Medicare and place to retire (medical, plan, hospital, doctor)

[MDTAZ]

Hi--been reading here alot and thought I`d post a ?

We have lived in VA all our lives and I want to move to a more cost friendly state.

Have thought about Texas,Wyoming,Utah,Idaho,South Dakota,Oregon,Washington State.

We are both on dissability and medicare--and our Drs here are good to us and my wife thinks we may not have good care in other states.

Anyone living in these states on medicare--how is your care.

thanks,
mike

[mccarley]

I don't know about any of those states, but all doctors don't accept medicare. Something to consider.

[Jammie]

South Dakota is the only state that I can help you with. I'm WAY too young to be on Medicare, but I do have one living Aunt and Uncle yet. Their choices for Drs. don't seem to be very limited at all here. They have both spent quite a bit of time in the hospital and doctor's offices the past year and don't seem to be having any problems with anyone accepting medicare. Of course, they do have a medicare supplement so the care facilities probably turn out ok. My guess is that you probably have that also. My own parents had no problems with Drs. or hospitals accepting them either.

[MDTAZ]

Thanks Jammie SD is top on our list of states to retire to.

mike

[Padgett2]

If you are satisfied with your present care, you should really think very hard about moving. It's not always easy to find a physician that will suit you. Medicare is also tightning up on what they will or will not pay for. More and more doctors are dropping out of the plan as it simply doesn't pay enough to cover the office costs of seeing a patient in some instances. There are indications that this will get worse.

If you need a lot of medical care, it could be a real problem for you if you move. The best doctors are usually the ones with the big patient loads and they won't take new patients of any kind. It's risky to try to find a new doctor in a new city.

[OREGONRAIN]

I can tell you I moved to Oregon from Massachusetts, I am not yet of medicare age but in a few years will be. Moving and finding new doctors you are comfortable with especially if you have medical conditons can be a serious difficulty. Combine your comfort level with new doctors and the amount of them that will not take new medicare patients can be a severe burden on a patient. I don't know where in VA you live, but you mentioned Oregon. Oregon is not that cheap a place to live, a very high income tax and housing is catching up to Calif faster and faster. Do your research wisely but until I moved I had no idea changing doctors from one end of the country to the other could be at times a tramatic experience in many ways.

[norm]

One of the things that I suggest is to find an area that a lot of retirees are moving to, that's usually indicative that there are a lot of medical facilities available.

[knoxgarden]

You can get a general idea of what's available in an area by going to medicare.gov, clicking on 2008 health plans and then use the general search where you can input a zip code for the area you're interested in.
That will give you a good idea of what Medicare Advantage plans are in the area which gives an idea of who takes Medicare.
I don't have a problem with Medicare in Knoxville. There are several free standing health centers that only take Medicare/Medicare Advantage patients. It has also been welcomed in every hospital and other doctor I've seen.
It helps to have a variety of doctors to choose from, so if one doesn't suit you, another one will.
If you need a specific type of doctor for a disability, look at the certifying board/association and see if they have a list of how many there are in the area.
Also look for areas near large universities with teaching hospitals, especially if they have geriatrics programs.

[MDTAZ]

Thanks everyone some good advise I will heed..

mike

[Cattknap]

Virginia has one of the lowest U.S. Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors. This is why there are quite a few doctors in Virginia that do no accept Medicare patients.