Tracy in Texas

Hi,
I was needing to know if any older couples have successfully retired here in the US? I want to get my parents to move here, but they can't afford the health insurance.
Does anyone have any good ideas?
Also, if they do not get insured, will I have to 'foot the bill' if anything happened (affidavit of support) ?
My Dad said he'd be the 'trolley man ' at Walmart if he had to, but I don't even know if they do health insurance for part timers plus spouse there, plus I didn't really want either of them to work as they have already done their fair share in the UK.
Mum is on 3 prescriptions (cholesterol, blood pressure and colitis)
Any help on this would be great. Otherwise, it looks like we'll ALL be moving to Australia in a few years as Hubby and I can't afford to move back to the UK !!! Never though it would come to this, but that's the problem with US/UK marriage/family etc !!!!
Thanks,
Tracy in Texas

edwords

My wife and I are self-employed. I'm 49, she's 40. Our plan comes in at over $700 per month. It goes up ( a lot) as you get older. Plus, for as long as I can remember, insurance cost go up far, far faster than inflation.

Taffyles

Most Americans are wondering if they can afford to retire here Tracy!
Your mother's prescriptions alone are going to be sooo expensive. I wish I had an answer to this as I would like to move my mother out here at some point- but she is on regular prescriptions too that would costa fortune here and the health insurance -well forget it.
Some neighbours of ours (retired) pay $800 a month just for prescriptions.
I know one British couple who live here most of the year (they have plenty of money though) and I think they have BUPA overseas- bloody expensive!!! When one of them was ill and needed an Op a few years ago- the insurance company wanted to fly her back on Concorde to have treatment in UK rather than pick up the US hospital bills.

If anyone knows an affordable way to have parents out here,please post... I'd like to know too.

rynd2it

Hi,

We've lived here for 13 years and I'm very fortunate to have a job that pay 100% health care insurance. My wife, a registered nurse, is just retiring so we've looked at this and as someone else said, Americans can't afford to retire here either.

Insurance does not cover everthing, all insurers argue about what's covered and isn't and you would be lucky to get 70/30 coverage at retirement age - so figure on paying 30% of ALL your bills - a doctors office visit is min $45 and a trip to the Emergency Room is at least $400 plus treatment.

Next, the insurers just will NOT cover some procedures - wife knows of one retired person whose monthly drug and procedure bill is over $900 and NONE of it is covered.

Finally, Medicare (government system) is only available if you qualify and that takes 40 quarters (10 years) of work and Social Security deductions.

Sorry to be so gloomy but that's the way it is in CA at least. We may be moving when we retire and OZ sounds great (been there many times) UK is just too expensive so we are looking at France as an option.

Hope it helps


David

scrubbedexpat099

You could get your prescriptions by mail, a lot of people use Canada from what I can gather.

rynd2it

Of course, and you get them off the Internet too - but that's just prescriptions.

There is one option and I know it works. You could take out a travel insurance plan and then go back to the UK when it runs out and buy another one to return with - you can keep this up for as along as you can travel.

The only reason I mention it was my mother purchase travel insurance on a vacation trip here in 1986 and sadly she became ill and died. She was sick and in ICU for 18 hours - the hospital bill was over $8000 and thats 18 years ago! The travel insurance did pay for it.

Just FWIW

David

Taffyles

They've made the sale of Canadian drugs illegal here in FL- or done something to stop it- there was a big hooha a couple of months ago. I mean to say, we can't have American pharmaceutical companies losing all that profit, now can we (snark). Sorry but the pharmaceutical companies are criminal here IMO.

honeymommy

Definately get insurance... If you cannot afford insurance then you are liable for the costs of treatment.

We have insurance.... My hubby collapsed unexpectedly and they found he had a heart problem from birth and he needed surgey to correct it.
Our cost of co pays totaled around $100
The total of the doctor visits and the surgery. $98000.00

Oh and my cancer surgery cost around $68000.00 total in the end.

Insurance is not an option it is a necessity...

Thank god we are both well today....

Patrick

You're Lucky then, my wife had surgery last year and all our co-pays came to $3000.

I think they are doing their best to close the pescriptions from Canada loop hole as US pharma's are loosing too much money.

Patrick

I still think your yummy

Tracy in Texas

Thanks to all of you for the replies on this subject. I called and got some quotes today for health insurance for both my parents - it ranged from $500 to $1000 a month, with a $5000 per person per year deductible !
(there's no way they can afford that on their pensions)
The idea about doing the travellers insurance is good - I'd never thought of that, so I'll mention it to them.
Looks like we'll all have to migrate to Oz instead now, as their health care system is similar to the UK (I think ??)

Thanks again
Tracy

Manc

There is no retirement visa for the USA.
you'd have to sponsor them.
Australian health policies are quite similar to that as the USA I believe.

Englishmum

Just a couple of comments:

To the best of my knowledge, travel insurance is basically for cover for accidents and emergencies only. I'm absolutely certain that any company offering travel insurance will refuse to pay up for routine prescriptions; and if too many claims are made then they will refuse any further coverage.

However, when I travelled to Asia last year, I found that all the US travel insurance quotes were very high indeed (probably in case a sick traveller needed to be evacuated back to the States). I actually bought my insurance (open to anyone worldwide) from a British travel insurance company online. The only caveat was that you could only claim if you were travelling to a different country - you couldn't claim in the country where you are resident (I seem to recall). I didn't need to make a claim so I can't vouch for how good they are, but if anyone is interested I can provide a link to their website. It might be useful for any Brit here who is resident in the US or Canada and is going on holiday to say, France or anywhere beyond Europe. (I guess that most Brits would still try to get NHS cover if visiting the UK)

Also unless one has a close relative (eg. son or daughter) living Down Under and has been naturalised I don't think it is that easy to just retire there? I think they're quite strict on the ages of anyone wishing to live there in case one becomes a drain on their medicare system......I guess the Oz embassy website carries all of that information.

How about retiring to Malaysia? They have a retirement visa, a fantastic climate and cheap cost of living.....they have a good healthcare system too (many doctors trained in the UK, especially the Chinese Malaysians)...and English is widely spoken. This was discussed last week on this board.

Englishmum

Just found the travel insurance company I used for my trip to Asia:

http://www.worldwideinsure.com

Yes; it does continue to insure for non-UK residents who travel overseas. It is certainly cheaper and easier to buy than from an American travel insurance company.

They also offer the conventional travel insurance for UK residents.

Sorry Tracey - it definitely states that it is intended for travel emergencies only and is not intended to replace a Private healthcare plan......so it's no good I guess if someone develops cancer for instance.

Tracy in Texas

Thanks for all the info, especially Englishmum !
Right, there is NO retirement visa into the US and I would have to sponsor them (I am a Naturalized US Citizen) but ti looks like they won't be able to afford to live here because of the health insurance issue. That really p***es me off, as family really needs to come before everything. So, it looks like we're back to the idea of Oz again.
When I get my RN, and have worked a year I can apply to Oz under the Skilled Worker Visa. Then after I'm there for 2 years , I can sponsor my parents on the Parents Visa (don't even have to be an Oz citizen if I'm reading it correctly)
Back to the drawaing board (all this is driving me crazy)
Tracy

Ben

I think you will also find that travel insurance will generally only cover for a 90day period at one time, even if you get a yearly policy.