For most of our cruising life we felt comfortable carrying no health insurance for several reasons, first, it is an amazingly healthy lifestyle, as we are usually away from the crowds that carry contagious diseases, have far less unmanageable stress and we don't spend much time driving on freeways during rush hour. Second, medical costs in foreign countries are usually far lower than in the US. (Larry had a terigium removed from his eye by a highly recommended doctor working at a fine facility in Cape Town at a total cost of $330.US in l995) Third, until recently, health insurance for people like us who traveled constantly outside their own country was almost non-existent. But, as we near the golden ages (58 and 62) the chance of medical problems being of catastrophic proportions (cost wise) increases. Also, we intend to spend more time in more advanced countries where medical costs can be quite high. Therefore we began researching what we call, catastrophe medical insurance. We are willing to carry a quite high deductible (excess) and cover the first $5,000 of medical expenses in any year. But want something to cover the "big one". Fortunately we talked with Beth Leonard about this and read the story she put in Blue Water magazine in June. We looked up the various insurance programs she mentioned and compared them, then looked at each of the insurance programs listed on the SSCA web site under links of interest to cruisers (www.ssca.com). The two programs that let us voyage year round, visit the US for up to six months in a year and be covered well are the International Citizens Series Platinum Health Plan underwritten by Multinational Underwriters Inc. and offered by several agencies, or the Lifeboat Medical Insurance World Health Insurance underwritten by Specialty Risk International. We chose the Lifeboat plan through www.lifeboatmedical.com, offered by Kuffel, Collimore &Co. because it has organized a type of group coverage for Charter boat crews in the Caribbean and allows other sailors to join that group for $25.00 a year. This gives you a discount of almost 25% over the non-group cost. Total price, $2,700 a year for up to $5,000,000 coverage including medivac. For younger folks, the price is far lower. Over to you, but please read all fine print carefully.