Snowbirding / 2nd home changed forever?

[bmcgonig]

No such options in our state either.

Blue Shield did it until last year when they changed it "to better serve me" I think...

 

[brucethebroker]

That is my thinking. Also:
1. Much easier to "lockdown" when you can go outside to walk/bike (under blue skies, I might add) during winter weather.
2. The more you exercise/stay fit, the better your chances toward recovery if you do get covid.
3. IMO-the more time you spend outdoors, the safer you are. And in warmer climes, more restaurant space is available on decks/patios outside.

I snowbird. I drive to/from. I do not intend to change those plans.

 

[brucethebroker]

When I looked into ACA in our state, I called a service rep of a popular plan for clarification. She told me emergency care is covered anywhere in USA under that plan. I have always had high ded. plans, and have never been hospitalized unless it was an emergency. Perhaps most plans are that way.

 

[pb4uski]

I don't think anyone in CA offers out of state unfortunately.

So they don't cover you if you are out of CA on vacation? If they cover away on vacation how do they differentiate between someone on a week vacation vs a 3 to 4-month vacation.

 

[audreyh1]

So they don't cover you if you are out of CA on vacation? If they cover away on vacation how do they differentiate between someone on a week vacation vs a 3 to 4-month vacation.

Out of state = out of network. Emergencies are covered to a limited extent.

 

[neihn]

We just ended our snowbird life style in March after 3.5 years - A few mistakes that we made which help end it

1. Distant of two locations (west to east coast)
2. Having the main home (bigger home) in the wrong location, instead of at the other location where we can host friends and families when we are at that location
3. We have a very close family relationship - brothers, sisters, kids, nephews, nieces as well as a friend network - and we miss that.
4. Unable to adapt to the new environment, but this probably just us - you may not have this.

In the hindsight, if the distant is two hours flight or 12-15 hours drive - it may still work . In our case, it takes all day to flight across the country (rental car to airport, wait ... and wait), it it too much to fly often.

 

[Splash]

ACA options in our area only provide coverage in regional networks located within WI. We have self insured while in Florida. However, Covid-19 increases our risk. For a life/death emergency, our insurance pays what it would pay in-network and we pay the rest. That could be significant since there are no pre-negotiated rates. I've recently started looking into what options we may have to get coverage but haven't found one yet. I looked into travel health insurance but was only able to find options for travel abroad. We are 58 and 59 so Medicare is a long way off. I'm interested in hearing if anyone has found a way to solve this.

 

[KB]

Blue Shield of CA had their BlueCard plan, which accessed local pricing for out of state claims. Actually, all the Blue Plans were required to have this plan by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association to retain their Cross/Shield.

I worked on the installation of the program in the early to mid 1990s and then until 2005 when I retired, so I am not current on what the changes are. What the program was intended to do was access the negotiated rates or allowed amounts of the Host plan (provider), and use that pricing on the Home plan's (subscriber) claim. It saved the plans a lot of money and alleviated the subscriber from having a higher out of pocket amount.

I would be surprised if the plan has been eliminated. If would be a good plan for someone who travels regularly within the US or lives in multiple places.

 

[bmcgonig]

Here's a link to an article about Blue Shield and Blue Card.


https://www.modernhealthcare.com/ar...ate-coverage-give-some-californians-the-blues

"In an effort to reduce costs, the insurer has quietly decided to scale back participation in the national*Blue Card*program that since 1994 has allowed Blue Shield's members to receive a range of primary and specialty care services out of state. That could be a big problem for frequent travelers, college students, snowbirds and other people who divide their time between states – and for rural patients like Roberts who live close to state borders.

The change applies only to members with individual market preferred provider health plans,- not those with group coverage or Medicare. The restrictions appear to be confined to California."

It does cover urgent and emergency care. But I do remember discussions here about insurance carriers not allowing what many of us here considered an emergency. E.g., Doctor tells someone to go to ER to get checked out. Person is ok. Insurance company says it wasn't really an emergency and won't pay.

The article mentions that Anthem covers out of state but I think I remember discovering that they stopped it now too but I'll recheck.

Edit: I rechecked and in my zip code only Blue Shield and Health Net provide coverage. Health Net doesn't provide out of state coverage either.

 

[bmcgonig]

Here's some more info on out of state coverage or lack thereof.

https://individuals.healthreformquo...-wide-coverage/blue-shield-ppo-state-country/

Apparently too many people were having elective care out of state according to a slide at the bottom of this link.

There is also this explanation of urgent and emergency services. Seems broad enough but what do I know...


Urgent Services*— those Covered Services rendered outside of the Plan Service Area (other than Emergency Services) which are*Medically Necessary to prevent serious deterioration of a Member’s health resulting from unforeseen*illness, injury, or complications of an existing medical condition, for which*treatment cannot reasonably be delayed*until the Member returns to the Plan Service Area.

Emergency Medical Condition*(including a psychiatric emergency) — a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in any of the following:

1) placing the Member’s health in serious jeopardy;
2) serious impairment to bodily functions;
3) serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.

Emergency Services*— the following services provided for an Emergency Medical Condition:

1) A medical screening examination that is within the capability of the emergency department of a hospital, including ancillary services
routinely available to the emergency department to evaluate the Emergency Medical Condition; and

2) Such further medical examination and treatment, to the extent they are within the capabilities of the staff and facilities available
at the hospital, to stabilize the Member.

Copied from*EOC

 

[BoodaGazelle]

Snowbirding and ACA

True! Some started younger, though. I have met some who are a ways from Medicare.

I don't know anything about the ACA per se. However, with a plan that limits you to "in-network" facilities, a younger snowbird might need to limit medical visits to emergencies only.

At 64 and 63, this is exactly what DW and I are doing. We are basically in pretty good health, so we don't have healthcare needs in the summer. And emergencies would still be covered on our ACA Bronze plan.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

In my Western Pennsylvania county, none of the Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans available via ACA offers the Blue Card Plan that covers you when out of your home region. All of their ACA plans are HMO or EPO only (no PPO plans at all). If you buy from Highmark directly instead of via ACA, there is ONE plan that offers the Blue Card Plan component. It's obviously one of their most expensive plans. And being off-ACA, it doesn't qualify for any ACA tax credit subsidy.

 

[Midpack]

Seems like the OP was describing a vacation home, not a snowbird second home. Snowbirds would mostly drive as others have said. I don’t doubt travel to and from distant vacation homes has fallen off and that’ll continue for quite a while - but not permanently?

 

[Amethyst]

I'm just wondering, where do people stop during that long drive north to south (and back)? Are highway rest stops still open?

(The car has lived in the garage for two months, except for rare trips to the store, and one dental emergency, so I'm out of the loop about highways).

 

[folivier]

Just a suggestion but if your car has sat that long without using it would be good to charge the battery before using it. I've seen often a battery start a car ok then after driving a short distance with radio and a/c on not start again.
That might keep you from needing a service call on the road.

 

[rk911]

I'm just wondering, where do people stop during that long drive north to south (and back)? Are highway rest stops still open?

(The car has lived in the garage for two months, except for rare trips to the store, and one dental emergency, so I'm out of the loop about highways).

my buddy and his girlfriend snowbird in SW florida each year. they do a 3-day, 2-nite (hotels) drive fm chicago. they drove home mid-april this year. rest stops were open, gas was plentiful, light traffic. no issues. they’re planning to go back in ‘21

we snowbird to AZ each year in our motorhome. left AZ end of April and arrived home 10-days later. RV parks, most highway rest stops, truck stops and gas stations were open. light-to-normal traffic. no issues. we’re planning to go back in ‘21.

 

[rk911]

Just a suggestion but if your car has sat that long without using it would be good to charge the battery before using it. I've seen often a battery start a car ok then after driving a short distance with radio and a/c on not start again.
That might keep you from needing a service call on the road.

when we head south and west in winter we’re gone for nearly 5-mos. i put one of these on these on the vehicles left behind. we returned home a week ago just shy of 4-mos. my jeeps started right up.

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200332201_200332201

 

[Amethyst]

Good idea. I unfortunately left our battery charger behind when we moved; will have to order a new one. Or perhaps just let the car run in the garage with the door open for a while?

Just a suggestion but if your car has sat that long without using it would be good to charge the battery before using it. I've seen often a battery start a car ok then after driving a short distance with radio and a/c on not start again.
That might keep you from needing a service call on the road.

 

[Sunset]

Good idea. I unfortunately left our battery charger behind when we moved; will have to order a new one. Or perhaps just let the car run in the garage with the door open for a while?

Much better would be to start the car, and drive around the block a few times, just don't turn it off until you are back home and parked. With faster engine running will charge better, plus moving the car will mean brakes don't seize (rust) on the calipers.

Once a week, I drive around the block/subdivision twice with our 22 yr old car, that has a weak battery as the battery is over 5 yrs old and will die if left for 3 weeks. I don't turn on the headlights when doing my charging drive.

I find that keeps the car battery charged enough that I can also take it on the once a month trip to the bank machine, or to get gas for for lawn mower.

 

[kcowan]

Having lived as an expat in Mexico for ~5 years I can say that the pandemic is already changing the landscape in popular expat havens down there pretty radically. They've gone from being in a major real estate and rental market price bubble that started right after Trump took office and has been accelerating ever since to sharp price declines and a great deal of uncertainty. Of course for most folks Mexico is a get-on-a-plane destination *(though a surprising number of American and Canadians still do drive).

But I do think this situation argues for living in a place where leaving seasonally feels optional rather than mandatory. We're sunbirds (or sweatbirds) who live in Tucson and flee to cooler climes for 3-4 months each summer and that option still seems like it's likely to be open to us going forward.

Yes. We are still at our snowbird location. Although we fly from Vancouver, we would drive if necessary. It is a 56 hour drive so we would need to overnight 3 or more nights. OTOH, we could eliminate a car to offset the extra costs.

 

[Sunset]

Yes. We are still at our snowbird location. Although we fly from Vancouver, we would drive if necessary. It is a 56 hour drive so we would need to overnight 3 or more nights. OTOH, we could eliminate a car to offset the extra costs.

On a 56 hour drive, I'd need to stop about 6 nights at a minimum.

Normally we drive from Chicago to FL, each year, but this past January (before Covid-19 was a thought), we flew to Miami for a cruise.
So nice to get to FL in a few hours instead of a few days

Next year it will be back to driving I guess

 

[Dtail]

On a 56 hour drive, I'd need to stop about 6 nights at a minimum.

Normally we drive from Chicago to FL, each year, but this past January (before Covid-19 was a thought), we flew to Miami for a cruise.
So nice to get to FL in a few hours instead of a few days

Next year it will be back to driving I guess

Same here.
10 hours a day of driving would be about the limit, especially since I would be doing all the driving.

 

[Amethyst]

Good idea. Our 4x-weekly trips to the gym were no doubt serving this purpose, but the gym is 2 months gone with no return in sight.

Much better would be to start the car, and drive around the block a few times, just don't turn it off until you are back home and parked. With faster engine running will charge better, plus moving the car will mean brakes don't seize (rust) on the calipers.

Once a week, I drive around the block/subdivision twice with our 22 yr old car, that has a weak battery as the battery is over 5 yrs old and will die if left for 3 weeks. I don't turn on the headlights when doing my charging drive.

I find that keeps the car battery charged enough that I can also take it on the once a month trip to the bank machine, or to get gas for for lawn mower.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm just wondering, where do people stop during that long drive north to south (and back)? Are highway rest stops still open?

(The car has lived in the garage for two months, except for rare trips to the store, and one dental emergency, so I'm out of the loop about highways).

Why would they close highway rest stops? Truckers still need them.

 

[USGrant1962]

Why would they close highway rest stops? Truckers still need them.

PA did on the turnpike and got huge blowback from the trucking industry. They reopened them right away after that though with little/no services I believe.