Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
We want to thank all of our members for their participation and input over the years, and we want to especially thank those that have acted as Moderators for us during our amazing journey living and traveling in our RV and growing the RV-Dreams Family. We will be forever proud to have been founders of this Forum and to have been supported by such a wonderful community. Thank you all!!
Seems like most full timers are either generally healthy or return to their regular doctor once or twice a year. Well that's not us. My wife and I will continue with the same health insurance when I retire, but will most likely have to use "out-of-network" providers.
We are currently in NY, and plan to stay mostly in the western states. Our 28 year old son has multiple medical conditions, his health insurance is Medicaid. Seems like it's a state by state program. We plan to have SD be our domicile state, when I called their social services department I was told he would have to physically be in SD to receive benefits.
Normally we all run to Howard with our insurance questions, but he's dealing with a family illness right now. hope everybody is sending up prayers for his Dad.
In the meantime, there is an agency that has knowledge about the various options, I would check in with them.
If you go to the RV Dreams Journal page on this site, there are a lot of banner ads for affiliates, and one is marked "RVer Health Insurance". Click on that.
Medicaid is a needs based program and is administered by each state. I suspect the rules might vary from state to state but they will have to meet the Federal guidelines and rules. One thing they all have in common is that you have to be a resident of the state. Although SD is very full timer friendly and you can become a resident for the purpose of registering vehicles, getting a drivers licence and voting in a couple of days, I think there is a longer period of time required for things like medicaid and college in-state tuition.
You say you will continue to use your existing health insurance when you move to SD. Is this a plan that is part of your pension plan from your employer? I ask because if your policy is not part of an ex-employer's plan, some companies (Blue Cross Blue Shield for example) will require that you are actually present in your domicile state for at least 6 months each calendar year. They will want utility bills as proof of your actual residence. The street address of your mail forwarding is not acceptable to them either.
When we first moved to SD as full timers, we were not yet old enough for Medicare and BCBS would not let us keep our existing policy.
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Clay (WA5NMR), Lee (wife), Katie, Kelli (cats) Full timed for eleven years in a 2004 Sightseer 35N. Snowbirds for one winter and now settled down in CO.
