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What do you plan to do or what do others here who domicile out of the US (or its territories) plan to do about medical care and/or health insurance. I know almost all US insurers won't cover your medical expenses if you have permanently relocated to another country....not sure how it works if you use the "183 day" thing but I'd assume you'd run into trouble if you had a serious injury or medical condition and it was while you were living out of US. As someone else said, Medicare also stops so do you pay out of pocket??
Not only that, are you comfortable with medical standards in 2nd or 3rd world areas?? Has anyone considered the prospect of emergency heart surgery, involved in a bad accident, quick access to professional medical services, etc.??? I know many expats return to the US for serious medical conditions/planned operations but what if you can't? How do you address it and how will it be paid for???
What about homeowner's insurance? I've been told that insurance companies do not like properties that sit empty for long periods of time. Does anyone have experience with this (beyond just not telling the ins. co.)?
In light of all this, Mexico sounds like the better choice. We don't have these mail delivery services, and the tourist visas are much stricter.
I didn't know about sending a check via billpay. Does that work sending to an individual too? Someone who does not do things online?
I'm glad you had a smooth experience with the SS people. We did not. They gave us a hard time about addresses. Said their communications had to be sent to where one lives. That would be nice if that is not the case....
Yes, billpay is a tad different that e-bills. E-bill are sent to businesses' bank accounts. Billpay you can use to send a check to anyone for anything....send your niece a birthday check, for example. It's simply a physical check mailed to them (you provide the name and address), it does not electronically send funds from your acct. to another bank account.
We applied when we were physically in Arizona and used that mailing address (we always had a house in US while we had a house in MX). But I know people in MX who told us they applied via the US consulate in Guadalajara by phone, and it went smoothly. I know many who have deposits to their MXN banks...however, if they do, they get a letter every year which they have to fill out and say their info is the same. But my understanding is that they all use a mail fwding address (in Laredo) for these letters.
What about homeowner's insurance? I've been told that insurance companies do not like properties that sit empty for long periods of time. Does anyone have experience with this (beyond just not telling the ins. co.)?
Our insurance agent told us it's OK for it to be vacant up to 6 months at a time as long as we have someone who makes a physical visit every 15 days. He recommended we use a licensed property manager (as opposed to a neighbor) to be certain the insurance would cover loses. When we pressed him about using a neighbor, he said we could and the insurance company may not have a problem with it, but he wanted the neighbor to take photos with time stamps etc.
We hired a licensed and insured property manager. It gives us piece of mind, too, as he sends his reports and photos in emails every two weeks. He looks for damage, makes sure the lawn's been mowed, looks for any advertisements or phone books left by the door, etc. He'll pick up any branches from storms, etc. Makes sure it looks like the house isn't empty. Double checks our timers on lights to make sure they'r working. He has a big checklist for inside and out....we lucked out with him, he's a retired firefighter and started this business and he's very thorough.
How do you handle security for your Mexican home when you are away for so long?
We used our maestro (contractor who did work on our 1st home and with whom we became friends); he lived a few blocks from our last house and about the same from our new home.
He had his kid cut the grass and borrowed his mother's gardener for trimming.
We paid him 200 pesos a week when we were gone; he'll do work on our new home, too (it's not new, just new to us). Not sure what he'll want for pay (we last used him in 2012), but our new home has a pool and he has 4 kids, so likely he'll want the job as we'll tell him his family can use the pool. Right now, 200 pesos is around 10 USD. Oh, and before we return, he has his wife clean the home (lots of dust in dry season). We don't pay her or the kid that mows, just his 200 pesos.
I think sometimes he just likes coming over to get away from family and workers
Our insurance agent told us it's OK for it to be vacant up to 6 months at a time as long as we have someone who makes a physical visit every 15 days. He recommended we use a licensed property manager (as opposed to a neighbor) to be certain the insurance would cover loses. When we pressed him about using a neighbor, he said we could and the insurance company may not have a problem with it, but he wanted the neighbor to take photos with time stamps etc.
We hired a licensed and insured property manager. It gives us piece of mind, too, as he sends his reports and photos in emails every two weeks. He looks for damage, makes sure the lawn's been mowed, looks for any advertisements or phone books left by the door, etc. He'll pick up any branches from storms, etc. Makes sure it looks like the house isn't empty. Double checks our timers on lights to make sure they'r working. He has a big checklist for inside and out....we lucked out with him, he's a retired firefighter and started this business and he's very thorough.
Do any of you live half the year in the Caribbean and half the year at home in the US? If so, how do you do it logistically? Hubby and I are looking ahead to retirement and we think this is what we will want to do. We LOVE the Caribbean and travel there frequently for our vacations.
We snow-birded between Washington State and Hawaii for many years. Not the Caribbean but same idea. We loved it but quit doing it because it became too difficult. For instance, we have 2 cars in Maui and 2 cars in Washington (my wife wants her own car as she has lots of friends that she does stuff with). So you have to have a place to store the cars as well as pay insurance. We both have hobbies and activities we like so we need a place to store surfboards, windsurfing stuff, books (we are both big readers), hiking stuff, etc. We like comfort and love to cook. All of this made it better to own a house each place. Owning 2 houses separated by an ocean is not easy. We never rented either one out because we have so much personal stuff in each house. And there is the issue of doctors/dentists - we ended up with 2 sets, one for each location. There was duplication when my wife had some medical issues. It was messy. And finally, taxes were a problem since our primary residence kept changing.
We sold one house and are sort of trying to snow bird to a rental. But that is proving hard because there is such high demand the rents are sky high. It is costing us more to rent for 6 weeks in the summer than the total cost of owning a house in the same area.
So, it is fun but it is a lot of work. Go for it but you will have some things to deal with.
From the perspective of weather and beaches, we essentially lived in the Northwest Caribbean (Florida East Coast) for 30-years. While we could probably live on less $$ in other parts of the "Caribbean," there are numerous amenities and advantages to our "Northwest corner."
Actually, we've grown weary of cruising the "Central and South Caribbean" - because the beaches, water, foliage and climate are all pretty much like 'home.' Unfortunately, both the 'Northwest Caribbean,' like the rest, has also gotten pretty "touristy" and congested.
What do you plan to do or what do others here who domicile out of the US (or its territories) plan to do about medical care and/or health insurance. I know almost all US insurers won't cover your medical expenses if you have permanently relocated to another country....not sure how it works if you use the "183 day" thing but I'd assume you'd run into trouble if you had a serious injury or medical condition and it was while you were living out of US. As someone else said, Medicare also stops so do you pay out of pocket??
Not only that, are you comfortable with medical standards in 2nd or 3rd world areas?? Has anyone considered the prospect of emergency heart surgery, involved in a bad accident, quick access to professional medical services, etc.??? I know many expats return to the US for serious medical conditions/planned operations but what if you can't? How do you address it and how will it be paid for???
When we lived in MX full-time from ages 56/57 to 61/62, my ex-employer's insurance covered us for any emergencies outside the US, no matter how long we were outside the US. We used it twice and they reimbursed quickly, with no deductible.
As far as 3rd World medicine....ha! Guadalajara (one hour from Lake Chapala) is the home of almost all Mexican medical schools. Almost all of our US doctors either took a continuing education course in Guadalajara during their career, or attended a medical conference there. My MXN orthopedic surgeon who spoke beautiful English did his specialty training at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic....the go-to US hospital for orthopedic training.
Another tidbit....Guadalajara is home to many doctors; and many of them own Lake houses at our village. Over the past 10 years, many of these doctors have opened clinics/offices at the Lake, where they alternate office hours with their main office in Guad, mostly on Thurs. Fri. and Mondays. We also have local doctors....I love mine! He makes house calls and gives me free advice when I see him at the grocery store.
Now that we're moving back, I am still on that plan (though I go to Medicare in a year). My partner is already on Medicare and his Medigap plan (through my ex-employer) will cover him for emergencies that occur outside the US during the first 60 days of each trip. It has deductibles and lifetime limitations.
Since we always have had and will continue to have a home in the US, we plan to fly back/forth 3 or 4 times a year...yes, we will be in MX longer than 60 days on many visits. We haven't yet decided whether we'll join one of two MXN health care plans (one is virtually free, the other has premiums based on age...I think ours would be in the 300 USD per year range). Or we may buy medical evacuation insurance. I can buy relatively cheap private insurance as I have no pre-existing conditions. My partner has a heart issue, so that will make private insurance too expensive, we think. I have friends who use private travel insurance which surprised me at how reasonable their rates are when purchased for under 6 months duration (which will work for us).
Right now we're focused on moving down next month, getting work done on the house, furnishing it, etc. This trip is 60 days so we're covered. I will interview with health care experts in MX on this trip and get real quotes on real policies.
At some point, maybe age 75 or so, we'll likely sell our US house (current value 350K) and stash that away with other monies to cover all medical expenses in MX. My mother lived to be 92 in her own home, my FIL lived to 91 in his own home. Genetically we seem to be lucky.
Our new home has a casita....we have a place for in-home care for end of life issues.
There are also nursing homes at the Lake and they are quite nice (nicer by far than any I've been to in the US), and reasonable. Here's a link to an NPR segment on nursing homes at the Lake: Why foreign retirees are flocking to Mexico | PBS NewsHour
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