Question for Full Timers

[Sally Newberry]

I have a question for full timers regarding annual doctor visits.

By May of 2017 we plan to be in our FW full time (either renting out our house long term or eventually selling it). My husband is retiring from law enforcement so we'll be fortunate enough to keep our health insurance, although we have to change from our much loved HMO to a Traditional plan because by traveling as Workampers we will no longer be in a network.

My question for the full timers is how do you handle yearly doctor visits to get prescription refills? Do you keep your home town family physician and just stop back by once a year? My husband & I both take medication that our Dr's won't refill without being seen at least once per year so I need to try and figure this out now before we start traveling. I'm also wondering how you go about seeing Specialists if need-be.

[DQDick]

We still use our regular doctors and specialists since we come back to our old home area for a couple months every year since our grandkids live there also. When on the road, if we need to see someone we either use walk in clinics or call our doctor for a referal in the area we currently are.

[1retired06]

until we hit 65,, had to go back once a year. Now with Medicare and tricare for life, we can go anywhere any time. We get one year perscriptions 1 plus 3 refills, filled via mail by Express Scripts.

[bigskyjimmy]

We went with a PPO when we went fulltime and can go to any clinic we want around the Country to BUT we still have our specialists and favorite Doctors where we go once a year in our Hometown for the Annual and for prescriptions/refills we have a family member pick them up at a Pharmacy near them and they pick them up and send them to us wherever we are

[WeBeFulltime]

quote:Originally posted by 1retired06

until we hit 65,, had to go back once a year. Now with Medicare and tricare for life, we can go anywhere any time. We get one year perscriptions 1 plus 3 refills, filled via mail by Express Scripts.

Same for us.

[mazboy]

you have the $65000 question.
we all vary. for dentists, i have about 5 through out the country.
eyes, no problem, just do it so your eligiblity time is right.

meds are pretty simple, just use a online service or a national pharmacy.

Now as for medical, for me, up until last year I had just a VA doc in phoenix, and i saw her once a year...got my meds. then last year everything changed, i have at least 5 doctors now, some in michigan, a private heart doc in tucson and a heart doc in the VA in Phoenix. and, i am living 6 months a year in michigan...go figure.

simply put, have a doc that you can see easily once a year. a location where you'll be for a while. that will cover your basic needs. and with numerous 'urgent care' centers it is easy to get meds or treated.

Now as for specialists, if you need one just figure you need to deal with them wherever you are. This is the cost of going full time. I've had knee surgery in north carolina--had to stay there, northern michigan, and I even broke my ankle in north carolina. and there have been other medical 'emergencies' i've had to deal with through north america.

my major issue currently is every doc seems to want to change my meds and i need the meds for my heart and we go into mexico for 5-6 months so i need a supply of the meds while gone.

[Sally Newberry]

That's what I thought. We have a while before we are Medicare eligible so we'll just have to adjust our Workamper schedules accordingly. Thank you all for the input. I keep coming up with questions, some probably seem silly, but I want to be as prepared as I can be for the transition.

[PackerFan]

Don't worry about asking anything...The only stupid or silly question is the one you don't ask! We are all here at the MOC to help and share with each other.

[Rondo]

Well said Scott!

[Wheelhouse]

The biggest concern I would have, is what to do about controlled medications while on the road. We had my wife's 3-page scrip with us knowing we would run out while in Florida. Florida said no way. Many states will not fill out-of-state scrips. We hit every southern state pharmacy until we got back to Calif where we could get it filled. Another time I had to fly home in order to get it filled. It was a rough round trip. One foot of snow when I left and 3 feet when I returned, with a 3 hour ride to and from the airport at 12:30 am., ugh. CHECK before you go!!!!

[JandC]

Sally, when we were full time we had sold our house, but we still kept our regular primary doctors in our home town. The summer visits were for visiting family, friends, and those doctor's visits. Our insurance, which is still provided through my employer (retired LEO) pretty much stayed the same. But one of the reasons we could keep the same plan was that we were still Illinois residents and just on "vacation". I know many folks change their addresses to different states or pay for express mail type services while full time. We simply changed our address to our eldest son's address and he forwarded any important mail to us. This kept us as residents in the same area for our health insurance. Since we do about 99% of our banking and billing on-line we never get much mail anyway.

After purchasing a home in Florida last year we then had to change to a different health insurance plan. However, while traveling full time it was nice to be able to stay on our regular plan, keep our primary doctors, and know that we would still be covered for hospital emergencies anywhere we went.

[Sally Newberry]

We're actually thinking about keeping our residence as NY now. We found out yesterday that my husband's pension won't be taxed through the state because it's through the NYS retirement system. That was a bit of a relief. So, since his open enrollment documents just came out I need to study them to make sure we'll be covered if we need to be seen by someone while on "vacation". There are so many loopholes with the insurance it's hard to keep track.

[DQDick]

It is quite a job. A lot more work that it should be or that people understand.