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dtappy3353's avatar
dtappy3353
Explorer
Jul 25, 2013

healthcare on the road

newly retired, have severe rheumatoid arthritis and get a monthly IV infusion to control it.

Has anyone out there experienced problems with finding insurance companies which "co-op" with your own so you don't have to go back home each month for treatment?

We have a health plan which is predominantly on the pacific coast and a couple states inland. Would like to spend a couple months with relatives back in upper midwest.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
  • In general you have to look at PPOs rather than HMOs.

    HMOs have a limited provider coverage range.

    PPOs have contracts with providers in a much larger area, mostly the whole US.

    -Tom
  • Health Care-
    Ask your Doctor to write and give you a "Standing order" to have the procedure done at any lab or hospital. He will give you the original which you will just give to the lab or clinic.
  • Our Humana Medicare PPO is good anywhere the "service" honors.

    jim
  • my insurance carrier is Kaiser Permanente. Been with them 20+ years. Wonderful care!
  • Kaiser is difficult to use if traveling constantly. We had Kaiser for many years, and after being on the road fulltime with them, finally changed to Blue Cross. Emergencies were OK but regular care was a pain if not in a Kaiser area.
  • Glad to hear someone using Blue Cross, that would be the carrier we would use. Currently have our home on the market once it sells we are going fulltime, but under the age of 65, so need to purchase health insurance.
  • We use Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, they usually just submit bill to BCBS of your area.
  • dtappy3353 wrote:
    newly retired, have severe rheumatoid arthritis and get a monthly IV infusion to control it.

    Has anyone out there experienced problems with finding insurance companies which "co-op" with your own so you don't have to go back home each month for treatment?

    We have a health plan which is predominantly on the pacific coast and a couple states inland. Would like to spend a couple months with relatives back in upper midwest.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated.


    Have you contacted them and inquired whether they will cover the procedure out of home area?
  • In many states Blue Cross Blue Shield will not write policies unless you have an actual street address (mail service street addresses won't work - they check against a database file to make sure you are not using a commercial address) and you spend at least six months each year in the state you claim as a legal domicile.
    If you have a policy provided by an ex-employer as a pension benefit they will write a policy without the requirements above.

    In NH we used our daughter's address where we "rented" a room and since we spent May through Oct in NH at that time we met their requirements.
    When we moved to SD they refused let us keep our policy so we had to go with another company (Assurant) that did not have the restrictions.

    You might want to check and see what BC/BS requires for the state you choose as your legal domicile.
  • Clay L wrote:
    In many states Blue Cross Blue Shield will not write policies unless you have an actual street address (mail service street addresses won't work - they check against a database file to make sure you are not using a commercial address) and you spend at least six months each year in the state you claim as a legal domicile.


    You might consider Escapees RV Club's mail service. The customer-specific street address they give all customers definitely is a legal address. This has been tested over and over again and is definitely recognized as a real address. Absolutely no problems.