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Re: Zion Healthshare SD, anyone have any experience with this company?
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.1.1KViews1like0CommentsRe: Zion Healthshare SD, anyone have any experience with this company?
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.1.1KViews0likes2CommentsRe: Learned an expensive lesson today
caysea7254 wrote: It's really simple to us. We just never lie about anything. People can adapt to anything without lie. Just curious--what do you use for "garaging address" on your vehicle insurance? That's one where I "lie" but I know the insurance company knows I'm "lying" because they're insuring me as a traveling fulltimer.1.1KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Itinerary for southern Oregun and northern Cal
TenOC wrote: I think it is a length problem not a full time problem. Then why not just say that? caysea7254 wrote: Yes it is the length. Max trailer length is 25 ft. I went in to check. It says that here: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413 But if you click on the big square on that page that says "camping reservations" it takes you here: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=31008 and that says "Some sites can accommodate trailers or motorhomes up to 36 feet (no hookups)." Sigh.1.4KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Itinerary for southern Oregun and northern Cal
RedRollingRoadblock wrote: Since the OP is full time I doubt they would be allowed in Jedediah Smith. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=413 A state park has a prohibition against fulltimers? Aside from why they would have it, how would they even know?1.4KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Walmart overnight parking
Tom_M wrote: I was recently told that Walmart has changed their policy concerning overnight parking nation wide and no longer allow overnight parking. I can't find anything doing a Google search. Can anyone confirm this? Why didn't you ask the person who told you this where they got the information?518Views0likes0CommentsRe: F/T RVer Health Insurance - Feedback
MedCad wrote: Anyone have experience with getting private nationwide health insurance from rverinsurance.com and the broker/agent Mike Neighbours? (private - not Obama Care / ACA) Specifically health insurance issued by New Era Insurance and its Philadelphia American Insurance. Question is, when the day comes to file a claim do they pay out or jerk you around? What do you mean "private" health insurance? ACA policies purchased on the Obamacare Exchange are private health insurance--the Exchange is merely a way to buy one and apply a subsidy if you qualify for one. My experience is that any plan you buy on the Exchange can be bought directly from the company, the only difference being that if you buy it directly from the company rather than on the Exchange you can't receive a lowered premium due to a subsidy. So I'm curious about what "private" health insurance is. Is this a term your agent used? What I suspect is that the policy you're looking at is not health insurance, but instead an indemnity plan. Indemnity plans might work for a given person, but there's a lot of history of people buying them without understanding exactly what it is they're buying. If you're looking at a fixed benefit indemnity plan, you should read this: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-health-policy/2020/08/04/fixed-indemnity-health-coverage-is-a-problematic-form-of-junk-insurance/ If you're looking at short-term limited duration health insurance, you should read this: https://files.kff.org/attachment/Issue-Brief-Understanding-Short-Term-Limited-Duration-Health-Insurance With regard to Philadelphia American Insurance, here's a lengthy discussion about it. It veers a little in the middle when an insurance salesman jumps in claiming to offer exactly what traveling fulltimers want (major medical insurance with a nationwide network), only it turns out not so much. But at the end of the thread, somebody shows up with what he found out when considering and researching a fixed indemnity plan with Phildalephia America. https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/138198-rver-insurance-exchange-health-insurance/474Views0likes0CommentsRe: Feedback on 12V water heater element as solar diversion load
ewarnerusa wrote: To me, the cool part about the diversion load idea is that 100% of solar harvest capacity is used throughout the entire solar day. Our setup is significantly different from yours, but you might be interested in what a fellow traveler did to use excess solar to make hot water. We have 1,050 watts of panels and six 6-volt golf cart batteries. Not huge by today's standards, but it was considered a lot of solar when we installed it in 2005. And since we still have a Norcold and not a residential refrigerator, it's still enough. Our motorhome came with a gas/electric water heater that was installed on a non-inverter circuit. We moved it to the inverter circuit, so it would work on the batteries. (And actually, we tested everything before moving the water heater breaker by necking down the shore power cord to a 15-amp plug, and plugging it into one of the 15-amp plugs on the coach. That meant the water heater "saw" shore power and would work, but the shore power was actually coming from the batteries. It looked very strange, having the shore power cord go to an outlet on the side of the coach (I can only imagine what our neighbors thought), but was easier than moving the breaker only to find out the whole plan was bogus.) The basic idea was to rewire the AC power to the water heater through a solid state relay that comes ON when the battery voltage is at float level, and turns OFF when it drops below that, which happens almost instantaneously once the water heater begins to draw current. So the water heater is on for just a fraction of a second, and the battery voltage recovers just as quickly, and then it does the ON/OFF thing again. This happens dozens, even hundreds, of times a second. The fraction of time ON versus OFF tracks the amount of incoming solar power available constantly, via a process called pulse width modulation ("PWM"). And since the water heater is a simple resistive load, it doesn't mind being rapidly pulsed like that. Best of all, we put in a little LED light that flashes when the water heater is going on and off, and you'll probably appreciate how much fun it is to watch that light flash like mad. And it really does heat the water, to the point that we've boondocked for weeks at a time not running the generator and not using any propane for the water heater, taking daily showers. We currently have a Midnite Classic controller, which has an AUX output and a high-speed FLOAT-tracking PWM mode that works great for this purpose, by connecting the controller's AUX output to the high-current solid state relay that switches the water heater's AC on or off. We originally had an Outback MX-60 controller. We did get this scheme to work with that controller, but it was kind of tricky and took some monitoring that's not needed with the Midnight, which is basically "set and forget." However, with the Midnight's "set and forget," it does it only when the batteries are in float mode, and not when they're in absorb, when there's also excess solar that could be used. So with the current controller, we're not using 100% of the possible solar, because it doesn't get diverted while the batteries are in absorb stage. Wringing out every electron with the old controller had its charms, but really, this is all just icing on the cake, so I've decided I'm okay with sacrificing some output.370Views0likes0CommentsRe: Roadtrip by car vs RV, a couple of thoughts...
ken56 wrote: The last place we ate out at was a Jimmy Johns sandwich place....22 dollars for 2 sandwiches. Where was this? Jimmy John sandwiches generally cost in the vicinity of $8 for something like ham and provolone, and $9 for a sandwich with added bacon, avocado, or extra meat. Where were you charged $11 each for two sandwiches?598Views0likes0CommentsRe: Brevard County Florida camping fee changes
Bandaid wrote: The result was a raising of the basic camping fees by 200% now being $48. per day for a water and electric site. If you want full hookups, or a water view, you pay a premium fee on top of the daily fee! THEY DIDN'T RAISE THE BASIC CAMPING FEE BY 200%! First of all, you say the new fee is $48. But there is no campground on their website that charges $48. There are three campgrounds, and the most expensive is Long Point, at $44 for a water/electric site. Not $48. Here's an archived version of their website showing fees at Long Point in June of 2022: Long Point rates in June 2022 A water/electric site was $28. Raising it to $44 is a 57% increase, not a 200% increase as you claim. And the big increase is only for nonresidents. You, as a resident, will now pay $29.67 for a water/electric site at Long Point, up a whopping 6%. johnhicks wrote: Turns out Brevard County residents aren't participating in the rate increases, $27/day for them and $46/day for everyone else. No, according to the link that you provided, for Long Point it's $29.67/day for residents, and $44/day for nonresidents. At Manatee Hammock, it's $27.55/day for residents (which is close to your "$27") but $41/day for nonresidents (which isn't close to your "$46"). So I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers. I'm wondering if the OP just "heard" that rates were going up 200% and raced here to complain, and didn't actually verify anything. Particularly because the new pricing structure greatly favors county residents--residents' camping fees at Long Point went up by 6% while fees for non-residents went up by 57% (again, nowhere near 200%). County residents pay the same year-round, while non-residents pay more in-season than out-of-season. County residents can book up to 13 months in advance, while non-residents can book up to 12 months in advance. (I don't like that reservations might have to be made a year in advance, but at least there's a period where residents have the ability to book and non-residents don't.) Bandaid wrote: If I am going to have to pay a premium to get a full hookup site, I might as well go to a private campground and have more amenities! For a full hookup site at Long Point, you'll add $2 to your resident rate of $29.67, for a total of $31.67. I've stayed at only half a dozen or so RV parks in Florida, and none in Brevard County, but on my latest swing through the state, I was consistently seeing rates of about $70 in December. So $31.67 looks like a real deal for a full hookup site. Bandaid wrote: Also, the length of stay has been dropped from 169 days to 90 days. Actually, it was 168 days, not 169. See rule #6 here: Long Point campground rules in June 2022 But what objection would a county resident have to a limit of 90 days per reservation? If I were a resident wanting to camp locally, I'd welcome that because it wouldn't affect me at all but might make it less attractive for long-term people (although 90 days probably will still work for a lot of snowbirds).1.2KViews0likes0Comments
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