Ever thought about moving to Brazil permanently?

[bucknaway]

I saw this video offering advice on gaining residency in Brazil with the purchase of a property. 

 

[Riobard]

You may want to explore … and by no means am I an expert, but thought the quotes exorbitant … the cost of what I believe to be mandatory(?) private health insurance as a resident applicant to supplement the public SUS system, particularly if you are older and the rates are commensurate with the typical needs of seniors even if you yourself are at, say, the 95th percentile by age category in health and fitness. 

[floridarob]

Private health insurance is optional but recommended.... as a legal resident you have access to the public health system. Private insurance for my friend that just retired that's 65 yrs old is 600-700 a month.

The Investor visa, that's talked about in the video, just increased.... forget what I was told the new number is, can't find it online.

[hornyfrog]

I relocated to Brazil on an investment visa and now have permanent residency. I am close to several other expats who have come to Brazil on the pension / retirement visa and have residency cards as well. 

[Latbear4blk]

I am considering the possibility. I am just arrived to Rio and will stay here for a month. Then I am going to Salvador for other 30 days, and will probably exhaust my tourist visa with a last month in Recife. I am very curious about the Nordeste Brasileiro, and before making a decision I would also like to explore other areas. I am not only considering Brazil but also Colombia, and I am becoming curious about Paraguay.

[Riobard]

18 hours ago, hornyfrog said:

I relocated to Brazil on an investment visa and now have permanent residency. I am close to several other expats who have come to Brazil on the pension / retirement visa and have residency cards as well. 

I was quoted close to a few thousand US dollars a month by a few health insurance companies, healthy gym-fit nonsmoking male approaching age 75, medium BMI, no listable physical health morbidity. Once established as a resident, I assume rates are still contingent upon age. Is that correct?

What do you think the range of private health insurance premiums would be, as perhaps sourced in Brazil might be less exorbitant?

My longtime Airbnb host is fit and under 50. I don’t know her profession but she asserted that about half her take home earnings goes towards her private health insurance premiums and it would be ill-advised to rely exclusively on SUS.

I could pony up $25,000 annually without nearly depleting my assets, but it could be put to good use simply visiting Brazil on an upscale basis a few times per year. 

[hornyfrog]

On 8/5/2025 at 9:02 AM, Riobard said:

What do you think the range of private health insurance premiums would be, as perhaps sourced in Brazil might be less exorbitant?

My longtime Airbnb host is fit and under 50. I don’t know her profession but she asserted that about half her take home earnings goes towards her private health insurance premiums and it would be ill-advised to rely exclusively on SUS.

It’s entirely possible that even if your Airbnb hostess gets paid at her job in Brazilian reais, even if she is considered upper middle-class in Brazil and owns an apartment in a cute area like Ipanema or Copacabana, that she could be spending half or close to half of her monthly income on private health insurance premiums. If she is making R$ 7000 a month (about $1300 USD a month), in Rio that’s puts her at around the top quarter of earners in Rio. A comprehensive single plan with Unimed might run an older person or someone with preexisting conditions or comorbidities about R$ 3500 to maybe as much as R$ 5000. So, you can see how someone with even a much better than average income in Brazil can spend a lot of private health insurance premiums.

if you’re becoming a resident of Brazil on a retirement or investment visa, or even the newfangled remote work / digital nomad visa, you’re getting paid / bringing in money in a non-Brazilian currency, and those required minimums to qualify are more than the 7000 BRL that I just mentioned. The minimum needed to qualify for a retirement visa in Brazil is currently 2000 USD a month in pension payments. So if that minimum or close to it is your monthly amount, and the best health insurance you can get is costing you 1000 USD, that’s half gone right there.

[Riobard]

My income just sitting on my ass is well beyond the minimum of which I had awareness already, so it’s not a question of proportionality. I’m trying to ascertain health insurance premiums as I hurtle towards my 80s. Beyond incoming pension income I am, like most North Americans, a millionaire several times over by Brazilian standards.

My central pro-con weighing is organized around whether to pay premiums there when my Canadian taxes by treaty, at least at first, partially represent health benefits I would lose by default while paying for local insurance. So would the insurance premiums ($1,000 or more) be equivalent to the option of simply maintaining regular travel to Brazil and putting such funds towards that travel? I love life here where I am so it’s more a curiosity than a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. 

If premiums escalate based on aging and associated morbidity the picture naturally changes. Are they locked in or are older folks wishing private coverage “penalized” on rates?

[floridarob]

5 hours ago, Riobard said:

I love life here where I am so it’s more a curiosity than a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. 

Oh, how delightful—living the dream while the rest of us unravel your enigma with a side of popcorn!

[Riobard]

1 hour ago, floridarob said:

Oh, how delightful—living the dream while the rest of us unravel your enigma with a side of popcorn!

I expect you could use help with figuring out pretty much anything intelligently. 

Redenbacher Squad? Meet troll brigade Florid Latte No Cream (I think). Who TF knows? Bot enigmas and all.

[hornyfrog]

12 hours ago, Riobard said:

My income just sitting on my ass is well beyond the minimum of which I had awareness already, so it’s not a question of proportionality. I’m trying to ascertain health insurance premiums as I hurtle towards my 80s. Beyond incoming pension income I am, like most North Americans, a millionaire several times over by Brazilian standards.

My central pro-con weighing is organized around whether to pay premiums there when my Canadian taxes by treaty, at least at first, partially represent health benefits I would lose by default while paying for local insurance. So would the insurance premiums ($1,000 or more) be equivalent to the option of simply maintaining regular travel to Brazil and putting such funds towards that travel? I love life here where I am so it’s more a curiosity than a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. 

If premiums escalate based on aging and associated morbidity the picture naturally changes. Are they locked in or are older folks wishing private coverage “penalized” on rates?

I honestly can’t really advise you properly on all of this. Maybe you just need a sounding board? — which is fine, we all do every now and then. But you’d probably be better off contacting some of the larger Brazilian-based as well as global medical insurance companies, asking for an English-speaking agent and getting a custom quote. These sound to me like intensely personal decisions based on very personal preferences, as you do seem to have great options that others in your age group might not be fortunate enough to have. If you truly do love your life where you are now as you say, then maybe just keep traveling at your leisure instead of uprooting to another continent for a host of unknowns is better for you?

The expats (permanent residents) that I know here either have a private insurance plan, use SUS, travel back to their own countries for healthcare, or a combination of these. No one I know says that healthcare costs here in Brazil are more expensive than they would be in the USA. But I get that you live in Canada — which is not close to being the health insurance hellscape that is the USA.  

Full disclosure: I have a global medical insurance plan, and I also have my private health insurance back in the USA from my pension plan but that is not global and can’t be used abroad. And then I have more than half a decade until Medicare kicks in (if it’s actually still around when I become eligible — the way the US government is going, no one can be confident), which also only works in The States. But I have had my global plan for years (like 15), and I have been here in Brazil for several years and am approaching 60. I would imagine that someone seeking a similar plan starting in their 60s and beyond would pay significantly more than someone who initiated the plan in their 40s.

Good luck in your journey!

[Riobard]

Thanks Frog! Very helpful and consolidates where my decision leans, though yes, a curiosity and perhaps assists others BRZ-smitten to consider a full range of implications. 

I might add, however, that in my province of registered residence alone physicians are permitted to opt into fee-for-service model, so as more and more do that folks like me are paying among the highest taxes in Canada without actually drawing on medical services that account for about 25% of the tax burden. Those costs are not income-stratified. Many of us do not have private insurance from employment sources that extend into retirement. I also have high travel med insurance costs due to age, once again in a category of high morbidity that doesn’t really apply to me. 

My marginal tax rate is often 50% of income. I pay out of pocket on average about $3,000 annually for point of care encounters, but that helps incentivize a pristine diet and gym membership. My out-of-pocket service tab one year not long ago, unrelated to CoV, was 5 figures. My income too high to claim meaningfully much of a health services income tax deduction. 

So yeah, one lucky frog up here with the good fortune of solid finances and not backed into a corner making tough health care service choices due to budget constraints.

I took a friend this year to Rede D’Or near 117 … BRL1,500 for a brief but quickly accessible Orthopaedics sprained ankle assessment. That must be tough on locals. He joked that, had he walked more gingerly on the ubiquitous unevenness of sidewalks, that amount could have covered a few gangbangs.

[Riobard]

On 8/7/2025 at 3:52 AM, floridarob said:

Oh, how delightful—living the dream while the rest of us unravel your enigma with a side of popcorn!

Not sure about the wit, but … blush. 😊😊😊