How to Keep Health Coverage When Retiring Overseas
Retiring overseas is a dream of many American residents. After spending years working a regular job and only having the occasional chance to travel to a foreign country, they want to experience everything the world has to offer. Unfortunately those people need to consider a number of factors before making a move, including health insurance. Even if you plan on retiring overseas, there are a few ways you may be able to keep your current health insurance.
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Instructions
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Start your planning early. This is easily the best thing you can do because the earlier you start, the better your chances are to keep your health insurance. Check with the Association of Americans Resident Overseas for help from people living in the area in which you want to retire. They may be able to provide you with the information you need to keep your health insurance.
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Continue to maintain a primary residence inside the US. If you can maintain your house in the states, you can usually keep your regular health insurance if you retire overseas or travel for an extended period of time. You’ll still need to have this location as your regular residence, but you might find a renter or one of your children to live there while you’re gone.
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Check with your current health care provider to see if they cover you even if you no longer live in the US. There seems to be a lot of retirees who have private health insurance, but automatically assume that it expires when they move to another location. There are some providers who will continue to cover you no matter where you live.
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Keep your US health insurance in check for several months or years until you decide on a place to live. This step is best for those who plan to travel extensively for a period of time before deciding on a place to live. You can still use your health insurance while traveling and then switch insurance plans once you decide to settle down.
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Consult Medicare if you plan on retiring to one of the US controlled territories like Guam or the Virgin Islands. While Medicare won’t cover most retirees living overseas, the program does still cover those who reside in a US territory.
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Tips & Warnings
Some health insurance providers will allow you to keep your current health insurance even when you live in a foreign country, provided that you pay an additional fee. This might be a large one time payment or smaller payments spread out among your monthly premiums.
Don’t try to cheat your insurance company by lying about your location. If you live in Guatemala and list Florida on your information sheet, at some point they’ll probably discover the truth. They may force you to pay a fee for lying about your information or they may cease coverage and require you to pay back any money they spent for coverage or care.
