Health insurance on the road

dahkota wrote:

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.

We have a PPO plan that offers a national network through BCBS.

It is November, so you now have a chance to sign up for a new plan.

A new option for us this year is an EPO/PPO plan, which I am looking into. One must have a "preferred provider" but one also has access to a larger, nationwide PPO network.

I see the prices people post here on the boards: $1200 for two, $1800 for two, per month, and I wonder what kind of gold plated no deductible plan you all have. Our current plan is going from $550/month for two to $600/month. But we are also a year older than last year(do many people consider that prices rise as you age?).

To figure out the most cost effective plan, I take the max out of pocket $ and add it to the total premiums. This year, the number was $9850 per person. I could pay $800/month/person for a gold plan but since the max out of pocket is still $6500 my outlay would be $16100/year. Seems a waste of $6000 for the same result.

You are getting a government subsidy for your plan. My plan with the $1400.00 premium is a PPO Silver Plan with a $5000 deductible and a maximum out of pocket of $6500 per person. It does cover the first three doctor visits, lab tests with a 20% copay and drugs are tiered with a copay. I am probably going to move to a PPO Bronze plan because I will save nearly $450 a month, but we will no longer have any drug coverage or lab coverage. The deductible will increase, and the copays for covered events will also increase. Just an FYI, the cheapest Gold Plan available to me is $1857.00 per month. As for age, both my wife and I are Sub 60, by a few years.