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Dental care to me seems to be a little more readily available than medical, but I use that term loosely. Having the same dentist for more than 20 plus years in Hilo, a cleaning appointment can still be a 2-3 month wait. My last semi emergency for a cracked tooth & in pain, the soonest they would see me was 3 days out. This was with a well established dentist/patient relationship.
As far as Hilo Medical Center (local hospital) if you're not bleeding too bad try to make it to Waimea.
Have had HMSA in the past. It is Excellent. BCBS works well to as described by previous poster.
Any dentists in Naalehu/Pahala area? Or gotta go to Kona/Hilo/Waimea?
Here on the mainland (rural WA/ID) we have the same problem with hygienist hiring. Not sure why. I wonder if it is similar to the trucking industry, not a labor shortage but a wage shortage.
Sorry for the off-topic question. My wife and I come to the BI later this year with "Blue Cross Blue Shield" PPO (not Medicare, we are in 30's). Do we need to switch to Kaiser? Can we find doctors that accept BCBS?
What's the best hospital for someone living in the Kaʻū region?
We had BCBS for 8 years after moving from Alaska without changing plans. It was all serviced through HMSA. A few years ago we switched to HMSA. Although they are both BCBS, the HMSA covers a little more vision and dental and has better Rx coverage. The tradeoff is they have more items that require pre-authorization.
There isn't much Kaiser coverage here. Most things require a trip to Oahu, or waiting for an Oahu doc to come to the BI.
The Juneau Urgent care is both a primary care and urgent care provider, so I thought perhaps the clinics there were the same.
Sounds like the Keaau clinic is quite limited.
For someone who has not been able to locate a doctor, which is a regular warning in this forum, it's helpful for OP to know that the Urgent Care and ER are available for acute issues. After all, those kind of potential problems are probably of most concern.
I got stitched up a couple of times at the Juneau urgent care. For a lot of the more minor things they were equal to the Bartlett ER. The urgent cares here are nothing like that. I haven't been to the new one in Hilo though. (In the interest of not misleading anybody, I'm pretty sure the urgent cares here could also stitch up minor wounds).
I've been hearing "nobody is accepting new patients" on the BI for over 10 years now. It simply isn't true. A lot of doctors aren't taking new patients but many are. I just checked the HMSA web site and clicked the "is accepting new patients" box and it returned plenty. Both of the doctors at the clinic I posted earlier in this thread are taking new patients. If I call them I can usually be seen within a few days.
In the last few years telemedicine has really helped stretch out the dwindling resources.
The tradeoff is they have more items that require pre-authorization.
If you are healthy it is not a big tradeoff.
If you aren't - it can be a huge tradeoff.
I've got Aetna now from my mainland employment and work remotely in Hawaii. So much better than when I had HMSA - From my personal experience and others I know - HMSA can be very aggressive about not granting authorization despite what your doctor recommends.
Any dentists in Naalehu/Pahala area? Or gotta go to Kona/Hilo/Waimea?
Dr. Steuf is in Na'alehu. He's been around a really long time and has a small practise. We decided to go to Kealakekua for a bigger, more modern dental office (although they struggled to get through COVID shutdowns). I think there are several dentists there. At least you don't have to go all the way into Kona.
I think the Bay Clinic in Na'alehu may have a dentist.
Pahala is too small to have any more than the rural hospital.
I forgot to point out- In my recollection BCBS didn't reimburse travel expenses if one went to Oahu to see a doctor. HMSA does (so does Kaiser) but I've never gone through the process.
A lot of locals on the BI like Kaiser BECAUSE they are sent to Oahu for so many things. Somebody explained to me that the type of tickets provided can be changed without a fee, so it's basically a doctor visit / free trip to visit family, shop, etc.
I'm a 75 year old retiree living in Washington state. I lived overseas most of my adult life in 12 countries as a teacher in international schools. I'm used to that sort of lifestyle. I'm getting very stressed as a retiree reading the news. I like to keep up with what's happening, and the politics here in the US has never been worse IMO.I suppose I could stop reading the news, but that is not going to happen.
I have always flown into Hawaii, mostly Honolulu. on my way to a new school year, and so I am familiar with Oahu. However, the cost there is too high. For the past few months I have been exploring the Big Island of Hawaii online, and perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but the lifestyle there, the ethnic diversity and the natural beauty appeals to me more than ever. My desire is to buy a house or condo in a small town, and live a lifestyle where I walk everywhere, and while I would have a car, I would not need it. I have my first dog in my life, a Lab, and he would share this simple life with me, and perhaps another dog.
I've considered retiring in Costa Rica or Panama, or Portugal, among others, but my Medicare is good (wish everyone had it), and I could use it on the Big Island. Somehow living there is still the US but with the feeling of being it's own culture and removed from the insanity I sometimes see here on the continent.
I'm completely open to anywhere on the Big Island but prefer away from Kona and the tourism there. Rain does not bother me at all, and Hilo seems nice, or anywhere smaller than Hilo.
If you have any thoughts on my plans, I'd appreciate it. I've run the numbers, and the cost of living there is a bit more than where I live not that far from Seattle. Perhaps you moved there for the same reasons.
Thank you.
Rob
Aloha Rob,
Reading too much news is bad for you, especially mainstream mainland news. Try the worldwide news such as BBC or Al Jazeera. They're much more reasonable and don't seem to dwell on gruesome all the time. The Irish Times is good for a complete change of pace, they seem to exist in a bubble and pay no attention to the rest of the planet. Or the Molokai Dispatch, for a nice very local touch. Although, they're just Molokai island not the rest of Hawaii. I have about twenty some odd news links that get checked occasionally and it's interesting to notice how differently each one presents news as well as which news gets presented.
We looked at Costa Rica and Panama in 2017 when U.S. politics was getting weird, but it's really hard to find a better place when starting from Hawaii. If the politics shift back that way again and look to be even crazier, we may look to Portugal, Australia or New Zealand, but again, it's hard to find a better place than Hawaii. Hopefully Hawaii can maintain it's isolation from the mainland, but it's getting more connected all the time.
Walkability is, IMHO, the second biggest limiting factor to your criteria. Touristy Kona doesn't make it on the 'walkability' list, so that's good, you're not wanting there anyway. Hilo is pretty spread out, but if you were near the 'old town' and the Hilo Hospital area, you'd have access to most places, although some of them would be a bit of a walk. Basically, map out the hospital, the dentist, the grocery store, the park, the library, the shops you like and pick a house in the middle of them. Hilo is the biggest town on the island, it's still a town, though, and not a city. It has the Merrie Monarch Festival every year which is huge. Also the big plant sale and the orchid show. It has beach access (somewhat rocky beaches, but some sand) and a lovely walking park at the bayfront. Nice small zoo, too.
The best hospital on the island is in Waimea, which is also a possible walkable town. They have or at least had a shuttle that ran from the housing on the Hilo side of Waimea into Waimea town itself, but I don't know if that's still in service. There are some housing areas near the center of Waimea, that would give you access to the hospital/park/shopping/library/grocery/theater/banks/churches, not sure where the dentists are in Waimea but there's several up there as well as a good optometrist. Some high end restaurants, too, and several large grocery stores as well as two fast food places - McD's and BK. They have a big green park with an annual Cherry Blossom festival as well as a Christmas Truck Parade. Driving to the big sandy beaches is about twenty to thirty minutes away. The weather is cooler and frequently misty because of their elevation. It's a safe town with very little crime. Not cheap, though.
Honokaa is a walkable town, if you're in town itself and not one of the outlying areas. There's a small hospital, although the Waimea hospital is close enough that many folks just go there instead. Several dentists, small main street with assorted shops, a big park, a grocery, a vegetable vendor, assorted restaurants, theater, library, park, pool, theater, banks, churches. It's off the highway which is somewhat unusual for Hawaii Island towns. Safe town, very little crime, not cheap, though. It is pretty rural and has Western Week as well as the Peace Parade each year. No beach access, gotta drive forty five minutes to the beach.
In Volcano Village, if you were in the Village itself, it may be walkable to what few businesses are there. Cool, misty, artsy community, has a nice farmer's market and a few small businesses. Lacks medical, dental, as well as a full grocery store. Hmm, do they have a library?
Not sure about the medical in Pahoa, but it's the least expensive option. Not overly walkable, though, since most housing in that area is in the ginormous 'sub's' that are miles of nothing but houses. Extremely poor land planning (or zero land planning) IMHO, but they didn't ask me. One road access to a huge area with most required supplies on the other end of the road. There's also lava concerns, limited beach access and a huge influx of transplants has really diluted the local culture.
Getting the dog moved over will require paperwork, finding a place to rent will be more difficult with a dog. However, if you can rent first for a year, that will do a lot to help you find the spot that works for you and/or even let you decide if the island is for you. Islands aren't for everyone, there's a huge percentage of folks who move back to where they started from within a year. Followed by another huge percentage the next year although the amount who leave starts declining after the first few years.
Which is partly why you won't be embraced by the local population until you've been here a few years. It's useless to make friends with folks who are then going to just up and leave, although with social media you can still keep in contact with them, but going to the beach with a Zoom friend isn't quite the same.
I forgot to point out- In my recollection BCBS didn't reimburse travel expenses if one went to Oahu to see a doctor. HMSA does (so does Kaiser) but I've never gone through the process.
A lot of locals on the BI like Kaiser BECAUSE they are sent to Oahu for so many things. Somebody explained to me that the type of tickets provided can be changed without a fee, so it's basically a doctor visit / free trip to visit family, shop, etc.
Good to know. We would need to ask about this once we find a primary doctor.
[quote=hotzcatz;63849192]
...Not sure about the medical in Pahoa, but it's the least expensive option. Not overly walkable, though, since most housing in that area is in the ginormous 'sub's' that are miles of nothing but houses.../QUOTE]
I mentioned Pahoa as a possibility, provided one was able to find a place in the actual town that was satisfactory.
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