Health care for older sailors

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

To say it is a "political decision" simply means that it is a collective choice, not an individual choice.

If you live in a developed country and looked closely you'll see most of our choices are collective. How many things do you have unlimited freedom in choosing?

[Viking Sailor]

A few years ago my adult son got a MRSA infection in his leg and was taken to a county hospital. At the time he was living on a friends boat, doing part time work and had no insurance. The hospital and doctors took very good care of him. They had to fly in special antibiotics from the CDC in Atlanta. He almost died! He was there for about 10 days. When he checked out they told him he owed $17k. He told them that he didn't have any money. Their response was -- "OK, pay us when you can." He still owes them that money. No one ever gave him a hard time about it or tried to force a collection. It maybe that if he ever got into a tax bracket that indicated that he could pay the bill someone might ask him to do so. It seems that in at least in this part of California people can get medical care if they really need it and can't afford it.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by Pete R

Blue Cross/Blue Shield (with whom I have an individual policy) has programs for covering medical care outside the state/country:

BlueCard® Worldwide - When Traveling Outside of the U.S.
BlueCard®

Make sure and read the fine print. They usually only cover you for a very limited time out of the country, e.g. a couple week vacation. An extended period overseas may not be covered.