Appointments

[MAwolcott]

For all you full timers. We will start this adventure in a couple more years. What do you all do about your medical appointments? I'm sure it would be a hassle finding a new doctor or dentist all the time, and I'm sure paying the new patient fees all the time is also a pain. Do you keep your original practices and try and schedule everything around the same time and just return to them?

[was_butnotnow]

We used to go back to our orig home state in the summer for a couple weeks as full timers to our orig. Drs. BUT now have established all that in AZ where we winter as we are here for much more time and if need be we can get follow-ups. If we left it back in the mid west we might be caught back there for an extened time if problems showed up. Our providers dopwn here are used to snowbirds and fulltimers and are open to only seeing us once or twice a year. And good about renewing drugs to any Walmart or my 90 day Medicare Plan D SilverScript CVS accounts as we travel for most of teh year. And they have online web sites so we can login and communicate with them from anywhere with our needs.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We return to home base (Florida) in June and December and schedule all our appointments during that time. We fill 90 days of meds and hit the road again. On the road I fill my prescriptions at CVS or Walmart Pharmacy. When you travel it takes an extra day or two to get the meds. For CVS I order them online and change the location to pick them up and tell them when I want to pick up. For illness on the road, I use walk in clinics.

[mockturtle]

My medical and dental providers (and my dog's vet) are in WA and I visit them annually in the summer. If I need to see someone during the rest of the year, I use walk-in clinics.

[horizon36]

We pass thru our old home town twice a year and schedule our annual physicals and other medical appointments while there. I have Medicare and my wife uses Christian Health Ministry to cover the big expenses, but other wise pays cash for all her labs and doctor visits.

[2gypsies1]

We found that we wintered in one state so we established doctors there. Never paid a new patient fee and it was easy to find a good doc.

Dentists - we've gone just across the border to Mexico if we're nearby. Otherwise, it's easy to find one while traveling in an emergency.

We've also used doctors as we've traveled in an emergency - even in Canada where we found an awesome caring one - even called later as we continued our journey to see how I was doing.

With all the new insurance stuff in the past couple years it might not be as easy but don't know. We're on Medicare and have a supplement so no problem for us. I feel sorry for the younger full-timers that have to purchase their insurance with all the new restrictions.

[Clay_L]

For a while we had doctors in NH, AZ, and CO. Then just AZ and CO.

[tonyandkaren]

We return to our hometown every year and schedule our checkups and dentist visits for that time however Tony had two minor surgeries recently and we scheduled both of them in the areas where we would be spending the winter, one in time Florida and once in Nevada. Everything went very smoothly.

We haven't had to visit a doctor while traveling in years but in the past urgent care clinics worked well. We didn't have to pay all of the new patient fees or go through all of the routine tests that a doctor usually wants for a new patient.

[missourijan]

We have been fulltime for 9 1/2 years and doctors/dentists and hair stylists have been our biggest issue. We have been fortunate to find providers who offered cash discounts. We were not Medicare age so we purchased high deductible policies that usually don't cover any preventive care. We have gone back to our family Dr in Reno, we found a clinic in MT and a lab in MT that were reasonable. We've also paid attention to things like breast cancer month (October), a lot of providers offer $65 mammograms. February is heart health month and we saw an ad for a cardiology practice that was offering a lipid panel, mini cat scan and office visit with a cardiologist for $99 a person. This year one of us went on Medicare and the other is still using the high
deductible policy. There are discount dental plans that I've found online, pay $70 and get 1/2 price on every dental service. You have to be responsible and keep up with your medical care. When visiting a new practitioner we provide that last 2 years of lab work and mammogram reports

[2oldman]

I can't recall ever paying a new patient fee.. unless I just didn't know it.

[BarbaraOK]

For years we made a stop in our old home town on part of our swing (since it was very close to where our kids live) and had physicals, etc for us and the cats. Last year we decided to move our health care to physicians in the Mesa, AZ area where we spend every winter - we know we will be here, so it makes sense. Plus, as you will find, as you get older the 'check ups' take more than just a day or two to have things checked/repaired. We had already found a dentist in Mesa several years ago and just get annual cleanings. We dropped our dental insurance when we went fulltiming and just self-fund. So far we are way ahead on what dental paid versus paying ourselves (we get a 10% discount for paying with cash and another 5% for no insurance to file). One crown for each of us in 10 years, otherwise just cleanings & checkup.

Barb

[arhayes]

That's what we did this year. We were on the road for 13 months, then knew we'd return to Dallas in October, so made appointments a few months in advance for the weeks we'd be there, had physicals, etc.

Dental is the biggest pain, especially if you have insurance,. First deciding where you'll be in advance, finding a dentist taking new patients, etc is a problem. We happen to be wintering in Florida again this year, so we'll be able to use the same dentist there for cleaning right before we leave, so we're already "patients".

Make sure to take into account network availability for your health insurance, especially if you'll be in the Obomacare marketplace. It's tightening in '16 and there are fewer options, at least in Texas. Well be going outside and getting our own insurance for '16 (we're under 65).