For those of you of pre-Medicare age and full timing on the road..  how do you handle health insurance?

 

Right now I'm still insured through a business I run with my folks in Florida - but it's a local based HMO that only gives me emergency care when I'm not in our little county in Florida.  And it costs a fortune.  I need something else.

Chris has an individual plan through Assurant on a nationwide network of providers. It's an HSA with very high deductables and is essentially in place for major stuff.

 

We're currently looking at group plans for our small business what we have registered in our state of domicile - South Dakota. But bleah.. it's overwhelming and painful to look at. So costly, and seemingly providing such little benefit unless something major comes up. 

 

Curious as to how others have handled it..  this seems to be one of those issues that presents logistical consideration for folks to adopt this sort of lifestyle.

 

Thanks,

 - Cherie 

 

 

Ang and I are fortunate enough to have coverage through the company I work for. You are right - it does cost a small fortune. Other road friends we have talked to have "catastrophic coverage" - just to cover something real bad. I have thought about that because I go to the Dr. once a year, to get a physical. Despite how I look and act, I am pretty healthy!

 

I talked to a guy once about starting a "group" to get a group health care plan. I thought that it might be good to get a group of NuRVers together to create enough buying power to get a decent price on minimal coverage. I was wrong. Basically, we would have to form a "company", and everyone that got health coverage would have to be a partner in the company. There are very specific rules concerning how and who you can buy coverage for. It was a mess, and scared me off :)

 

Would be interested in hearing how others do it. Not easy out here sometimes!!

 

--kev

Yeah, the idea of a NuRVers group would rock. Escapees has a group plan, but it's geared towards Medicare and not towards us younger folks who aren't yet eligible for our countries socialized medical system. 

 

I'm sure hoping that some reform comes about that makes health care in general easier to obtain.  

Technomadia wrote: For those of you of pre-Medicare age and full timing on the road..  how do you handle health insurance?

It's been a long painful journey for us.

We've been self-employed for 12 years, and for all of those years, we've had the suckiest, worst most expensive plans with the last amount of coverage. When you're on an individual policy, it's as good as it gets.

Where you officially reside is technically what determines what healthcare choices you have. We stayed residents of CA for 2 years longer than we wanted to, because CA has the lowest rates in the US (every state regulates their own plan pricing). The best we could get as two healthy people with no pre-existing, was a Blue Cross Individual HSA with a 7500 deductible between us. No drug coverage, and a whole lot of other exclusions. Cost: $163 a month for the 2 of us.

When we became Escapees, I learned that the rates in TX were outrageous. For the best price we were looking at another HSA, for more money (over $220 a month), a $10k deductible, and even less coverage once the deductible was met. Texas seems to follow the Dubya philosophy in all its health insurance dealings; "yer on yer own, buddy."

We were tempted to keep our CA Blue Cross policy because it covers us wherever we go, but, if Blue Cross found out we weren't Californicators anymore, we would be in breech of contract. Not cool if we wanted to be covered. The could legally even get their money back on old claims if they found out.

Now that we have property in CO, we can ethically say we are residents here, since we'll be staying about 6 months at a time. We have a Humana HSA with a $7500 deductible, no coverage until that's met, and no drug coverage even when it is. Cost; $140 a month.

This is as good as it gets. It sucks. The only time we have ever used our insurance was once when I was lying half dead on the highway, and we almost went broke even with insurance.

And that's why we need health care reform, darnit!

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now...

 

 

By the way.. I ended up going with an individual HSA plan via Assurant like Chris. Their PCHS Network seems to be the most suited for us nomadic types, and now their plans include 'TelaDoc' - which allows you to phone/email into a physician for general stuff (like colds, UTI's, etc) to get a script.  I apparently get three free ones without worrying about the high deductable, and then just $35 after that.  Seems that will meet my needs for not worrying about general ailments or the big stuff.  

 

What I'm saving over my old high HMO premiums I'll just put into the HSA and hope I come out somewhat ahead in the end. And every 6 months I'm with the plan and don't meet the deductible, my deductible goes down 10%. For me, it basically works out that my premiums go towards my deductible.  Not bad. 

 - Cherie 

 

We are currently on the "cross your fingers and knock on wood" health care plan, as the dip in the economy caused an equal dip in our income and the BCBS health insurance went into the reducing-expenses pile, unfortunately. 

My husband & I are also self employed and have been for over 15 years....  Not always as glamorous as people think.  Anyway 3 years ago started seriously looking for an insurance company that we could afford.  None really existed that paid anything.  aAnd now most will only cover you for services rendered in your own state.  That does'nt help travelers at all.  But then I found Ameriplan which is a Health Discount plan.  They have no deductibles and no co-pays. I pay $39.95 per month and get usually a 30% - 80% discount on almost all services.  I got my husbands new glasses for 1/2 price.  We had 16,000 worth of dental work done and it ended up costing a little over 9,000.  It includes Health, Dental, Chiropractic, RX, and vision benefits.  The $39.95 cost covers anyone in my household up to 12 people.  I was blown away.  We used to forgo any doctor visits and would just tough it out, but now we can actually afford to see a doctor.  Look into it, I think you will love it.  And you can use it nationwide.  www.EveryoneBenefits.com/SherryAlbert  

If you or anyone needs a internet based job while on the road, look into our company, we get paid within 24 hours of your sale.  www.DeliveringOnThePromise.com/SherryAlbert  It's a great company, the owners Dennis and Daniel Bloom are fantastic employers.  Good Luck

Cool.. thanks for sharing, Sherry. 

Thanks for posting Sherry. In the interest of transparency, would you let us know what the affiliate links are all about? We don't mind helping out other travelers with affiliate links, but we are not so big on spam.

From glancing over them, AmeriPlan looks to be more of a discount healthcare network, as opposed to an insurance plan. In a quick Google search, it looks like you can pay from $12-$40/month to get information on who delivers the discounted services, or which providers respond to the membership cards.

It also looks like an MLM organization, big on pushing the "business opportunity". Nothing wrong with that, as long as you make that clear from the beginning.



--kev

I have a $5000 deductible plan from Assurant for $130 month. My husband is on the state high risk plan from Colorado. He couldn't get coverage even though he is healthy.  We have stayed legal residents of CO to keep coverage for him.

 

We have never used our coverage, but have gone to Mexico and taken advantage of their cheaper health care. We have also used AM PM House calls on the road. The doctor comes to you and tells you how much it will cost beforehand. What  a concept! Great if you have something simple like an ear infection.