Health insurance on the road

[retiredtraveler]

I am sure this has been discussed before so if so I apologize for asking again. Neither my wife or I are old enough to get medicare so we purchase our plan here in our home state of CT. We generally spend 6 months in the south and the rest here. Due to some ongoing health issues our doctor demands we seek medical help in the south to monitor the situation. The problem is that our plan does not cover anything except emergencies once outside of our state. How do others deal with this?
Thanks in advance.

[EsoxLucius]

pawatt wrote:
BCBS has plans that cover all over the USA if available in your state, you can call them directly.

Those are beginning to go away as well. BCBS is canceling PPO coverage in many states. Or costs are rising dramatically.

[pawatt]

BCBS has plans that cover all over the USA if available in your state, you can call them directly.

[EsoxLucius]

South Dakota is not good for health insurance for those RVers under 65. Sanford and Dakota Care will not cover those with a PMB and Avera costs and coverage are untenable.

[Bill001]

I'm also retiring early (expect full-time RVing in the West) and won't be able to use Medicare for awhile.

Is anyone using South Dakota as a domicile? If so what sort of insurance options have you found? I'm guessing one is in network while someplace in the S Dakota, then out of network most everywhere else in the country?

Is Texas working out better for folks in terms of while you are out of Tx?

Thanks,
Bill

[Stars101]

BarbaraOK wrote:
CIGNA runs the clinic? I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Or is it that your deductible for urgent care clinics was $125/visit before and it is now $250/visit? And if that is the case, why didn't you know what your deductible was?

Barb

I know what my deductible is, $10K. However, I have had HDHP's for 10 years and have NEVER been charged more than $125 for an urgent care visit... I go to clinic, they bill insurance, I pay whatever bill is... usually "full cost" i.e. whatever they would bill someone who has no insurance, and it gets put towards my deductible.

This time I was billed $250 for a visit. When I called clinic office and asked what I would have paid with no insurance, I was quoted $125. But when I called the clinic billing dept. to complain they told me that "they have no control over how much they charge me, that CIGNA told them what to charge me".

I have never, ever had an office, hospital, laboratory etc. tell me that the insurance company told THEM what to initially charge me!

[quoyfab]

arhayes wrote:
I've been on the same hunt, but so far I'm not finding anything that will cover out of state. ACA was supposed to help, but ours is going up to $1700 a month if we maintain the same level. Not very affordable. Looks like we'll plan for catastrophic only coverage plan and expect healthcare to run 20-25% of our retirement income for the next 3 years til I qualify for Medicare.

We have catastrophic coverage, ONLY because we are GRANDFATHERED. If you didn't have it prior to ACA becoming law, you CAN'T buy it. New rate starting 1/1/16 is $1,005/month, only saving grace is HSA annual deposit of $7,750 is deductible. Until ACA took effect on 1/1/14 same plan cost $579/month and HSA was $7,450 Only 16 and 17 months 'til Medicare for the DW and I. I married an older woman.

[BarbaraOK]

CIGNA runs the clinic? I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Or is it that your deductible for urgent care clinics was $125/visit before and it is now $250/visit? And if that is the case, why didn't you know what your deductible was?

Barb

[Stars101]

Our young family has a HDHP, and we have for the past 10 years...

Normally a visit to the emergency walk-in clinic is $125-150, billed to insurance so it goes towards our deductible. No problem, $125 is worth it to be seen on a weekend if needed.

This year we have a new Cigna policy. Needed walk-in clinic 2 weekends in a row on a Sunday. OK, no problem we've used them once or twice a year for the past 10 years...

Get the 2 bills and Cigna is charging us $250 per visit. For just an office visit!! That's $500 total for 2 cases of bronchitis. I paid less at the pediatric walk-in clinic when my son broke his collar bone. That was an office visit, x ray and a sling for $150. I just said I'd pay cash when I heard how inexpensive it would be. I'm glad I didn't have it billed to Cigna. I'd probably be stuck with $1,000!!

The large corp. clinic billing dept. will not negotiate bill. I even called the office and asked what my visit would cost if I was a self-pay and I was quoted $125.

But Cigna DOUBLED the cost and now I'm stuck with it. At least I now know to say I don't have insurance, and just pay cash, if I ever need the convenience of the walk-in clinic on a weekend...

Billing depts. used to negotiate with the customer in order to get paid immediately. No more... I guess they'd rather wait for their money than get 3/4 of it right now. They are getting $10 per month, screw 'em... it will cost them more to send me monthly paper bills than it costs me to send in $10 via auto pay LOL.

[Gjac]

retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
I am sure this has been discussed before so if so I apologize for asking again. Neither my wife or I are old enough to get medicare so we purchase our plan here in our home state of CT. We generally spend 6 months in the south and the rest here. Due to some ongoing health issues our doctor demands we seek medical help in the south to monitor the situation. The problem is that our plan does not cover anything except emergencies once outside of our state. How do others deal with this?
Thanks in advance.

I live in Ct also. I had Welcare for the last two years which only covered emergencies out of state. I spend 4 mo's in Fla over the winter. This year I switched to Etna which is a national plan that covers Dr's out of state. Cigna which is also a national plan covers Dr's out of state also. Which plan do you currently have?

[TechWriter]

johnhicks wrote:
I think I could probably "move" to a UPS Store in a different county if needed. In Florida a UPS Store (and other similar mail services) is considered a legal street address.

You would also probably need to update driver's license, etc.

If by "move" you mean just changing your address without actually intending to reside there, careful -- you could be setting yourself up for fraud. Remember, there are potential voting and tax issues when changing your address.

[johnhicks]

> I hope it's that simple

It probably isn't...but maybe.

My Florida address is a UPS Store and I've never given the ACA or BCBS any other address. I think I could probably "move" to a UPS Store in a different county if needed. In Florida a UPS Store (and other similar mail services) is considered a legal street address.

[TechWriter]

johnhicks wrote:
I think you could pick a good zip code by renting a box at a mail-forwarding service that's a legal sticks'n'bricks address as long as you're domiciled in that state.

I hope it's that simple.

Anyway, been looking at PPOs in TX. Out of the 50 counties I've looked at, 19 of them had PPO plans.

[johnhicks]

I think you could pick a good zip code by renting a box at a mail-forwarding service that's a legal sticks'n'bricks address as long as you're domiciled in that state.

[TechWriter]

johnhicks wrote:
So you're suggesting we can just pick the best zip code?

I don't know. Can you?