Routine annual medical exam question for you full-timers out there

[Bullitt]

Okay all you full-timers out there. If there’s a thread on this one already, I haven’t been able to find it.

OUR SITUATION
1. Will be leaving Southern California to go full-time, hopefully, in about two years after my wife retires and we sell the S&B. Our new state of residency will be South Dakota.
2. We have been seeing the same family physician, dentist, ophthalmologist, and orthopedic doctors for over 25 years so they know our history and hold all of our records.
3. I have Anthem Blue Cross (Prudent Buyer) medical/dental and VSP vision insurance through my retirement, which is good throughout the US.

OUR SHORT-TERM PROPOSAL
There is not much to tie us down to So Cal after we hit the road. So for now, we have been thinking about returning on an annual basis for our medical checkups while spending time in the southwest during the winter months. However, we will want to hang out in Florida someday during the winter also.

One gets used to their doctor(s) so much, that I find it hard to imagine seeing anyone else right now, especially if you’re on a first name basis with some of them. In addition, I’m 59 and my spouse is 57, so Medicare is not involved at this time.

MY QUESTION
How do you handle your ROUTINE annual medical exams while full-timing it on the road?
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[JFXG]

If your physicians and specialists are members of or affiliated with certain medical groups they may offer online access to all your medical records, reports, notes , and test results. If you have this access, you have your entire history with you. You can select a doctor anywhere for your annual visit and tests, and know that all questions can be clarified.

[sdlowe11]

Your question is a good one, and I hope more folks will chime in. My wife and I are from California, and we had Kaiser while we were working. We sold our house when we went full-time over 2 years ago, and we could not keep Kaiser. We moved to a Blue Cross "Core" plan, which is a high-deductible plan that covers us throughout the U.S.

We are having a lot of problems finding doctors that will do our routine physicals and blood work. Even in Florida, where there are so many retirees, we were unable to find a doctor who would take us. When we told them we were from out of state (we are now South Dakota residents), they said "sorry". My wife ended up going to an Urgent Care center to get her blood work done! I haven't had a physical or blood work in over 2 years. It's a sad situation. Now I know why people lie about their address and use their kid's address in California so they can keep Kaiser and fly back every year for their physical.

Your idea of planning to go back to California for your routine checkups is a good one, and I think you should plan on doing it. I don't really care about seeing a different doctor every year, and if anyone out there has suggestions about how to get a doctor to see me I would be happy to hear it. My sister-in-law is a nurse, and she suggested I go to Urgent Care and tell them I'm having dizzy spells to get them to do my blood work. Is that what things have come to?

I'm glad to hear you have a good rapport with your doctor, and I hope you can continue to see him/her when you begin full timing. Knowing what I know now, I would be happy to fly back to California every year to get a physical if I could - but it's too late. I think my biggest disappointment while full timing has been this situation with routine checkups.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy full timing as much as we do!

~Steve

[Bigd9]

Although we are not full timers, I do have a similar problem as you express. I work away from home for months at a time and I have had illnesses while in another state. Recently when I was in Vermont for 5 months, I experienced bright flashes of light in my right eye. At first I thought it was a red light camera flash going off, but that just isn't the case in Vermont. I called my Ophthalmologist and asked what I should do. They told me to immediately see a local specialist and gave me a referral. That experience worked out well for me as the Ophthalmologist I saw was competent, understanding and immediately worked me into her busy scheduled. She also forwarded her exam results to my doctor here in Kentucky.

Changing doctors occasionally for problems as you travel could actually be a good thing. Fresh eyes can see problems maybe your usual doctor missed. Take care and enjoy your travels.

[Jim2]

My first 5 yrs of retirement and fulltiming, I was covered by a nationwide Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. How I handled my routine exams? was simply to find a local doc where ever it was that I stopped for an extended stay, usually during a winter time stay when I moved less frequently. I carried copies of my basic medical history with me and shared it when necessary. Now that I'm on medicare its no different, just someone different paying the bills.
As long as you're covered by some kind of nationwide plan I don't see what the issue is. Having the same doctor for 25 yrs is unusual and not typical for most these days. Even when I was working and living in the same home for years, it was rare to see the same doc more than twice. Doctors seem to move around as much as we do these days. I don't look at getting a routine medical checkup any different than getting my engine oil changed, my teeth cleaned or my hair cut, there are 1,000's of qualified folks to perform those services all over the country and since I've chosen a mobile lifestyle, I just use who ever's available when and where the service is needed.


" MY QUESTION
How do you handle your ROUTINE annual medical exams while full-timing it on the road? "

[HD4Mark]

We 1/2 time in our MH and use it to "snowbird" to Florida for the winter. When we retired there were 3 choices of health care, all from Blue Cross. We decided to stay on Ecellus, the only HMO still available and the only one that we would have to pay for. The reasoning was you could not get on that plan id not on it and could not go back if you got off of it. Hmmm sounds like they don't want us on it and that is probably not for our benefit.

We found out that where we go in Florida (Monroe County) we only have emergency room care. DW almost had to go there just to get Tamiflu a couple of years ago. Thanks to our Primary Care Phys. back in NY as he just called in a prescription.

So read carefully the fine print before making a decision.

[Superslif]

As long as you're covered by some kind of nationwide plan I don't see what the issue is. Having the same doctor for 25 yrs is unusual and not typical for most these days. Even when I was working and living in the same home for years, it was rare to see the same doc more than twice. Doctors seem to move around as much as we do these days.

I know my plan during my coming retirement covers me in the 5 states surrounding Ohio as it does now with only facilities in the network. For the other states I'm free to find facilities who are in the system or except my plan.

I have had 3 doctors in the last 10 years. The first two moved over-seas to Abu-Dhabi.

[Ramets]

We both have Medicare with a BCBS supplement. We've been fulltiming for over 4yrs. now and have never had a problem finding a Dr. when needed. As far as yearly checkups go since we go back to our old home area in MD. to have our taxes done, that's when we see our Drs. Only once have had to fly back when we wintered in CA & AZ.

[Triker56]

We are having a lot of problems finding doctors that will do our routine physicals and blood work. Even in Florida, where there are so many retirees, we were unable to find a doctor who would take us. When we told them we were from out of state (we are now South Dakota residents), they said "sorry".

While in FL. give the Doctors there, the address of the Campground you are staying at. Or get a UPS address. Or change you residents to FL. if you go there every winter.

DON'T tell them you are from out of state. They will know that from the picture ID they will ask for along with your insurance info. Before they will even see you.

[nothermark]

Off hand it sounds like there should not be a problem doing a couple of weeks or a month back at your old home location for the next few years. Assuming your Docs are roughly your age they will probably retire out of their practices before you stop being able to get back "home". By then you may have decided to be more or less permanent in some new location(s) where you can make new connections based partly on how your plans change over the next 10 years.

[twogypsies]

We've never had problems finding medical help in 16 years of full-timing. At first we had a PPO program with the former employers. Now we're on Medicare with a PPO supplement. We've had multiple surgeries along the way. The last years we seemed to winter in the same area so we established permanent doctors there for our annuals. Our domicile is Texas through the Escapees RV Club although that's not where our doctors are.

If you're changing your domicile to South Dakota be aware that there is only one insurer at this time that offers coverage country-wide. So it's imperative that you consider keeping your present insurance in California if you can work it out until you're on Medicare. Then you won't have problems finding doctors as you travel. You might want to consider Texas or Florida for you domicile rather than South Dakota. Good luck.

[rfhtlh]

we have been full time now for 8 years using south Dakota as our mail service. we lived in Indiana and still go back to Indiana for our annual physicals, dental, and eye care. when we moved to south Dakota, there was not enough ppo providers so our out of network rolled into the in network deductible. we have no problems finding dr as needed when we travel. we reach medicare age this year and the company is changing insurance so will see what happens in 2015.

[Bullitt]

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THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE RESPONSES. While I am quite the layman when it comes to most medical issues, my spouse is not. Heck, I don’t even know how to do CPR (you’ll see how funny that is as you read on).

I wanted to get an idea from full-timers because most people, like me, have high regards for physicians in general because of the profession they are in. When we are sick, ill, or injured, we are totally dependent on them. However, it has been my experience that all physicians are NOT created equal. Like any profession, I guess, there are the good and the bad.

If one would find themselves in the position of having a catastrophic illness, there are many good hospitals across the country (i.e. Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, etc.). But I guess I’m so used to having a good relationship with the same Family Practice physician, dentist, and ophthalmologist, I’m spoiled.

Jim2, the doc and dentist are almost my age and my eye doctor’s son works with him so they’ll all be around for a while.

To answer some of the topics and questions that arose:

I am fortunate enough to have a relatively low deductible Blue Cross PPO, which is good nation-wide, and the insurance that I will keep on the road as we full time. It is through my former employers’ retirement system in California (33 years on the job). They provide a large $1,256 subsidy and I still have to kick in $400 (no Obama Care for me). Yes, $1,655 a month insurance payment!

JFXG: They have recently started an online account website, so I’ll have to check and see what kind of medical records, if any, can be accessed there.

Sdlowe11: I was born in a Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco. My parents had Kaiser, so I naturally went to Kaiser Permanente as an adult (it sucked in the 70’s and 80’s). That was until I met my wife. I don’t know what the Blue Cross “Core” plan is, we have a PPO. But I am surprised that you have had problems finding doctors that will see you for routine stuff.

My wife is a RN. She worked in several Los Angeles trauma center emergency rooms for over 20 years before becoming a nurse educator for one of the largest fire departments in the US a while ago. She also teaches an EMT class at our local college and does part-time work for the State Nursing Board. After being together for over 30 years, you’d think I’d know CPR. I am pretty fast at dialing 911 though.

Fortunately, my wife is well known throughout LA County, so we have no problems obtaining excellent surgeons or specialists nation-wide. We have extensive experience in this area (much longer story than this post).

twogypsies & rfhtlh: Since we’ll be keeping our current California retirement provided PPO, I’m hoping that we won’t have any problems with finding physicians for unexpected “routine” situations and having it covered. Of course there’s always “Urgent Care” or worst case scenario, the E/R (the wait will kill you in a big city).

I guess that I am just spoiled with having good relationships with my routine doctors here. It’s just that after living in California all of my life and seeing the many negative changes over the past 59 years, I’m ready to pack up and leave to see the many sights in the US we have not seen yet. Since we have nothing to keep us here, I’m ready to roll.
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[missourijan]

I will echo what Jim2 said. We have been fulltime for 8 years and have had physicals and blood work every year. We have returned to our physician in Reno if we are in the area but we've also gone to the local clinic in MT and gone to a new Dr in CA. I always take with me copies of the last 2 years of lab work. We've had no issues seeing any physician. We carry a high deductible pay nothing insurance plans and we have paid out of pocket for some physicals. It hasn't been that big of a deal, last year I paid cash to the Dr in CA $225. I called around and found the cheapest lab work and paid cash (in payments). You probably won't have that problem with your ppo plan. Women can find low cost mammograms in October (breast cancer awareness month) Last year I paid $65. There's no excuse for not getting your medical or dental care, I found a dental plan that I pay $69 a year and everything is at least 1/2 off at the dentist. There are discounts available to those that don't have medical insurance or have plans like us. You just have to do some research.