Come see for yourself (Wilmington, Dover: sales, health insurance, sex offenders)

[elizamary]

Hello all.................

I am a new Delawarian and so far my husband and I love it here. I just retired now live in a 55+ community that has everything at our disposal.
We moved from Philly after living there 30 years.
The ruralness of DE is refreshing.

But........

This would not be for everyone. It depends on your own personal needs and wants. Delaware is becoming the new Florida. Seniors are begining to flock here..........so I understand.

You will read post from people who absolutely hate it here and then some of people that find it a perfect place to live.

We researched a few states from Florida to AZ for 55+ communities. We were looking for something that was nice with a pool, gym and activities that was affordable.
With being retired and on a fixed income, we had to figure where we could live and do the things we want to do being comfortable.

Delaware for us seemed the best choice. But it would not be for everyone.

My advice to anyone looking to relocate is to do the research, pose questions on forums such as this and visit to see for yourself.

I have a cousin who looked before us down here and she said no way. I asked her why and she said "nothing there". That was her opinion but we love it.
So to each his own and everyone needs to check out for themselves.

[elizamary]

Also.............check out and see if where you are moving takes your health care provider.
I had one in PA that they did not take down here. So I had to switch. That issue took some research and a lot of questions.

[maryCh]

What a fresh perspective on this topic! We are hoping to move to DE in a month or so, and are hope to find that it is indeed more on the "boring" side! That is why we are looking at central Kent County... within reach of "busy-ness" and the faster pace of Wilmington, yet also within reach of even more rural activities in Sussex County.

You did mention something that does concern me though.. the health insurance. My husband works (and will continue to) in NY, and our family health insurance is through his employment. From your limited experience (being a relative "newbie"), do you think we will have a problem if we don't buy other insurance? One that is part of a common "in state" network?

[elizamary]

You did mention something that does concern me though.. the health insurance. My husband works (and will continue to) in NY, and our family health insurance is through his employment. From your limited experience (being a relative "newbie"), do you think we will have a problem if we don't buy other insurance? One that is part of a common "in state" network?>>

Hi MaryCh

I"m not sure but can only share my experience.
I had Keystone East in Pa though my employer. I retired but carried over my health care till I die. I worked for Federal Goverment...that is why I get my health care for life. A lot of places only give it to you for maybe 4 years then you are on your own. I was very lucky.

A neighbor of ours who just moved in in Jan had a problem. They lived in NJ near NY and he worked in NY. Since they have moved, he has had some physical problems and can't find a doctor here who will take his insurance. I"m not sure what insurance carrier he has but they have to go back to NJ/NY for his health care.

If I were you, I would call my health care provide and have you husband check out his options though his employer.

I was lucky cuz after I found out keystone is not taken in Kent county, I had the option of switching to blue Cross federal employees program.

As to how it works with you husbands company and your health care provider, I dont' know. But I would find out before you move cuz this is important.

Now I have GEHA for dentall and they do not take that here but I can pay the dentist and send the bill to GEHA and they will reimburse me.

Wish I could be more helpful but I only have my experience since I am new. Maybe there will be someone else reading these posts that could offer more information.
Good luck Mary.
Just got back from the gym now I'm going to the pool. What a life

[rockky]

Mary, I moved from PA to Dover 2.5 years ago. My insurance is from PA. I found a huge mess with BC/BS coverage in DE. I'm not sure I still understand it all, and I did everything I could to investigate and cooperate. Even the medical providers in Dover had difficulty processing and understanding the system.

The providers were to submit to the DE local. In some situations, the doctors were paid directly. In others, even though they were participating providers and submitted to the local, they heard nothing from BC/BS. I got the EOBs with total denials. Then I got Major Medical coverage sent to me directly with the payout based as if they were covering out-of-network providers. The doctors' offices who serviced me were cooperative, and they billed me as being in network. They didn't need to do that. I could have been thousands of dollars in debt. Plus, there was no indication who the money was to go to on the Major Medical payouts. The only way I could try to determine who I owed, and what coverage there was for whom, was based on the dates of service and the bills from the providers. Even then it was very confusing. Several providers were grouped on the same check, so I couldn't just sent the insurance check to the billing physician. I had to cash the check and make separate payment from my checking account. That didn't go over well with some of the providers. They seemed to think I was trying to cheat them in some way.

All the billing offices said they've never seen such a mess. I need to keep my own accounting system to try to figure out what I'm paying out of pocket.

I'm sorry to say that I am one of those people who had a very poor experience with physicians in Dover. At one point I ended up with what appeared to be a garden variety UTI. Apparently the first three urinalysis were not read or not read correctly. I spent a month with a staph infection, on four different antibiotics, and ended up with my bladder scoped when all along it was an inappropriately treated infection.

There's more, but I don't think details here will make any difference. I was totally healthy before I moved to Kent County. I ended up being tossed from doctor to doctor with no one really addressing what was beginning to present in regard to my health. The professionals I encountered there ran from rude and arrogant, to clueless, some very kind and helpful, but still unable to give me answers.

Dr. Piccioni (sp?) is an orthopedist I would highly recommend should you have need in that area of care. Sadly, it took me nearly a year to find him.

I've lived at the DE beaches during the summer for nearly 20 years, and I still have my place there. I am leaving Dover to move back to PA. Although most of my first year in Kent County was fine (other than being accosted by a pervert in a store and followed to the parking lot...check that number of registered sex offenders in the area) much of my personal experience in Dover...professional, social, etc....was negative. It took about a year for me to see the area as less than comfortable.

Perhaps I simply had a run of bad luck, but it was a totally new experience in my life. I never had these types of incidents happen in the past. None while I was living seasonally in Sussex County. I'm sure, as I've read here, others are quite content and secure in the area. I truly wish them well, and I wish I could share the positives they have posted here.

[Wanna Leave Penciltucky]

Delaware lists their sex offenders online. Delaware Sex Offender Central Registry
That and Middletown is the heroin capital put me off big time. Like elizamary my in laws are there and they have all kinds of issues with their PA insurance and docs in Delaware. I personally think most of the docs in Delaware are horrific. PA dumped their "been sued too many times" docs into Delaware about 5 years ago. Those who cannot afford the highest malpractice insurance in the country in PA moved to Delaware and took up right where they left off.
I had the option to move there in 2002 and said NO! Resoundingly, NO!
There are just too many negatives for me. Now having said that I worked in Wilmington for 3 years and lived in South Eastern PA. Wilmington and vincinty is amazingly dirty. The people are rude with a capital R. The police are never in a hurry to respond to anything. South of the canal is flat land and tends to flood.
I don't find Dover that attractive. Being near an air force base with jets flying overhead tends to bring noise and smog. Dover is the mortuary for the whole US military. Our brave heros come to Dover before they go home to their families for the last time.
But like elizamary I will say it again, Go and look before you buy anything. Google, call, stop and ask people on the street.

[alanap98]

We lived in Delaware for approx 5 yrs in the Bear area during that 5 yrs my extremley healthy family disappeared and I was left with the most unhealthy family you could imagine. My father who never smoked passed away with lung cancer, my sister in law ( lived next door to us) passed away with cervical cancer. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, my brother passed awya shorlty after we left DE with abrain bleed that he originally got while in DE. My sons have bad coughs all the time getting better though since we left! The schools are a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!! The absolute worst school district I have ever seen and we have lived in quite a few places from NY to FL to CA and everywhere in between. My son would ride the bus 1 hr to get to a school that was located in the projects while they bussed the children from the projects to the schools where we lived! IT is a horrible horrible place to live! I did have really good friends there though and miss them but I would NEVER EVER reccomend moving there to anyone! Just health reasons alone is scary enough! I even wrote to the CDC they said they were investigating a cancer cluster in the area?! thats when I got out! in our neighborhood there was 14 houses out of the 14 families 13 had lost at least one member to cancer in the 5 yrs THATS BAD!!!!!!!! this was just my experience but you can check out cancer clusters and the cancer rate DE is the highest good ol dupont and all the chemicals in the air you cant even eat the fish that you catch! ITS BAD BAD BAD!!!!!

[elizamary]

Oh my gosh Alana...............sorry for you loss. that is quite a story. I wonder how long it takes the cdc to finish their investigation.
Bear Delaware is considerably a new area isn't it. They have some beautiful homes going up.

You know I do remember having a conversation with my daughter before we moved here. She graduated with a degree in Environmental studies and she did tell tell me about this. But we went a head and moved here anyway. I figures we are seniors and we are Kent county south of the factories. Mostly farm land around here.
It is just my husband and I and each one has lost love ones to cancer at one time or another. I think everyone in the world has someone that they lost to cancer at one time. So We just do our best to be happy one day at a time.
But if I had children, I would take it more seriously.
Down here it is my understanding the Ceaser Rodney School district is pretty good. That is in Camden just south of Dover.
Thanks for your input Alana and again, I am so sorry about your loss.

[elizamary]

Here is a post I just read from a person in Bear De and they love it?


<<<I just wanted to chime in about Delaware. I'm previously from PA and moved to DE with my wife and two kids after looking at homes outside of Phila and around the South NJ Area. Till this day (3+ years later), we are very pleased with the BEAR, DE area. This area is central to a lot...food shops, malls, restaurants, home improvement stores,...you name it. It gives the convenience that city life brings but the area is very much rural. My daughter is 3 and my son is 11. My daughter attends a new day care just built on the corner of our housing development. Now for my son...there's actually not a whole lot of great middle schools so after doing extensive research, we decided to send him to Caravel Academy next year which is one of the top rated private schools in DE and happens to be 1/2 mile away (how convenient). I still work in Phila., PA as a sales engineer and the travel time is not too bad (50min).
Moderator cut: advertising Unlike some of the previous posts, I feel the housing taxes are still way under PA & NJ and you still get a better overall bargain for your money. The people here are nice or at least we have made a lot of friends who we trust with our kids. One (if not the largest in DE) YMCA facility is being built within 1-mile of our home here in Bear. This just seems to be an area under consistent GROWTH. Yes, Delmarva's (gas & electric) rates have gone up but this recent increase is still overshadowed (in my opinion) by the areas highlights! They say you can't have it all. Well hopefully some of this info is helpful!!! Feel free to ask any questions.>>>>

Just goes to show you, C

[elizamary]

Come Check It Out For Yourself!!!!!