Yearly update. My boyfriend and I finally got married last November in a small, quick ceremony after being together 14 years. Being married hasn't seemed to change much besides my last name.
My mother died of Progressive Supra Nuclear Palsy the week after we got married (good thing we didn't plan a honeymoon). The week after that her mother fell and broke her leg in multiple places, and then dementia, paranoia, and bitterness really set in. In the middle of it all, my husband was diagnosed with stage 1 melanoma and basal cell carcinoma (he is OK now). My uncle has not been any help at all with grandma, and I am getting tired of being a caretaker for everyone and neglecting my own life, career, health, and husband. None of my family live where I do, so I have to drive 3+ hours one way and literally leave my life behind and on hold. Now I know why a quarter or third of caretakers die before the person they are taking care of.
Anyway, my husband and I have 66% more money than my earlier FIRE number for us, and yet it is not enough to safely retire in the US because we don't have a way to obtain decent dependable affordable health insurance/health care in early retirement. He is still 5+ years from Medicare, and we both have mild pre-existing conditions that are out of our control (no health sharing ministries for us).
We can stay on my employer's health insurance for 18 months after I quit (@ $20,000+/year for premiums), but what do we do after that? The ACA health plans in our area have such tiny networks and no out of network coverage, that it is like not having insurance at all. Are there any cities or states that have good ACA health insurance plans? Will ACA insurance plans even be around in 2019? Will they exclude pre-existing conditions?
I am willing to pay $20,000/year in premiums for good health insurance that has a decent network, some out of network coverage, acceptable customer service, and pays claims in a halfway timely fashion. How much money should a couple save to protect themselves from financial disaster in the US because they are forced to be under-insured because there are no other options? $4 million? $5 million? I wish I were kidding.
Anyway, I am losing hope there will ever be a light at the end of the tunnel with respect to fixing the US health insurance/healthcare disaster, so I have started researching retiring to other countries. My favorite country so far is Mexico because of the proximity to the US, low cost of living, good & affordable healthcare in most urban areas, friendly people, great climate & landscapes, etc. I have made a couple trips to Mexico so far, and am working hard to learn Spanish. I have not talked my husband into retiring to Mexico (yet). Our cost of living in Mexico would be so low that we would not have to worry about healthcare costs eating us alive like in the US. If we didn't like where we moved to, we could move to another city in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, or other Latin American countries. We might be able to move back to the US when he is Medicare age, of course that is if I can get decent health insurance on the individual market and if Medicare doesn't get watered down. I have been to a couple places in Mexico that I would consider moving to including the greater Merida area.
Has anyone retired to Mexico for whatever reason? Has anyone retired outside the US because of lack of access to decent health insurance and affordable healthcare?
Not that I would need the extra money in Mexico, but I would still try to work a little from Mexico (remotely/virtually/PC) since I am still somewhat young at age 42. I don't want my brain to retire early!