Health Insurance on the Road

My wife and I will be full-timing soon but have not yet been able to find appropriate health insurance for her that could be utilized anywhere we might be. Can anyone suggest a carrier that deals with this situation? We are not yet eligible for Soc. Sec. so we need a regular plan. I will be using the V.A., so it's just for her.
Thanks.

johns10 said:

My wife and I will be full-timing soon but have not yet been able to find appropriate health insurance for her that could be utilized anywhere we might be. Can anyone suggest a carrier that deals with this situation? We are not yet eligible for Soc. Sec. so we need a regular plan. I will be using the V.A., so it's just for her.
Thanks.

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We started out using BC/BS, but they insist that you are physically in your domicile state for half of the year (at least they do in NH and SD). That was a problem for us since we are full timers.
I now have Medicare but my wife doesn't.
She now uses Assurant Health.
They turned out to be cheaper than BC/BS and don't have the half year requirement.
She has not had any claims yet so can't comment on that.

Their web site is http://www.assuranthealth.com/corp/ah/

Private health insurance is available from many companies, but it isn't cheap.  If you are eligible for any group plans through any organizations, you can keep the cost down somewhat.  Escapees has an affiliated insurance plan that is typical.  As fulltimers, you should join the Escapees if you haven't already.  The insurance is just one of the many benefits that the SKPs offer the fulltimer.

Ned--

Do you use a plan thru Escapees?

We did originally but found a better policy several years ago through the NASE (National Association for the Self Employed).  However, as of this month, we're now both on Medicare.  Check out any organizations you belong to for the availability of group health insurance.

Well, I have a retirement plan (BC/BS) that covers me everywhere I go.

I also have MASA (Medical Air Services Association) to get me home in the event of a disaster.  I can provide referalls if you like but there are eligibility requirements..  Or at least I think they are.  They do not market to "The Public" only to selected segments (IE: They market to members of Thousand Trails) and they only accept so many applications per year.

But unlike many insurance companies they cover 100% of your medical transport costs starting with 9-1-1, and unlike most other programs you call 9-1-1 first.  Many companies want you to call them and they arrange the initial transport.  MASA you can call from the hospital if you wish.  (DO call A.S.A.P. but they recognize that time is... Life insurance payments.  Spend 10 minutes on the phone with some HMO bean counter getting an ambulance that arrives 30 minutes later and you may be dead on arrival.  Spend 1 minute on the phone with 9-1-1 and 2 minutes waiting for the ambulance (One place I camped I could see the ambulance garage from my campsite) and you arrive alive.. .MASA would prefer you arrive alive.

Oh, MASA will also pay a professional driver to drive your rig home,  They pay his wages, Fuel, food and hotel lodging, The only thing they do not pay for is pet food, you have to keep at least a week's worth in the rig for the pets.  They will pay him to FEED the pets though.

When we retired may group policy provided by the company I retired from covered us both and still does cover Sam as she is not yet on Medicare and I am now. 

I second Neds recommendation about joining the Escapees.  I recommend joining Escapees then the FMCA if you have a motorhome.  I do not recommend Good Sam, unless you like junk mail,  or any campground memberships.

FMCA provides many benefits at no additional cost to the membership including medical evacuation.

I recommend checking out the medical plan available through the Escapees.  We have never needed such a plan so I cannot give you any details but it would be a good place to start looking.

You mention you have VA.  Does your past military service allow Tricare?  There are several types provided by DOD.

What plans are available to you are a direct function of your domicile. SD offers three plans, one required being in SD 6 months a year, the second was a PPO with no out of network benefits, and the third was Assurant whom we are covered by.

Our problem with Assurant was that they put a 1-2 year pre-existing condition on every symptom Sue and I had seen a doctor about in the past year or two. ???

Ned, do you have supplemental insurance to the Medicare? I've got Medicare but am also on Mike's GEHA. Anything Medicare doesn't cover, GEHA does. I've thought often about switching Mike's plan to single rather than family and taking my chances with just Medicare.

Wendy

Wendy, we're on a Medicare Advantage plan, so no need for the supplement.  The downside is our provider is in Phoenix, so there could be logistics problems if we need treatment when not in that area.

wendycoke said:

Ned, do you have supplemental insurance to the Medicare? I've got Medicare but am also on Mike's GEHA. Anything Medicare doesn't cover, GEHA does. I've thought often about switching Mike's plan to single rather than family and taking my chances with just Medicare.

Wendy

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Wendy, if you get off the family plan I would reccomend a supplement. It's amazing how much Medicare doesn't cover.
You may already know about this - the Medicare web site has a link to a site that has info on available insurance companies in each state along with costs.

Have you checked out AARP plans? I haven't used them, but heard some good things.

I've thought often about switching Mike's plan to single rather than family and taking my chances with just Medicare.

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Wendy,

I agree with Clay.  I wouldn't do that if I were you.  You really need to have a Medicare supplement because what Medicare pays to providers is pitiful.  Example:  My last regular doctor visit was billed at $140, of which Medicare approved only $92.23.  Of that amount Medicare paid $73.78 and AARP paid $18.45.  If I didn't have the supplement I would have had to pay the other $18.45.  With a major illness or accident, that could be disastrous!  Remember my broken elbow up in Eugene?  That was about $11,000, including three surgeries and the physical therapy.  Medicare and Blue Cross paid it all.  And my broken wrist was around $3,000, including one surgery and physical therapy.  So you don't want to be caught short for the unexpected big things.

Our supplement is now AARP Health Care Options.  We had Blue Cross/Blue Shield until last year when most of our local provideers got so fed up with them that they decided to no longer accept BC/BS.  Whatever you do, avoid those HMOs that have a limited network because they may not cover you if you're out of your home area (only specified local doctors are in their network).  We originally went with Blue Cross because of our traveling and, perhaps most important, knowing we could go to any doctor anywhere in the country if we ever need a specialist.  You can't do that with HMOs.  So far we're happy with AARP and know we'll be covered anywhere.

By the way, when we lived in Calfornia we had the Kaiser Foundation HMO which took good care of us for many years, including a couple of times when we were out of the country and needed emergency care.  Kaiser is the only decent HMO in my opinion because it is the ONLY one in which the doctors make the decisions as to what care the patient needs.  All the other HMOs have the bean counters making medical care decisions and I wouldn't give you a plug nickle for any of them.

ArdraF

I probably wouldn't give up Mike's GEHA family plan unless I found something that would supplement my Medicare for less money. And it sure is nice that I never pay anything for medical (Medicare pays primary, GEHA pays any leftovers). It's just irritating to pay the "family plan" rate when there's only 2 of us. I think I'll get a quote from AARP for Medicare supplement for me and see if it saves any money.

$11,000 for your elbow? Ouch (in more ways than one). I'll be sure to try not to fall out the motorhome door.

Wendy

Pierat said:

Have you checked out AARP plans? I haven't used them, but heard some good things.

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That is who I have and so far it has been great.

For example; I often caught myself trying to fall asleep while driving. My wife said I snored and quit breathing for long periods at night, so I went to our family doctor. He prescribed a night with an oxygen monitor and based on the results referred me to  a specialist in sleep disorders. That doc prescribed an overnight sleep study and based on that, prescribed a CPAP machine for me.

The total cost was something over $3500 as I recall and my out of pocket expense was zero.

PS. The result? No more snoring and no more naps while driving or during the day on the couch.

Tim and I don't qualify for medicare just yet and we don't have coverage from his prior employers so.....we pay our own premiums and have BC/BS.  We chose the PPO plan so that we would have coverage all over the US and could choose our doctors.  When we went to CAnada last year, I called and they sent a special ID card showing we had coverage.  It costs us a real pretty penny for our coverage.  We also have a $5K deductable.  We've set it up so that we pay for the little things and the big things are covered in order to keep our costs down. 

I tell ya what was such an eye opener.  We would go in for something small like a doctor's visit.  The bill would be $100.00.  The doctor would submit  the charge to BC/BS.  BC/BS "contracted amount" for the service was $40.00, so that is the amount we would be responsible for.  The poor soul who didn't have any insurance would be paying the full $100.00. 

Something is sure out of whack when it comes to insurance.

Marsha~

Marsha~

We saw that all the time with our medical insurance.  Our final amount for some charges would often be half or less than the billed amount and almost always was significantly less.  Although it didn't come close to the premiums, the insurance did save us a lot of money on our out of pocket expenses.  As in your case, we treated it as catastrophic insurance with a large deductible.

MarshaLassen/CA said:

...We would go in for something small like a doctor's visit.   The bill would be $100.00.  The doctor would submit  the charge to BC/BS.  BC/BS "contracted amount" for the service was $40.00, so that is the amount we would be responsible for.  ...

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I think that is typical nowadays.  I suspect it enables the doctor to have a big tax write-off against uncollected expenses...

A write off against unrealized income doesn't save any taxes.  No income, no tax, and no savings.