westernrvparkowner wrote:
This is correct. Your insurance will have a provision for out of area, out of network coverage whether you have a PPO, an HMO or any other type of policy. Your out of area or network copays and deductibles will likely be higher.
Actually, there are a lot of policies that provide no out-of-network coverage for non-emergency care at all. HMOs are the worst about it, obviously, but increasingly, even PPO policies are moving to smaller networks, with no out-of-network coverage at all. You get either in-network coverage or emergency coverage; if you want to see a famous cancer doctor in Houston who's not in your network, it's simply not covered.
Fulltimers without sticks and bricks houses generally pick among South Dakota, Texas, and Florida as a place to domicile. South Dakota and Texas don't work for pre-Medicare people, because they don't have PPO plans that offer nationwide networks. However, Florida does, and traveling fulltimers who domicile in Florida via the major mail services down there get health insurance through Florida Blue (EPO network with nationwide coverage), using the mail service's address.
And a move to Florida will qualify for a Special Enrollment Period under the ACA (assuming you can compile the documentation to support your move).
Generally, even if a person qualifies for a SEP because of a move getting new ACA insurance in every new state he resides in is impossible for fulltimers who move frequently because of the logistics involved in getting the new policy (applying 15 days in advance of when coverage starts, etc.).
If the OP is traveling for only six months, then it's possible to just rely on the emergency coverage under the current policy and delay any routine care until settled down again. That's the sticking point for most fulltimers--getting routine care while on the road. There are millions of people with coverage that extends only to emergencies when out of their local area, but they never even think about it because they're on vacation and the only time they would seek medical care is in an emergency, and they're covered for that.
There are also short-term medical plans available, but there are no standards on those (unlike ACA plans), so shop carefully, plus they don't take people with pre-existing conditions. A quick internet search also came up with a travel policy by Blue Cross; it requires an underlying insurance policy and is good only for trips of up to 70 days, so it wouldn't work for the OP but there might be others out there that would.
ETA: I looked at the plans available on the exchange using a Hartford zip code, and Anthem/Blue Cross offers PPO plans. I've never known what exactly Anthem is, but in Florida, Blue Cross's insurance is called Florida Blue and the EPO (similar to PPO) plans have access to Blue Cross's nationwide network. It's possible that Connecticut's might, as well. It's certainly worth investigating.
Of course at this point, the OP can't change insurance without qualifying for a SEP, and I don't know enough about the circumstances to know whether that might be possible. But it appears there's at least the possibility of a plan with access to Blue Cross's nationwide network, unlike in Texas, where Blue Cross offers only HMO plans.
