Where can a US citizen retire outside the US? (legal, senior, taxes)
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Plenty of private clinics around the world and there are about 1/2 dozen in my neighborhood. As a matter of fact my Wife works in one of the JIC certified one's here. Her job is helping to get and maintain certification.
I spoke to a friend (53) a few days ago (thought he died). He was in a very nice 2nd tier clinic two years ago. His Pancreas exploded while he was visiting Peru. He spent 6 mos in ICU (1 month in a coma) his Gallblader and several other vital organs failed, but his kidneys held out. Ran up a bill of $340,000. Told me that they saved his life on four separate occasions. The care was so good, he decided to sell his biz in the USA for 3. something million and move to Peru where he can live less than a block away from this clinic.
Now that he moved to Peru, I doubt the BCBS would sell him insurance. He has to buy his own Peruvian health insurance.
Luckily he can buy a Cadillac policy down here for a few hundred a month.
Not for much here but we pretty much all pay a few hundred a month and we do have good health care professionals as well. It just seems that some people think the grass is greener in the neighbor's yard.
As someone who is approaching retirement age (perhaps as little as a year to go now) this is a fascinating thread. My wife and I are looking at all of our options, and I suspect we won't be selling our home in Canada when we retire, but we will be wintering in warmer climes an awful lot.
A few years back we bought a cottage in Hawai'i. Now some might think that it's very expensive to do this, but if you aren't terribly picky and a little adventurous, it's quite do-able. It cost us 30k initially for a 600 sq ft. cottage on an acre of jungle. Some might consider it a 'sketchy' neighborhood, but it's fairly safe for people who keep their wits about them. In the 5 years since we bought it, we have put 70k into it to being it up to code and get it permitted (there are a *lot* of un-permitted dwellings in the rural areas on the East side of the Big Island.) We could easily have just put in solar, stayed off grid and not put much more into it, but I get anxious about regulations. Probably half of the neighborhood isn't so worried, however. It rains a lot. Up to 160" a year. The thing is, you don't notice it all that much because it's a nice warm rain that usually comes and goes. It might rain almost every day for a month, but it will do it 15 minutes at a time with an hour of mixed sun and cloud in between. You do get stretches where it will pour down like nobodies business for days at a time. On those days, you can always drive to the leeward side of the Island where you will no doubt be able to find somewhere dry.
The big issue for most mainland transplants in Hawai'i is Island fever. You are 2000 miles out in the Pacific, so you can't just hop in a car and drive for a day to visit relatives. Our current plan is to move in for at least a Winter or two once our tenants move out and then re-assess our options. We might sell the cottage and use the proceeds to fund retirement travel elsewhere.
My mom (late 70's) has been wintering in Mazatlan for the last 15 years. She loves it. She can rent a 2 BR apartment in a good neighbourhood in a gated building for $600 a month. She can walk to the beach in around 10 minutes. She takes tennis lessons 5 days a week and works on her Spanish. She can certainly communicate fine enough for daily activities (her tennis instructor speaks limited English) and really enjoys her life. My brother and I visited her for Christmas holidays and I have to say I was very impressed at how much Mexico had advanced in the 30 years since I'd last visited. It is both a wealthier and more advanced country than I had remembered for sure.
While visiting my Mom, I stepped on a dried out fish that had been buried in the sand - got my big toe right in it's mouth. My toe got a staph infection that was very obvious by the next day. No problems - my mom brought me to a doctor she had used in the past. No waiting room, just walk right in. He cleaned out the wound, dressed it, wrote up a prescription and told me how to care for it for the rest of my trip. Total cost? $30 CDN - about $22 or 23 US.
Previously, my mom broke her fibula hiking and got it taken care of in Mexico. Paid cash, not much expense. Last year she got a terrible stomach flu that had her quite dehydrated and required hospitalization. For three days in the hospital and treatment the total cost was around $1200 US. She said the treatment and conditions in the hospital were superior to Canada. She doesn't bother with health insurance.
Lately I find myself researching a number of options for living part or all of the year when I retire. It seems my mom can live on $1000/month while there and I think her pension is about 3x that much. I expect much of Latin America is similar. I'd certainly like to spend at least half a year in a place where I could paddle surf without needing a wet suit.
Now that he moved to Peru, I doubt the BCBS would sell him insurance. He has to buy his own Peruvian health insurance.
When we lived in Mexico 2008-2012, we were on my (former) employer's group health plan. I was surprised to find out they pay any emergency medical outside the US, with no limitation on days out of the US, or $$$ amount. We used it twice and each time they reimbursed us very quickly. But we had to pay up front, get a reimbursement.
While we were in MX, my FIL was failing back in the US; we considered moving him down with us so I called his insurer (he was retired Federal worker who had retired in the 1970s); surprisingly they would cover him in MX and not just for emergencies.
In the end my FIL asked us to help him stay in his home, and we agreed. We moved and sold our MX house and moved back nearer to him. He died in late 2015. We have a contract on a MX house and will occupy it in April.
My husband just migrated to Medicare this year, and he has a Medigap (again, through my ex-employer). Obviously Medicare doesn't work in MX, but his Medigap will cover him for 60 days of each trip out of the US, for emergencies and does have a lifetime limit.
For the immediate future we will keep a home in the US and travel back and forth. At some point we'll cash out our US home (current FMV of 375K, no mortgage) and put that money aside to pay out of pocket for MX care if we are unable to get back to the US for Medicare (we may buy medical evacuation insurance).
I live abroad and have wondered about this. One thought I have is that if the U.S. govt. wanted to investigate a particular claim it would be more time consuming I expect. Does seems as if the U.S. might do a trial of this in a country like Ireland - a country with the same language, and see how it works.
I live in what you might call a second tier European country, and the national insurance covers most procedures for nationaional - private insurance would vary depending upon your policy. I have private insurance and I consider my premium to be high, but then I don't know what one would pay in the U.S. for a comparable policy so my impression may be all wet. Local people pay the uncovered portion of their fees by debit or credit card, check and least of all in cash. Medical costs are at least 1/4 less across the board and often a third or half as much as in the U.S. I recently paid 725 euros for an MRI in a private hospital, and a cousin in the U.S. paid over 1,200 dollars for the same MRI in the U.S.
America has much higher health care costs and insurance costs because people within that system can become very wealthy---
Check what the CEOs of the major insurance companies make...or those who run hospital systems...
Specialty doctors in major cities can earn multiple millions easily...
Insurance companies have had big profits under the ACA --- they just lied about that to make it seem it wasn't working...check out the lawsuit against Aetna brought by DoJ in its merger with Cigna---
Totally lied about why it pulled out of several markets dealing ACA and Medicare policies...
Basically NO blowback for doing that either--and the GOP talking heads are using the lies Aetna put out as justification for repealing ACA...
And OUR costs for US mfg drugs subsidize deals make with other countries like Canada that DO negotiate for drug prices in their system--unlike Medicare in the US...
I am listening to the GOP talking heads in Congress defending this bill they are pushing and they all are claiming the people will have great ACCESS to health care---
Well ACCESS means nothing if you don't have the MONEY to buy a quality policy...and the idea that someone, say a single parent with one or two kids making 40K or less a year is going to have the money to take advantage of a HSA is ludicrous...like Chaffey saying people should drop their cell phones to afford health care.
Even people making more than that who have families often don't have the loose cash to depend on an HSA--
A high deductable plan is fine until you have to meet that deductable...and one hospital stay can require thousands from YOUR pockets...
I can walk into any Mercedes dealer and sit in a showroom car or even take a test drive--
But I can't walk out with a car if I can't afford one...and health care coverage is expensive because the risk pool isn't large enough...The GOP doesn't want to admit that---the insurance companies don't want to admit that---but until ALL people are put into the risk pool, there will be no viable health care insurance coverage.
What the GOP hopes to do is pass the real costs of dealing with lower-income patients on to the states and let them deal with the blowback when people realize their health care options suck...
There is NO FREE HEALTHCARE now with the ACA or before it came into existence...
Someone pays...
My older brother moved to the Philippines in March and is going through the retirement VISA process. He's in Angeles City for convenience for now but wants to travel around the country before settling down permanently, preferably in a coastal area with lots of expats. While U.S. veterans have Tricare in the Philippines, do you have any recommendations for health insurance for non-veterans? My brother is in denial about his health and thinks he can just self-insure if he has to go to the doctor for meds but does NOT consider more serious health issues. He turns 65 this year and is at high risk for a heart attack.
My older brother moved to the Philippines in March and is going through the retirement VISA process. He's in Angeles City for convenience for now but wants to travel around the country before settling down permanently, preferably in a coastal area with lots of expats. While U.S. veterans have Tricare in the Philippines, do you have any recommendations for health insurance for non-veterans? My brother is in denial about his health and thinks he can just self-insure if he has to go to the doctor for meds but does consider more serious health issues. He turns 65 this year and is at high risk for a heart attack.
I'm a U.S. veteran, so my wife and I have TRICARE.
For non-veterans most medical health care plans in the Philippines do not cover pre-existing medical conditions, unless the condition no longer exist after a one yr period. Here's a low cost plan called PhilHealth https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/members/ , which is sort of a medical supplemental coverage. Foreigners are eligible, the premiums is P17,000 a year(P15,000 for permanent resident visa holders), which only pays on the average around between 30% to 40% for medical costs, pharmacy not included.
So, upfront cash (self insure) with a PhilHealth Plan is probably the main solution, because the older one gets the more expensive medical health care plans are here, if one doesn't mind paying hefty annual premiums, for example here: Pacific Cross
You can apply for a retirement visa in Spain. The recommendations are that you can show that you make at least 24,000/year in retirement. Cost of living is soooo much lower. Housing is so much less.
Madrid, Spain (the capital) is 21% less expensive than Portland, Oregon. Numbeo.com has great cost of living calculators.
Quality of life is wonderful, people live longer and violent crime is almost nil!
I have lived here for 4yrs and do not plan on moving back.
Contact me if you are interested in retiring in Spain! We are an American and Spanish couple with a business that help with the difficulties of moving to another country, like the paperwork.
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