Florida ACA Health Insurance

[sailorboy1]

One of the reasons I plan to change my residence to Florida soon is for health insurance reasons. I currently live in NH and the only ACA providers are HMOs, which means all I would really have is major medical in an emergency since I wouldn't be in State.

Any one out there using a Florida ACA policy who is a traveler with any experience stories of providers covering you while out of State?

[sailorboy1]

anyone?

[keepondancin]

Gov. Rick Scott is a very strong opponent to the ACA and the state has chosen to not take part in the national program. I would REALLY research the issue if that is why you want to move to Florida. Watching friends look into plans compatible with the ACA all seem to have the same issue. That is why lower cost health insurance can be offered, HMO'S. Until I was went on Medicare, I was paying $900 a month for personal health insurance, using a business I had to form, to manage a building I own, so I could get a business discount. Rick Scott is also anti-environment, just look at the waters in the Stuart and Ft. Meyers areas to see how big money buys government.

[sailorboy1]

thanks, but that wasn't anything about the question, which was:

Any one out there using a Florida ACA policy who is a traveler with any experience stories of providers covering you while out of State?

[AD28]

Originally Posted by keepondancin

Gov. Rick Scott is a very strong opponent to the ACA and the state has chosen to not take part in the national program.

Your question was answered

[sailorboy1]

"Gov. Rick Scott is a very strong opponent to the ACA and the state has chosen to not take part in the national program."

"Your question was answered"

Well neither of these two statements are true. Florida like all States is part of ACA, and my question not answered.

Wonder why one can not ask real world question about ACA without it turning bad so fast?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

thanks, but that wasn't anything about the question, which was:

Any one out there using a Florida ACA policy who is a traveler with any experience stories of providers covering you while out of State?

Don't have personal experience but my wife does have some information and experience from dealing with this for her job.

- FL gov Rick Scott declined to participate in the Medicaid expansion which offers coverage for those that cannot afford coverage. This of course doesn't matter to rich yankee yachties.

- The ACA is a federal program and is implemented in FL regardless of the governors stance. As I understand the explanation, if you are lower income you can buy coverage at a reduced cost but the coverage is from private insurance companies. The portability IE use when traveling will depend on the specific policy and carrier but in general shouldn't be an issue unless traveling outside the US. In that case you need to check the terms of your specific policy.

- Cost charged to those that are not low income is not regulated by the ACA and in fact may be higher due to requirements to cover preexisting conditions, etc.

- For whatever actuarial reasons (probably due to the large number of older retirees that move to FL) insurers generally charge more for the same coverage in FL than they do in many other states. Your cost is based on your zip code.

[tuffr2]

What I have found is most if not all ACA plans are regional. That is what I found out about a year ago.

But I do think you can pay a bit more to travel. The bit more was like $125/mo. more but you could travel.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by skipmac

. This of course doesn't matter to rich yankee yachties.

This rich Yankee yachtie has an expected 2017 -2021 yearly income (non adjusted) of about $200. And a quick use of the various calculator tools on the web can give me various cost values for getting a plan ( the number of options in FL are 10+ times those of NH).

Also a quick search of the web shows FL has some laws about network/out-of-network providers than are big plus to a traveling cruiser type of person.

I found these items out in about an hour as part of my overall research because I could tell there was going to be little gained from my CF related portion of the research.

[bsurvey]

all you need is a po box and a utility bill or library card, you turn in your NH drives license and your a resident

[Virginia Lee]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

This rich Yankee yachtie has an expected 2017 -2021 yearly income (non adjusted) of about $200..

If you have taxable income of $200/year then you may (or may not) qualify for Medicaid in FL. As a Medicaid provider myself, I know that being on Medicaid limits your ability to obtain care, as the payment to providers is very low, so some practitioners do not take patients on Medicaid. I don't know what happens when you are not in the state and need healthcare, if Medicaid is your insurer. If you have other taxable income (e.g. from investments, 401k), then consider whether you fall into an income category that does not qualify you for subsidized insurance. As another post mentioned, FL has not extended Medicaid subsidies to those who fall below the level at which the Federal government provides subsidized insurance. If you cannot show enough income to get the federal subsidies, then your insurance costs will be very high in Florida, which might be why there was mention of FL costs being high. Again, the intent of the ACA was for the very low income earners to qualify for Medicaid but FL is one of the states that does not do that.

Alas, another reason costs of insurance are high in FL is fraud. Another post said that zip code matters, and I suspect that is quite true. Try establishing residence in N or central FL rather than S FL and I bet you would save on ACA premiums.

[sailorboy1]

I wonder if people understand that the question about experiences when out of state is really a question about major medical? When traveling the medical I'm worried about are things like a heart attack wiping out all ones assets (I'm always worried about the actual heart attack). Regular doctor visits one is just as well paying as you go as to have insurance. Which brings me back to the thread question:

Any one out there using a Florida ACA policy who is a traveler with any experience stories of providers covering you while out of State?

[Carriage Boy]

We use a mail forwarding company out of Pensacola (Escambia County) for our address and have traveled with an ACA PPO type policy for a couple of years. Not cruisers yet, we're doing full time RV'ing, spent last winter on the west coast.

The insurance company we used last year withdrew from the Escambia market and we had to switch to a new company for 2016. Nationwide coverage (non-HMO) is critical for us and we now keep our fingers crossed every year until November 1st when we can see what the ACA offerings are for our market. We were bracing ourselves last year for a couple of months to have to "move" our address to some other market until we finally found what was available for 2016.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida offers an "EPO" (Exclusive Provider Organization) type policy in the Escambia market that has decent coverage around the country on their nationwide BCBS network. It took some research and phone calls to identify and confirm this out-of-state network-- it's not obvious from the Florida Blue EPO website.

The premiums and deductibles of our ACA policies have been much higher than our individual policies we had before, but I'm told that's progress.

HTH
--Mike

[Precision 21]

I am also considering a relocation to FL from NC. In NC, I have a Bronze PPO plan with $0 monthly premium, and high deductible of approx. $6700. In NC, available plans are based on county of residence. If you are traveling in the USA, then your out-of-network benefits are probably limited to emergency treatment and subject to an out-of-network deductible. Foreign travel may be entirely excluded by your plan, so you will need to confirm. Preventive and routine medical visits would need to be in network to apply to your plan deductible. When you move to FL, you should qualify for a SEP, special enrollment period, so that you can obtain health insurance outside of the annual OEP, open enrollment period, which is November 1, 2016 — January 31, 2017. From my own quick research, the plans in Broward County, FL appear to be as good, or better, than those offered in NC.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

This rich Yankee yachtie has an expected 2017 -2021 yearly income (non adjusted) of about $200.

Sorry to inform you but boat maintenance and repair expenses aren't deductible from your income. Along with docking fees and bar tabs.

I'll check when I get back home to see if I can find a pro to advise you. I just went through this with Medicare, Part A, B, C, and D, supplement plans type A, B, C, D, F, G, K, L, M, and N and social security. Decided filing corporate income tax for Microsoft might be less complicated and spent a good deal of time on the phone with pros. I imagine ACA is just as bad.