments abroad to cases such as an emergency that begins in the US when a foreign hospital is closer. Living in Medellín or Cartagena fits none of them. GOV.UK states plainly that "Colombia does not have a reciprocal health agreement with the UK."
| Home cover | What it pays in Colombia |
|---|---|
| Original Medicare (Parts A and B) | Only narrow exceptions |
| Medigap foreign travel emergency (plans C, D, F, G, M, N) | 80% after a USD 250 deductible; USD 50,000 lifetime limit; emergencies in the first 60 days of a trip |
| Medicare Advantage | Varies by plan; ask your plan in writing |
| NHS / UK S1 | Nothing: no reciprocal agreement; the S1 works in the EU, EEA and Switzerland |
| Medical air evacuation | USD 20,000–200,000 according to the US State Department; most home plans do not pay |
Americans aged 65 and over may still keep Medicare for treatment back in the US and buy separate cover for Colombia; whether to keep paying Part B is a personal decision that a Medicare adviser can help with. Our guide to health insurance for Americans living abroad covers the US side in more detail.
Care Expat World does not cover a US citizen in the USA or a UK citizen in the UK, whichever zone you choose, because the terms give home-country cover only to citizens of EU or Schengen states. Colombia is in Zone 1, which excludes the USA, China and Singapore; trips from Zone 1 into a higher zone are covered for medical emergencies only, for up to 42 days per trip.
| Care Expat World zone | Area | Price | What it means for someone living in Colombia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | Worldwide except the USA, China and Singapore | Shown on this site | Full cover in Colombia and the rest of Latin America; trips to the USA covered for emergencies only, up to 42 days per trip (never for US citizens, whose home country is the USA) |
| Zone 2 | Adds China and Singapore | From €560 a month at 60–64 (Basic, €3,600 deductible); see the price index | Relevant only if you spend time there |
| Zone 3 | Adds the USA | From €960 a month at 60–64 (Basic, €3,600 deductible); see the price index | Full US cover for non-US citizens, such as a Briton visiting family in Florida; never for US citizens in the USA |
Plan your home visits separately: before 65, Americans need whatever US cover they can keep or buy for longer stays at home; from 65, Medicare. Britons should check which NHS care they can use as a visitor under current UK rules before they leave. The zone can be changed on the 1st of any month, but treatment already planned is not covered in the higher zone.
Work through this list before you apply for the visa and before you sign any policy; the first five points decide whether a plan can work for you at all.
Linda, 58, from Arizona, applies for the M pensionado visa with a pension of USD 1,900 a month, above the COP 5,252,715 floor at the October TRM. She cannot join an EPS on this visa, and because Colombian law ties medicina prepagada to contributory-regime membership, she does not plan around it. She chooses Care Expat World Comfort with a €1,200 deductible because it lists maternity, which Article 77 names, and adds dental care: €505 a month at 55–59, €6,060 a year (about COP 21,338,000), and a worst case of €7,260 including the full deductible. Before she applies, she emails the consulate the policy wording and asks about the disability and death items. Because she is a US citizen, the plan does not cover her in the USA, so she keeps separate cover for visits home until Medicare starts at 65.
Martin, 61, from Leeds, moves to Pereira with his UK State Pension and a private pension. He has no NHS or S1 cover in Colombia. Basic with a €3,600 deductible would cost €325 a month at 60–64, €3,900 a year, worst case €7,500. Medically he does not need maternity cover, but Basic does not list it and the visa wording does. Comfort with the same deductible lists it and costs €495 a month, €5,940 a year. He asks the consulate whether Basic is acceptable for a man of 61; if the answer is no or unclear, he takes Comfort. When he visits his son in Leeds, the plan does not cover him in the UK.
At 65 or over you cannot join Care Expat World, so your options in Colombia narrow to a Colombian plan that still accepts your age, cover that meets the visa wording from another insurer, and self-pay. Already 65 or older in the year cover would start? This plan is closed to you; we are preparing a comparison of plans without an entry-age limit.
| Age 65+ option | Status |
|---|---|
| EPS | Still closed to M pensionado holders unless a treaty applies; for other visas, no age limit found |
| Medicina prepagada | Needs contributory-regime membership by law; maximum entry ages differ by company |
| Medicare (Americans) | Pays in the US; in Colombia only narrow cases and Medigap emergencies |
| Care Expat World | Closed to new applicants aged 65+; existing members keep their cover with no end date |
If you are 63 or 64 now, the deadline is close: the entry age is counted as calendar year minus year of birth, so you are treated as 65 from 1 January of the year of your 65th birthday.
Colombia is in Zone 1, like Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Portugal and Vietnam, so the international premium is the same at the same age; what differs is the visa wording and the public system. Mexico asks for no insurance on its residency sheets but lets residents join IMSS, as our guide to expat health insurance in Mexico explains. Compare Panama, Costa Rica, Portugal and Vietnam, or start with retirement visas by country.
In Colombia (Zone 1), with a €1,200 yearly deductible, a 50–54-year-old pays from €220 a month and a 60–64-year-old from €390. The price depends only on age band, level, deductible and zone, not on the country inside the zone.
| Age band | Basic | Comfort | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50–54 | €220 | €335 | €400 |
| 55–59 | €265 | €505 | €545 |
| 60–64 | €390 | €655 | €700 |
| 65–69 * | €530 | €955 | €1,170 |
| 70+ * | €985 | €1,295 | €1,570 |
Monthly premiums, €1,200 deductible per calendar year, before any surcharge from the health interview; insurer's premium table, all prices in our price index. * New cover must start by 1 December of the year you turn 64; the 65–69 and 70+ bands apply to people who are already insured. A new age band applies from 1 January of the year you reach it.
The plan featured on this site. We earn a referral commission if you take it out, at no extra cost to you (how we are paid); this is information, not personal advice. Lowest prices (Basic, €3,600 deductible): €140 at 50–54, €200 at 55–59, €325 at 60–64; €40 for ages 0–24.
Lowest price, for people who mainly want protection against large medical bills.
Per month, Zone 1. Lower price with a €3,600 deductible, higher with none.
Adds dental, check-ups, physiotherapy, psychotherapy and pregnancy cover to Basic.
Per month, Zone 1. Lower price with a €3,600 deductible, higher with none.
Highest refunds, including more psychotherapy and 80% for dentures.
Per month, Zone 1. Lower price with a €3,600 deductible, higher with none.
Colombia is in Zone 1 (worldwide except the USA, China and Singapore). Trips into a higher zone are covered for medical emergencies only, for up to 42 days per trip. Your home country is never part of the zone, and the terms give home-country cover only to EU or Schengen citizens, so Americans are not covered in the USA and Britons are not covered in the UK. Basic does not cover pregnancy and childbirth; Comfort and Premium do after 10 months. We make no claim that consulates require or accept this plan for a visa: check the wording with the consulate. Already 65 or older in the year cover would start? This plan is closed to you; we are preparing a comparison of plans without an entry-age limit. Full benefits are in the plan details and prices for all ages on the Care Expat World overview.
Each of our Colombia guides covers one part of the move:
Before you apply, check the age limits on international health insurance, how insurers treat pre-existing conditions, and the options for covering a partner or family. Who qualifies for cover on visits home is explained in international health insurance with home-country cover.
It depends on your visa. On an M pensionado visa you cannot join the public system (EPS) unless a treaty applies, and Colombian voluntary plans are by law sold to people in the contributory regime. That leaves long-term international cover as the main private route to compare. On visas that allow EPS membership, an EPS plus medicina prepagada is another option.
Article 77, the Colombian M pensionado visa, asks you to show health cover in Colombia, or a health policy valid in Colombia, against all risks of accident, illness, maternity, disability, hospitalisation, death or repatriation, for the time you plan to stay. It names no minimum sum insured.
Because Resolution 5477 uses the same insurance wording for several visa types, from investors to digital nomads, and lists maternity among the seven risks. We found no official text that waives it for applicants past child-bearing age. Ask the consulate whether a policy without maternity cover is accepted in your case before you choose a plan level.
Not in Article 77 of Resolution 5477, which we read on the Cancillería normograma: it lists the risks and the duration but no amount. Agencies sometimes quote figures; we could not confirm any of them officially.
The resolution asks for a policy "with cover in the national territory" and does not say the insurer must be Colombian, but it does not say a foreign policy is accepted either. Care Expat World documents say nothing about visas. Send the consulate the policy wording and ask before you apply; we make no claim that it is accepted.
Residents can in general: GOV.UK says residents can register with the public system (SGSSS), with a monthly contribution usually around 12.5% of income. The M pensionado visa is the exception: Article 77 says it does not let the holder join Colombian social security, except under bilateral or multilateral agreements. We found no such agreement for US or UK pensioners.
Legal guides report that R visa holders, and M visa holders other than pensionados, must join an EPS once they have a cédula de extranjería. We did not read the R visa article ourselves, so confirm with Cancillería or an EPS when you change visa.
By law, yes in principle. Decreto 780 of 2016 (Article 2.2.4.4, taken from Decreto 806 of 1998) says contracts for additional health plans may only be signed or renewed with people affiliated to the contributory regime. We found no official text on how companies apply this to M pensionado holders, so ask in writing before you rely on a prepagada plan.
An EPS manages your membership of the public system, financed by the mandatory contribution. Medicina prepagada is a voluntary private contract, paid on top from your own money, that gives access to a private network of doctors and clinics. Supersalud supervises prepagada companies; the terms, exclusions and limits are those of your contract.
We found no official price list: prices are set by each company and depend on age, plan and health. Ask two or three companies for a written quote at your age, the renewal terms and the pre-existing-condition rules, and check first whether they will accept you without an EPS.
The Superintendencia Nacional de Salud (Supersalud) supervises medicina prepagada companies, and the Superintendencia Financiera supervises insurance companies that sell health policies (pólizas de salud). Complaints about a Colombian provider go to the relevant superintendency.
Only if its term covers your whole planned stay, because Article 77 asks for cover "for the time planned for your stay" and the visa can run for up to three years. Travel policies are built for trips with an end date and often a maximum trip length, so check the term, the risks listed and renewal before you buy.
No. Basic covers pregnancy complications but not pregnancy and childbirth. Comfort and Premium cover them after a 10-month waiting period, and a pregnancy that already exists when cover starts is excluded. If your consulate reads the maternity item literally, Basic will not match the visa wording.
It includes medically advised transport back home at all three levels. Transport of remains after a death is not listed in our benefit summary, so ask Care Concept for the exact wording if your consulate asks about the "death" and "repatriation" items.
Care Expat World in Zone 1, which includes Colombia, costs €325 a month at 60–64 for Basic with a €3,600 deductible, €655 for Comfort with a €1,200 deductible and €800 for Premium with no deductible. Zone 1 excludes the USA.
At 55–59, Comfort with a €1,200 deductible is €505 a month, about COP 21,338,000 a year at the TRM of 3,157.94 pesos per dollar and the ECB rate of 1.1150 dollars per euro on 27 October 2026 (our calculation). The peso amount moves with both rates.
Not with Care Expat World: cover starts on the 1st of a month, at most four months ahead, and not before you cross the border. Visa applications are often made before travel, so ask the consulate which proof of cover it wants with the application and ask Care Concept which confirmation it can issue.
Some Medicare Advantage plans cover more abroad than Original Medicare, but it varies by plan. Original Medicare pays abroad only in narrow cases, and Medigap travel emergency cover pays 80% after a USD 250 deductible, up to USD 50,000 for life, in the first 60 days of a trip. None of these is a plan for living in Colombia.
No. The S1 works in the EU, EEA and Switzerland, and GOV.UK states that Colombia has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK. British pensioners in Colombia need private cover, and Care Expat World does not cover a UK citizen during visits to the UK.
Not with Care Expat World. Colombia is in Zone 1, which excludes the USA; trips into a higher zone are covered for emergencies only, up to 42 days per trip. For a US citizen the USA is the home country, which the terms exclude in every zone.
Usually you pay and claim back: keep the itemised invoice and send it to the insurer, which converts pesos into euros under its terms. Before a planned hospital stay, call the 24/7 emergency line and ask how payment can be arranged. We make no direct-billing claim for this plan.
Not Care Expat World: already 65 or older in the year cover would start? This plan is closed to you; we are preparing a comparison of plans without an entry-age limit. Existing members keep their cover with no end date.
The M pensionado holder can include beneficiaries such as a spouse or permanent partner. We did not find official text on the insurance proof for beneficiaries, so assume each person needs cover in their own name and ask the consulate. With Care Expat World each person is priced by their own age band.
Possibly, after underwriting. Care Expat World uses a video health interview that looks at the last five years of medical records; the insurer can add a surcharge, exclude a condition or decline. Disclose everything: a full, honest record protects your claims later.
We found no minimum sum insured for the M pensionado policy, no official statement on whether foreign policies are accepted, no official price list for medicina prepagada, no official text on how prepagada companies treat M pensionado holders, and no social-security agreement covering US or UK pensioners. Consulates decide what they accept; rules and rates can change.
Medicare and the NHS will not cover you there, and the pensionado visa keeps you out of the EPS. Long-term international cover has no end date once you are in: start cover by 1 December of the year you turn 64.
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