Raddr's Early Retirement and Financial Strategy Board

[kramer]

[Rodmail]

Maybe I've lost track of the goal here.

I went through the Assurant thing and clicked Free Online Quote and it refuses to provide coverage if you have no US zipcode. The point being I don't see a short term policy for residence outside the US travelling to the US. I thought that was the goal.

Also, their long term individual policies are substantially inferior to the individual policy I have now through BC/BS.

It seems to me that the only way to do this is an individual long term policy using the mail drop address as Service Area, but that's going to be risky. It dodges the front page of 1040 thing -- but a $300K medical bill is certainly going to prompt a quick investigation to see if there's an actual residence at that address. That does look like $300K at huge risk to me.

It looks best to get an international ex-US policy for long term. For short term, keep digging. The bigger the injury/illness you try to insure, the more likelihood they investigate an address given.

[Kevin K]

I think you're right Rodmail, and sorry for my part in muddying the waters on this.

I can only speak about this in terms of living in Mexico as home base and wanting to have good coverage for visits back to the U.S. Since we were living in the expat hub of Lake Chapala there were plenty of people to compare notes with. The bottom line was you had to reside in Mexico at least 6 months out of any year, and would be covered for any expense up to $50,000 that happened when visiting the U.S. or any other country, and then returned (at the plan's expense) to any hospital in Mexico of your choice for further treatment.

Coverage in Mexico is much better than equivalent U.S. policies: no lifetime maximums on either treatment or prescription drugs, much lower deductibles. Rates, compared to Anthem/Blue Cross here in Colorado, are about 20% less, so by no means cheap. The problem in a place like Mexico - and I'm sure this is even truer in other third world countries - is the pool of those who can afford any sort of private insurance is so small. Heck many Mexicans can't even remotely afford the national IMSS coverage at around $240 per person per year (and many gringos have only that coverage for catastrophic and pay out of pocket for everything else).

[kramer]

Rodmail,

I assume the USA zip code required by the temporary Assurant Health policy is just an anchoring location, it does not prevent travel. I just put in the location where I would be near most of my trip(s). But you are right, it pays to investigate this. I could call them.

My plan would be to have no insurance outside of the USA, to just pay cash. Although I know that my case is not normal. I could handle a 6 figure health bill without much of a problem.

In fact, many expats have policies with quite low ceilings. I know that there was a very popular health insurance in Thailand for expats, but it was capped at 1.5 million baht (say $50K USA). And there is no guaranteed renewal, nothing. I would rather pay cash than go with that.

Kramer

[Mike]

I think the point of the Thai insurance is so that in an emergency you have an insurance card to show the ER staff (proof of ability to pay).

A doctor who practiced in both Mexico and the US told me that a 50k bill is about the most that Mexican hospitals ever send, but he saw US hospitals routinely send out bills for 1M.

[kramer]

[kramer]

Looking at my regular bank debit that just went through for my health insurance this week, it looks like I did not get a rate increase this year.

But I do turn 45 when I will be back in the USA, and maybe they have a surprise birthday present for me

So if my already reasonable health insurance rate did not go up, that will be something that I certainly consider. I'll be sifting through the mail when I get back to the USA. And analyze where I am at in detail.