Thinking about buying your own health insurance: how is…

I'd say Pacific Cross insurance has the broadest coverage here. There are five hospitals in Manila with international accreditation.

Actually, there's no real health insurance here. It's basically discount-card style, so you end up paying everything out of pocket. That's why when someone gets sick, the whole family can end up in debt. I bought the closest thing to health insurance for my family for one year, and we never used it once. A local police officer was selling it as a side job for an insurance agent. If you decide to live in Manila, people say St. Luke's is the best. You can choose between generic and brand-name medicine.

Cigna and Aetna are both big international insurers, and they sell health insurance in the Philippines too. I've used both, and they actually paid out on large claims (assuming the condition, like cancer, wasn't a pre-existing one). Avoid AXA at all costs. They don't pay claims. (AXA claimed a gallbladder rupture emergency was a pre-existing condition.)

What medication do you need? For reference, some psychiatric drugs used in the US, like Vyvanse or Adderall, are outright illegal here. If that's a problem, talk to your current doctor about alternatives or about tapering off what you're taking now. Some painkillers are the same. Hydrocodone and oxycodone are almost entirely illegal.