Competent health care provided by doctors and hospitals covered under your insurance company is a primary consideration in retirement. Before you seriously consider relocating to another state, you should confirm that you can transfer your insurance coverage to that state and determine if there will be an increase in your rates. It's even more critical to check this out beforehand if you are covered by an HMO. I found out from some of my neighbors that coverage by their previous HMO was not available in Colorado. So they had to immediately find another HMO and for some, the cost increased as much as $150 per month. With so many people entering retirement without the benefit of health coverage, you might even want to consider relocating to a state with low health care costs. You can check out www.bestplaces.net/COL which will give you a total overall health cost comparison between your current city and the one you plan to move to. In my search for a retirement community, I seriously considered moving to active adult communities in Florida, South Carolina and Texas. One of the first things I did when visiting a community was to find out from the salesman how close were the nearest hospitals. Then I would call the hospital to find out if they had specialists in the health care area that I needed. For example, if you had heart problems, you'd want to live in close proximity to a hospital with a well-established cardiology department. Then I spoke with some of the people living there and asked about their doctors - were they satisfied with them; did they meet or exceed the care of their previous doctor; and most importantly, would you recommend them? Some of the active adult communities are so pro-active in health care that they have a small medical clinic in their community as well as their own EMTs and ambulance service. That's essential if a hospital is not nearby. If you're really concerned about the health care facilities in your area or where you're planning to move, you can get a hosptial report card http://www.healthgrades.com/ for less than $20.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Relocation - Health Care
Competent health care provided by doctors and hospitals covered under your insurance company is a primary consideration in retirement. Before you seriously consider relocating to another state, you should confirm that you can transfer your insurance coverage to that state and determine if there will be an increase in your rates. It's even more critical to check this out beforehand if you are covered by an HMO. I found out from some of my neighbors that coverage by their previous HMO was not available in Colorado. So they had to immediately find another HMO and for some, the cost increased as much as $150 per month. With so many people entering retirement without the benefit of health coverage, you might even want to consider relocating to a state with low health care costs. You can check out www.bestplaces.net/COL which will give you a total overall health cost comparison between your current city and the one you plan to move to. In my search for a retirement community, I seriously considered moving to active adult communities in Florida, South Carolina and Texas. One of the first things I did when visiting a community was to find out from the salesman how close were the nearest hospitals. Then I would call the hospital to find out if they had specialists in the health care area that I needed. For example, if you had heart problems, you'd want to live in close proximity to a hospital with a well-established cardiology department. Then I spoke with some of the people living there and asked about their doctors - were they satisfied with them; did they meet or exceed the care of their previous doctor; and most importantly, would you recommend them? Some of the active adult communities are so pro-active in health care that they have a small medical clinic in their community as well as their own EMTs and ambulance service. That's essential if a hospital is not nearby. If you're really concerned about the health care facilities in your area or where you're planning to move, you can get a hosptial report card http://www.healthgrades.com/ for less than $20.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment