What do you do for Health Insurance on the Road?

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loringsontheroad

loringsontheroad

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Joined
Feb 17, 2010
Posts
80
Location
Stoughton, MA
I know many people whom are retired, have pensions that include a provision for health insurance. In the state of Massachusetts, where we reside, health insurance is not only mandatory but astronomical in cost. (It was actually more than my mortgage and taxes combined!) I wondered if anyone can supply information on what they do for insurance on the road, if they are not included by a previous employer.  This is one of my major hurdles in getting ready for the road.
Thanks - Ei
 
I haven't had health insurance for over 15 years, the last 8 of which I was on the road. I simply can't afford it and I can't afford to get sick.  Being sick costs way too much money and so does insurance. I don't know how the medical profession sleeps at night. So I don't drink, do drugs, smoke and try and eat healthy. And I am very careful when I am out hiking not to have an accident.
 
Obviously, many of us of a certain age have Medicare as our primary health insurance.  If you're still too young for that, then it's not a consideration.  Our secondary carrier is through AARP.  When we left California we were no longer eligible for Kaiser and had to change then.  We wanted something other than a HMO where you can only use certain doctors and where the "bean counters" control your treatment instead of the physcians (unlike the Kaiser HMO).  We got Blue Cross-Blue Shield because we knew we could use it anywhere in the USA.  We had it for several years and it worked well when traveling, however, they later got so bad with rate increases and corresponding decreases in doctors' reimbursements that all our "home" doctors opted out of BC-BS.  Because we wanted to keep those doctors, we had to change too.  We then took the AARP coverage and have been quite pleased with it.  If you're over 50 you can join AARP.  I know some people don't like them for a variety of reasons, but their health care coverage is worth it to us.  They also have a nice monthly magazine.

ArdraF
 
Blue Cross and United Healthcare are the most widely available nationwide medical insurers. They have participating physicians everywhere and handle all the paper work between themselves and the provider. Each has a variety of plans for various situations and needs.
 
Your domicile determines what is available to you for health insurance. While SD had some good policies available most of them were PPO or HMO policies (including BC/BS) that had very limited geographical coverage that did not fit traveling as a full timer.

We found two carriers that offered Major Medical that allowed us to use medical services throughout the US. When our COBRA coverage expired we had a year to go before Medicare for which we paid $11,000 in premiums with a $10,000 deductible.
 
When I did a search on Cigna Health Insurance plans I found this:

Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are the only states where Cigna is currently offering their individual health insurance plans.

If you have their plan they will cover you anywhere you travel.
 
As Jeff says, the coverages available to you will depend on your domicile state. Insurance is regulated at  the state level and insurers can only offer plans approved by the state insurance commission for the state you claim as home.    If you have an alternate address, e.g. a winter or summer home or your kid's house, you may have some flexibility there.
 
One thing to keep in mind.
In at least two states - SD and NH - BC/BS has two requirements that mean a full timer probably can't use them.
1) You have to have an actual physical address. A mail forwarding address will not be accepted.
2) You have to be physically in the state for a certain number of days. I think it was a little over six months.
I believe that is true in many if not all states.

Exceptions to this is if you are on an ex employers plan such as one offered as a retirement benefit and  also some state PERS plans.

When still had our legal address in  NH we were able to use our daughter's address and keep our BC/BS coverage for a while.
When we moved to SD from NH, we used an agent to get  quotes from several insurance companies. We ended up with a $10,000 deductible policy from Assurant that cost us over $1000 per month. We  had no claims so don't know how good they were.
I have heard from an ex agent that they did not do a good job of handling claims but I don't know how accurate that is.
 
Kind of disheartening! Such a big expense. My first response said he hasn't had any in 15 years. It's almost tempting - but all you need is one problem and there goes your money.
Thanks for all your responses.
Ei
 
Your insurance costs and options also change depending on if you have dependant children and if you have money in savings.

If you have enough money to pay for general health check-ups and prescriptions.., all you need is a high deductible plan in case of emergency. If you don't really have much money or  resources than you may qualify for different plans in different states and/or counties if you need to apply in an emergency.

If you have kids you need to insure.., then the whole ball-game changes.
 
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