Zion Healthshare SD, anyone have any experience with this company?

[ros1971]

Hi, husband retiring this month age 61 so too young for Midicaid. I am 53. We are full time travelers, no sticks n bricks with South Dakota residency. Husband is keen on Zion Health share but I am nervous, I would prefer to stick to a regular and recognized health insurance company. Alternative is Blue Cross but read about people not getting good coverage out of the state of residency.

Help! Are you in a similar set of circumstances and what do you do?

[ros1971 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for a very good reply. 

[Rice]

South Dakota doesn't offer any health insurance policies that provide access to a national network, which is generally what fulltime travelers want.

Blue Cross is actually one of the companies that DOES offer access to a nationwide network, but it doesn't offer those policies in all states.  Florida Blue has EPO/PPO policies that provide access to a national network through Blue Cross's Blue Card program, but of course you have to be a Florida resident.  Blue Cross used to offer a PPO plan with Blue Card access in Texas, but they pulled out of the market several years ago (to everyone's surprise) and all of their offerings in Texas are HMOs (which don't cover anything (except emergencies) outside the local network).  I don't know of any company in Texas or Florida that offers access to a nationwide network.  Ambetter operates in quite a few states, but I've never gotten a clear answer on if, for example, you have an Ambetter policy from Florida, it will provide in-network care in Texas.  It sells policies in both states, but I don't know if they play well with each other. 

I'm not a fan of any of the Christian healthshare ministries because, as pointed out, they are not insurance and they are not required to pay for anything--it's all optional on their part.  And they're not subject to any regulation.  Also beware of insurance that advertises itself as having a nationwide network (or no network at all) because those are often indemnity plans, and not health insurance the way most of us think of health insurance.  An indemnity plan might be a good option, but you'd better be 100% sure you understand exactly what it is you're buying.  Actually, it's the same with the healthshare ministries; plenty of people have signed up without understanding exactly what it is.

In short, there aren't a lot of good options for traveling fulltimers.  The most frequent solution is to domicile in Florida and get a Florida Blue EPO/PPO plan.

[ros1971 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for a very good reply. 

[Rice · Accepted solution]

I just re-read my post and need to correct something I said.  I said, "I don't know of any company in Texas or Florida that offers access to a nationwide network."  What I meant was Texas or South Dakota.  South Dakota hasn't had health insurance policies with a nationwide network for a long time.  Texas had them through Blue Cross, but then Blue Cross stopped offering those policies and changed to HMO only.  That was maybe eight or ten years ago? 

Which leaves Florida as the choice for people who need pre-Medicare health insurance.  Florida isn't the only choice, because there are nationwide policies available in some other states, but Florida, Texas, and South Dakota are the "big three" for fulltime domicile, and Florida is the only one among those three. 

A person might have a reason to domicile in a different state from those three, and it's possible he could get a policy with nationwide coverage there, but there's nowhere near as much discussion about the health insurance landscape in those states as there is for Texas, South Dakota, and Florida. 

[MNtundraRet]

S.D. is somewhat lax in governing health Insurance companies. I would be careful in choosing an insurance company in South Dakota. 

[valhalla360]

My concern would be the company mentioned is not actually an insurance company. I've heard of these companies operating in multiple states as they skirt the insurance rules as they claim not to be insurance.

If you get insurance thru an actual insurance company, that should be much more reliable and obamacare has certain minimum rules that should cover....(I have some issues with obamacare and the way it was implemented but may as well take advantage of what's available)

[ros1971]

Thank you.

[valhalla360]

Check out obamacare. They look at your income (pensions & 401k withdrawals count as income). Assuming you can manage what counts as income, the subsidy makes it really quite affordable. Worst case if you have 6 figures coming in, you can still just buy thru obamacare and simply don't get the subsidy.