healthcare - RV-Dreams Community Forum

WendysPhotos · RV-Dreams Family Member

healthcare

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

the stars in the link probably caused the problem. don't know if its allowed spell it out but I think I know what goes in the spaces.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Wendy you have a good question that everyone is digging into fast!!!

I can tell you first hand if I had the choice of cheaper taxes or good Health insurance coverage ,I would concentrate on health insurance!!

We all want to believe it wont happen to us we're to young for this to happen..........Wrong!!!!!

after 6 life changing Events in just 2 years while out here on the road ,lesson was learned. It cost me dearly for that type of thinking.......my cheap insurance Canceled me when the bills exceeded 1.5m..and left me in a crucial moment......had to sell the coach , land,investments just to keep Breathing...(Im 53 !!)

The new coverage needs to be thought out.....you need to know you are going to be in the area your going to call home so your annual visits and Primary care is established and ongoing..(just passing thru twice a year works)...you need to look at your care deductibles and figure it in so that when your on the road your out of pocket visits and treatments count as part of the deductable.

it is a tough and alot of thought has to be put into it.....................mine is in NH ,altho at this time its tough because NH only offers 1 provider(Bluecross blue shield) until next year so for some the rates are high....once the competition kicks in it probably wont be so bad.

look it all over carefully.....find a policy that fits and at the same time one that will handle catastrophic events...........(note) I now carry life-Flite ins. to get me there when needed

-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Monday 30th of December 2013 10:58:58 AM

-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Monday 30th of December 2013 12:20:22 PM

WendysPhotos · RV-Dreams Family Member

okay the story is at I am going to leave off the www. part so it will quit kicking the stars in apparently the website does this so people have to visit the site to see the stuff and that their stories will not get copied everywhere. this is a wall street company and very well known.

We are actually leaning towards TN as my parents and a couple of siblings live there and we plan to visit a few times a year. Healthcare there seems to be pretty cheap, but I have not seen the policies yet. Hubby and I have only needed our annual check ups for years, so pretty healthy and we don't smoke and he is a teetotaler. Me, a little margarita makes life nice every once in awhile

TN is still a state with no Income Tax and if we use my sisters 'way out in nowhere' address the property taxes are pretty cheap. We are still investigating though. My sister has already said she would do mail service for us anyways. We get very little as it is. Most of it junk. We will see time will tell. we are still in the sell the house stage. Going to the Indy RV show on the 11th to start really trying to decide what we want .

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 30th of December 2013 07:59:06 PM

jswharton · RV-Dreams Community Member

Try the website healthsherpa.com, put in age and zip code and it will show the actual plans and costs available. It's quick and easy. We are in the same boat, glad to have ACA available

Edit by moderator: Activated link. Terry

WendysPhotos · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you

That site is awesome and TN seems to have great options. We are still a year away or so, but it helps with the planning.

Wendy

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I cleaned up your first posting, Wendy, and created the link for you. The "bad language" filter on the forum wanted to add the asterisks and that is what did you in. If you check in "Forum Tips" in the upper area of the forums, there is a link about inserting links. If you notice, I created a title that didn't have the reference to the news source and then used the linking system to make that "title" an active link.

Terry

Russ Ranger · RV-Dreams Family Member

Health and vehicle insurance costs were two of the biggest concerns as we considered our home base options last year before making the big leap. Location made huge differences in each premium.

I shopped 4 cities in our home state of Washington for vehicle insurance. The price range between Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton and Gig Harbor varied over $1,000.00 annually. I was shocked.

We have had some huge expenditures for healthcare during the last year. For our particular situation just continuing our coverage was the main concern. If we moved to another area or state it would have altered or terminated our coverage. Being 62 and 60 and retired the big question is how good is the quality of the coverage for traveling people. Our current plan allowed us to travel and even though it cost $1,060.00 per month it was what allowed us to continue our new lifestyle. Without this coverage we would still be working as slaves to our medical plan.

For us home base location was everything. Lucky Mike is right, a quality health plan trumps all the other concerns.

RonaldNC · RV-Dreams Family Member

I can't make the link work...

Ron

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is getting weird. When I go to create the link and test it within the "Show Preview" pane, it works just fine. Yet when I complete the post, then the link doesn't work in the regular forum. If you want to see the article, simply use an internet browser and use "50 States of Obamacare" to find the article. The article is from Market Watch.

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Tuesday 31st of December 2013 10:47:37 PM

jrzygrl64 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry,

The healthsherpa link worked fine for me just now, thought you might like to know!

Kelly

RonaldNC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Terry... by the way, the article is called "Fifty STATES of Obamacare"... I won't ask what you've been reading lately... LOL

Ron

WendysPhotos · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you Terry!

I did read the forum tips on posting links and was trying to do it the right way. It just would not work and the funny thing is when I preview the post it had the link right and then when I actually hit post it changed it. So I could not figure it out.

Also you must have been looking at your wife reading preferences in the last post. I have read those books. but hubby would not touch them.

Back on topic. I figured out from healthsherpa.com that if we based in TN and make under 35,000.00 a year that it would be only 385.00 a month (using the subsidy that is offered) for us with just a 1250.00 individual and 2500.00 family deductible through Blue Cross Blue shield. Everyone who is healthy needs to remember that all you regular check-ups are free including but not limited to mammograms, colonoscopies, blood work, etc. Our current insurance has a 1000.00 deductible, so if I have a cold and need just a shot I run down to the immediate care give the $65.00 and the cost of the shot and I am off. So if you are going to move around and are fairly healthy a higher deductible might work fine for you.

Tn has a few plans that have zero Deductible plans that if you make under 35,000.00 a year are less than 500.00 a month. South Dakota was about 1/2 as much higher.

On the subsidy program, our current salaries do not qualify, but our on road income we thing we can stay under that, so it will work for us. I do not feel bad about using it either since I have worked for 25 year and my hubby 30 years paying our taxes for everyone else to use government programs. It is time I got a little benefit too.

Wendy

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ron, ROFLMAO seriously

WestWardHo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Doesn't apply to us but wondering if those state insurance policies cover you when out of state? Just a thought.

Sherry

SnowGypsy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sherry: The states don't actually have state insurance policies unless you are talking about those associated with Medicaid. Kansas has no state exchange and neither do over 30 other states so if we were buying, we would have to buy through the federal exchange. It is complicated and KS is one fighting it and not establishing the exchanges is a part of the fight. Certain insurance companies are offering policies through the state exchanges. So, coverage will be dependent on the policy that one chooses. In KS, they did not expand Medicaid but had previously farmed it out to 3 insurance companies that made a bid to provide the insurance. Because of low wages in the state, probably 3/4 of the people would have qualified for expanded Medicaid.

I think they spend a lot of time and money trying to make it so complicated that no one can understand it.

Thankfully, both my husband and my self are military veterans and enrolled in VA Healthcare. Our adult son with DS is covered under the state contracted out insurance, previously Medicaid, and it would only cover him for out-of-state for emergencies. We use herbal and homeopathic medicine.

Everyone needs to read their policies and not just take the word of the person on the other end of the telephone. I would not even trust emails and would save any that I receive in relation to policies.

We did play with the charts and lots and lots of people are going to qualify for the subsidies in the low cost of living areas if the calculations we did are correct.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Sherry: Just using the state of Washington, where we are domiciled, as an example of the ACA, there are policies that cover only certain counties except emergencies, some that cover the whole state and some that cover the entire country. They can and do force you back to your home area for major treatment, like cancer. A friend got to spend many months in Rapid City SD for cancer treatment and was very glad it did not happen in winter.

A good friend found that Medicare supplements can also limit you to areas or states. He went to check on getting some out-of-state treatment at the age of 68 and found his supplement did not cover him out of state and had not covered him his entire time on Medicare. He gladly paid an extra $20 a month for national coverage. He was really irritated since he lived 30 miles from the state border and his pre-Medicare insurance from the same company was a national plan. Driving into the neighbor state for errands was a normal part of his life and for 3 years if he had a medical problem on one of those trips he would not have had supplement coverage. Read those policies carefully.

Experts are also finding many are signing up for the Bronze ACA plans, the cheapest premiums, even with known yearly medical costs that make the higher monthly cost plans more cost effective over the year.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 31st of December 2013 01:53:03 PM

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think some have done it just so they won't get chastiised (fined) by the IRS. If I wouldn't have qualified for VA Healthcare that is what I would have done as most of my working career I had no coverage. I guess sometimes the Squirrel finds a prized nut! I found out that 3 yr. Army hitch was beneficial to me after all. I never used much benefits except for about 2 semesters of college, no VA home loans; no SGLI; ETC. But; I will use burial and any other offered. I am going to see the Veterans Benefits Administrator ASAP! I served my country; got out and worked my self to near death trying to do my best to keep from drowning; or should I say just to live; pay the bills; have a comfortable reirement; probably like most the rest here on the forum. Unfortunately; a few here had to accept less; but we keep on ticking like an old beat up Timex Watch!
This is the start of a New Year for me; I will continue to accept my health condition and move forward if ever so slowly! The graciuos people on this Forum has held me up until I stood on my own; encouraged me not to give up when I felt like the bottom was swallowing me up; motivated me to listen to the medical professionals and stay with a better diet.
Today also has marked 18 months as a heart attack survivor along with being Smoke-Free! Pieere

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

I think some have done it just so they won't get chastiised (fined) by the IRS. If I wouldn't have qualified for VA Healthcare that is what I would have done as most of my working career I had no coverage. I guess sometimes the Squirrel finds a prized nut! I found out that 3 yr. Army hitch was beneficial to me after all.
Today also has marked 18 months as a heart attack survivor along with being Smoke-Free! Pieere

The Hensons · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
A good friend found that Medicare supplements can also limit you to areas or states. He went to check on getting some out-of-state treatment at the age of 68 and found his supplement did not cover him out of state and had not covered him his entire time on Medicare. He gladly paid an extra $20 a month for national coverage.

Just to clarify something on this...

Your friend must've had a Medicare Supplement Select plan, which is pretty rare. Basically, it's a standard Medicare Supplement plan which requires you to use in-network hospitals for hospital care only, except in the case of an emergency. Medicare Supplement Select plans can actually be used nationwide for non-hospitalization care. They're generally about 15-20% cheaper than a regular Medicare Supplement. For RVers, a regular Medicare supplement is a better choice.

K & E · RV-Dreams Family Member

We just enrolled through the ACA marketplace in Wisconsin which is part of the federal program. The company we enrolled with is based in Wisconsin and is a PPO. I called them before enrolling and they have network doctors in all 50 states and our current primary physician in Wisconsin is in the network. We will be covered no matter where we are. If we go to a non-network doctor the deductible is double, but we are still covered. Based on our income we will not have to pay anything. It's a $5,800 per person deductible and then 100% coverage after that. We are in our mid 50s and were self-insured prior to this paying $305 a month for a $10,000 deductible policy each. We've paid over $10,000 in health insurance premiums in the 4 years we've been fulltimers, and never collected a dime. However, we felt we needed to be covered so we paid. Now we'll be saving over $3,600 a year. It's a no brainer to me!

el Rojo and Pam · RV-Dreams Family Member

K & E wrote:
We just enrolled through the ACA marketplace in Wisconsin which is part of the federal program. The company we enrolled with is based in Wisconsin and is a PPO. I called them before enrolling and they have network doctors in all 50 states and our current primary physician in Wisconsin is in the network. We will be covered no matter where we are. If we go to a non-network doctor the deductible is double, but we are still covered. Based on our income we will not have to pay anything. It's a $5,800 per person deductible and then 100% coverage after that. We are in our mid 50s and were self-insured prior to this paying $305 a month for a $10,000 deductible policy each. We've paid over $10,000 in health insurance premiums in the 4 years we've been fulltimers, and never collected a dime. However, we felt we needed to be covered so we paid. Now we'll be saving over $3,600 a year. It's a no brainer to me!

Would you mind sharing the name of the insurance company? I'm sure many of us would like to check them out.

Thanks Red

WendysPhotos · RV-Dreams Family Member

Remember if you want the subsidies you 'HAVE TO' apply through the exchange in the state of your residence. So do not let a insurance company sign you up directly through them.

K & E · RV-Dreams Family Member

They are called Common Ground and are located in Wisconsin. We signed up through the exchange using our Wisconsin address. I don't think they would be available for other state's residents. I believe each state has it's own companies even if you sign up through the exchange. I sure hope this all works out!

el Rojo and Pam · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks. You never know, they may have branches in other states too.