New Person Alert!!! (San Antonio, Commerce, Anton: salon, health insurance, homes)

[Twinkle Toes]

Hi everybody! I'll be moving to S.A. probably around the end of October. I am a native Californian and have never lived anywhere other than California, so naturally, I have some questions!!! I have long hair and I want to keep it long. I don't want anyone who is scissor happy, so I need a good hairdresser. Who is the best in S.A.? We have to get new medical and dental insurance when we move to Texas. Which are the best insurance policies to get? I know I probably have a bazillion more questions, but right now, those are the two things that come to mind. Your suggestions are most appreciated! Thanks!!!

[momof2dfw]

Sorry I can not help you with hairdressers in SA but I will say when you see people out that have hair you like ask them who does it. And how long have they been going to them. That will give you the best insight on that. I totally understand, I HATE changing hairdressers and have been going to the same one for 14 years.

As for your insurance. Ask your neighbors and coworkers for references for doctors. Then call the doctors and ask them what insurance plans they accept. If you keep hearing a certain doctors name over and over you don't want to pick a plan that he/she does not take. As for the dental, we just changed ours along w/ our health insurance (we own our own company and provide insurance so I get to do a lot of the legwork... yuck). Most of the dental plans have a list of dentists to choose from but what is happening is they are only allowing the store front type of dental places that have mulitple dentists and they move them around from location to location. So you won't always have the same dentist. We ended up w/ a company called Delta Dental that seems to have some pretty good coverage and even does out of network coverage and they have TONS of individual dentists on their plan. They also seemed to have the best ortho coverage for kids. A biggie for me since I have one getting ready to start ortho care and another that will probably need it next year. I found a great ortho by asking around and everyone kept saying this one name. We did an initial visit and he was GREAT. So I asked them what insurance plans they were on and that is how I found Delta. The ins. rep said that supposedly Delta Dental prides themselves on having more dentists on their plan than anyone else. I don't know but I do know they were on the ones we were looking at.

It sounds like you are getting the coverage on your own and not thru an employer? Do you plan on having some sort of small company or business? If so then I would suggest joining the local Chamber of Commerce and asking them about what benefits they have to offer members when it comes to insurance. That is how we have been doing ours for years. They, the COC, has a contract agreement w/ an insurance/benefits company and the benefits company offers several different insurance companies so you can kind of one stop shop and compare with one phone call the different companies and coverages.

Good luck, I know it is a royal pain trying to find good insurance coverage.

[Sampaguita]

Congrats on your upcoming move, Twinkle! Wish I was that close to ours.

I'm with you on the hairdresser dilemma. I FINALLY just found someone I liked after almost 5 yrs in SD. I was still driving to Santa Barbara up until 2 yrs ago to see my stylist there. I'm not looking forward to that search again. I will probably start with my friend who lives in the area we intend to move to. She probably has a good stylist (knowing her). What area of SA will you be moving to?

We will also be on the hunt for insurance. It will probably be the make it or break it aspect of our plans. DH has multiple sclerosis & has been with Kaiser. His company can supposedly keep him covered but he'll have to change insurance companies. While I'm no Kaiser fan, they do have the best coverage in terms of durable medical (they will pay 100% for wheelchairs, walkers, etc...whereas most other companies don't even close to that kind of coverage).

We just discovered our dentist last year - absolutely love him. I think DH & I secretly have crushes on him. I want him to move with us. We'll probably end up asking him if he has any colleagues in SA that he can recommend. If not, we'll go with whomever our friends recommend.

If I hear of anything, I'll PM you.

[Twinkle Toes]

Thanks guys for the info! Yes, we are self employed. I currently work for a law firm but when I get to Texas I have no plans to work for an employer. Hubby is a sole practitioner, so he is self employed. He is going to retire and maybe only take one or two big cases a year. We have our own insurance - Kaiser. I don't think Kaiser is accepted in Texas though. We also have Blue Cross of California for dental, so again, it has "California" in the name, so that's probably not gonna fly in Texas either!

We are moving to a place called The Dominion. We're in the process of having a home built. We thought it would be done in December but they just informed us last week when we were in Texas that it will be done in September and the very latest they could push back the completion is October. So now we have to really wrap things up here!!! My parents and my brother are also going to be moving to Texas in the near future. They all bought land in a place called Adkins and they are going to have homes built too. They won't be in Texas though for probably two years.

We have two kids, one still living with us. He's 12 and in middle school. The other is 21 and a personal fitness trainer. I want him to move to Texas too, but he has built up a large clientele, so it would be insane for him to quit what he's doing now and head for Texas - a place he's never been to. The trouble is, even though he makes fantastic money in California, where we presently live a starter home is around $600,000, so he is not able to buy a home where he lives. But if he moved to Texas he would be able to get a really nice home, trouble is, he would just have to start at off with no clients and work his way back up.

Now, I've heard that Texans may not like Californians, but honestly, I have not experienced this. Everyone I've met thus far has been super friendly. I guess I just have to learn to say "y'all" instead of "you guys" and I'll be part of the scene. Well, anyway, I'm glad I found this forum. I suspect you will be seeing a lot of me pretty soon because Lord knows, I'm gonna have more questions!!!

Thanks!!!

[momof2dfw]

Twinkle Toes,

Being that you are "self employed" then you should check into the local Chambers about membership benefits for group insurance. Like I said, this has been our best way of providing health & dental insurance for our company for many years. Ours just renewed and it drives me crazy at the increases every year but the drop in coverage(s). Like I said, we recently went w/ Delta Dental and they are in all parts of the state. As for health we went w/ Humana. (Strange but our "benefits" carrier thru the COC is located IN Cali. LOL. It is FHI Benefits. You may try contacting them?? Especially since they can cover many different states). We had Kaiser for years and it did drive me crazy w/ some of their stuff. I would also call Blue Cross and check about transferring what you have remaining on your coverage to Texas. They were one of the three we were looking at for dental.

As for that accent..... Weeelcome ta Texas. I'm laughing because last week we were on vacation to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe and I had someone say something about my accent. Their exact words were, "you have an accent". NO DUH!!! So do you. Mines just different than yours. LOL!!!! The other half thinks my accent is more drawn out than his and he's from Alabama. LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, good luck on the move and welcome to Texas.

[Steel Man]

Here is a sample of health plans in San Antonio. Sorry, don't have links but do have phone numbers.

AGM Insurance (210) 340-8311

Athem Health Plan of Texas (210) 733-4238

B J Distributors (210) 648-5119

Cevallos Insurance Agence (210) 921-0161

Dubose Insurance (210) 593-0135

Foundation Health (210) 841-5741

Humana Haelth Care Plans (210) 617-1000

Pacificare (210) 524-9800

Secure Horizons (210) 524-9600

Unicare (800) 718-9355

[Twinkle Toes]

Thanks everybody for your help!!! You guys are the best!

[neddy]

Hey I live just down the freeway from ya! For insurance Fortis is an ok policy and then Blue Cross of Texas is one to look into also. Alot of folks I know either go to Trues Dell Salon on Huebner or Salon David on De Zavala. I go to Sergio's on Wurzbach and see Erica and she is the first hairdresser I have been happy with in a long time. I don't know why you have heard we don't like people from CA....might have to do with so many forgeiners moving here and jacking up the home prices from really low to where they are now... thats all I can think of...The 12 yr should like the sports club at The D. They run a great summer program over there also.

Have fun hope you find a dresser that you like at one of those places!

[Sampaguita]

Twinkle - I spoke to Blue Cross CA yesterday & they said I can transfer my dental to Blue Cross TX as long as I am PPO. So, if you're PPO you can probably do that. I'd probably look into Delta Dental to see if they have better coverage though.

If I want to transfer my health to Blue Cross CA, I'll have to switch to PPO.