We are just starting to go full time so we are in the process of changing our residence from Colorado to South Dakota. Then to our horror our insurance provider (Humana) tells us that it will cost another $150 per month (that's right) to insure us because we have a South Dakota address. Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas? Thanks! Doug
Luvglass said
10:37 AM Jul 25, 2009
It's probably best to look at all costs, including vehicle, trailer and health insurance costs before changing residence states. They really do vary by state.
After a great deal of investigation we decided that using my daughters address in Wisconsin was far cheaper for us due to the very high health insurance quotes Jo got back with Texas and North Dakota residency.
Also we are lucky with the vehicles. Registration for both the truck and trailer are only $170 total.
NewRoamers said
10:50 AM Jul 25, 2009
Thanks Fred for the quick response. I did notice that Wisconsin and Maryland for example had lower rates. And that two mail fwd states, South Dakota and Oregon had much higher. Why is that? Looks like I need to do more research. Doug
Luvglass said
03:39 PM Jul 25, 2009
Doug,
FWIW, You don't need to have all your services in the same state. We use the Wisconsin address for licenses, voting and insurance (all legal things), but use the Escapees address in Texas for mail forwarding of magazines and credit cards.
Darrell and Judy said
06:58 PM Jul 25, 2009
You can use ehealthinsurance.com and put in different zip codes to check out the rates in different states. There are huge variances in premiums for state to state.
Racerguy said
10:04 PM Jul 25, 2009
We are also from Colorado and after looking at several options, forus, it isn't really worth the trouble to change residency.
-- Edited by Racerguy on Saturday 25th of July 2009 10:18:11 PM
phyllen said
08:43 AM Jul 26, 2009
We are really in a pickle. We retire Sept 30. We are selling house to daughter who has to sell her condo to get the new mortgage. In NJ if you sell a house and move out of state within 6 months of selling, you pay a 3% EXIT tax of the selling price on your next years states taxes. So we were planning on keeping NJ residency until AFTER filing 2009 taxes (being optimistic that house will be settled by then).
I am old enough for Medicare. Len is only 60. He can keep his insurance he now has with state of NJ for life provided he pays cost - close to $600 a month! Instead we would prefer a high deductible HSA for him. NJ does not allow this Health Savings Accts. So I went on einsurance.com and I even talked to them last week. Seems that every plan here in NJ requires medical care (except emergency) be done in NJ.
As we hope to change to Texas residency once house is sold, perhaps only solution in the meantime is to take a NJ plan realizing that he can not see a doctor out of state and will only use it in an extreme emergency. ALso, no prescription coverage. He takes one med for high BP. Need to check to see if this is one that WalMart has on its list for $4.00 month.
By the time I can done researcing all this - I will need medication! LOL!
Phyllis
NewRoamers said
09:38 AM Jul 26, 2009
Darrell & Judy, I tried this yesterday and I totally confused a salesman from USA-Health. We live in Colorado, I entered 3 different state zip codes, plus I still have a Wisconsin cell # from 3yrs ago. His message to me was please call on Monday and let's talk. Thanks! Doug
NewRoamers said
09:52 AM Jul 26, 2009
Phyllis, Good Luck! I agree, everytime I talk with Drs, Insurance or medical billing people or even hear anything abouth healthcare I need medication as well. Again good luck with everything including the exit tax and please turn the lights out when you leave.
Doug
PS. Why doesn't Good Sams offer health insurance!Anyone up for a RV March/Rally on Washington D.C. next Spring 2010.... to promote our generations issues?
NewRoamers said
09:56 AM Jul 26, 2009
Racerguy, We don't own a home in Colorado or have any relatives here who's address we could use. Do you know of any residence/mail fwd service companies in Colorado?
Thanks! Doug
Racerguy said
12:45 PM Jul 26, 2009
We will be using the UPS store who merged with Mail Boxes ETC.You will use their address as your home address.You rent the p.o.box monthly and pay so much per forwarding fee to other stores. Go to upsstore.com.Sorry don't know how to do a link.
bjoyce said
06:26 PM Jul 26, 2009
Racerguy wrote:
We will be using the UPS store who merged with Mail Boxes ETC.You will use their address as your home address.You rent the p.o.box monthly and pay so much per forwarding fee to other stores. Go to upsstore.com.Sorry don't know how to do a link.
I hope they have learned to do it right now. Before full-timing (2002) we used the UPS Store for mail forwarding and had two problems. Problem one is they did not always get it sent out the same day since the person doing the work would get interupted and finish the next day. Problem two was their system was more like the Post Office, where they really intended forwarding to go to a stable address, so changing the address each time was error prone with them. Only once did they send the mail to the previous address, luckily it was only about 70 miles. But that one time spooked us and we found a reliable relative to do our mail forwarding, otherwise we would have used Escapees.
Racerguy said
08:03 PM Jul 26, 2009
Thanks for the heads up on that Bill,Looks like I need to ask more questions at the local store.
NewRoamers said
09:37 AM Jul 27, 2009
Bill, We also had a problem a few years ago with the UPS store (only once). They sent our mail to a store we had been at the previous week. I guess communication between store staff can be a problem if you don't stay in one place. Does anyone know if you can use the UPS store as a Residence address for that state?
Thanks! Doug
tumwatergal said
10:41 PM Sep 16, 2009
Health insurance! Can't live with it, and you can't live without it. It is a nightmare. We are residents of WA state and are fulltimers. We have Blue Shield and have had it since coming here in 1994. Had Blue Cross down in CA prior to moving. Now DH has pre-existing conditions if we look into other coverage and he does not qualify. He is only 62, so no Medicare yet. Currently we pay $936.00 per month for the both of us and that is with a $5,000 deductible. We have private/individual policy since we do not qualify for a group plan. At least with our policy, we can see ER's in other states if the need arises and we will be covered. We will not change residence status since our 2 kids live here in WA, too. Someday, we will have to quit F/T life and settle in senior housing or something and we want that to be in WA. There are only 3 companies at this time (in WA state) that offer individual policies so choices are limited even if we could change. I would advise anyone wanting to change state residency to look into health care options before looking into anything else. Other stuff could be small potatoes next to insurance.
As we hope to change to Texas residency once house is sold, perhaps only solution in the meantime is to take a NJ plan realizing that he can not see a doctor out of state and will only use it in an extreme emergency. ALso, no prescription coverage. He takes one med for high BP. Need to check to see if this is one that WalMart has on its list for $4.00 month.
By the time I can done researcing all this - I will need medication! LOL!
Phyllis
Taking medicine for high blood pressure qualifies as a pre-existing condition. Your husband may not be able to get new health insurance in Texas. Make sure you know that he can get Texas health insurance before you switch residency.
mooline said
05:43 AM Sep 12, 2010
NewRoamers wrote:
PS. Why doesn't Good Sams offer health insurance!Anyone up for a RV March/Rally on Washington D.C. next Spring 2010.... to promote our generations issues?
Notice that few associations (AARP being an exception) offer health insurance. Regulations vary state to state making it difficult to offer products that appeal to a large enough audience of people from different locations.
Under health reform, this situation would be eased. But it is being challenged by many states' attorneys general, who are arguing that it infringes on states' rights. So we watch and we wait.
You mention "our generations" issues and that's an interesting angle. Although RV'ers come in all age ranges, there is a large contingent that are "AARP age" (50+). Perhaps our best bet is to collectively lobby AARP to do more for RV'ers than just offer rig insurance. It is a huge organization with enormous political clout and very deep resources. I do wonder why it has seemingly only a passing interest in the RV community.
Remi said
05:14 PM Sep 12, 2010
For a quick, but well balanced overview, visit ehalthinsurance.com I have worked with them as my company is partnered there and helped them resolve some systems issues over the years. For a good idea in one location on insurance costs and options nationwide, they are your best bet.
rvingft said
07:32 AM Feb 17, 2012
We have been using UPS stores for years as our permanent address. Each location varies as they are independently owned franchises. Most are owner-operated with a few part time employees that change often. We pay an annual fee plus shipping each time we have our mail sent to us.
Our current UPS store has 1 gal who we can count on weekly to text us with VIP mail pieces and we decide how important it is and where to have her send it.
Of course, we have eliminated or converted all our paper magazines and will only subscribe/renew if there is an online-ONLY version. Most of our paper mail can wait a week or 2 to catch up with us.
The other benefit to a UPS store is that you can order products online (Yea, Amazon Prime!) and the UPS store employee will sign for it. A Post office box does not offer the same benefits.
We have a key to access the store front door and our box 24/7 so we can always check our mail personally when we are in town. The retail part of the store is secured with a fence, so after hours access is only to the mail boxes area. We have only used this feature a couple of times, but it was convenient when we needed it.
Racerguy said
02:24 PM Feb 17, 2012
Just to update we used the UPS store for the 17 months we were on the road and they were very efficient although we felt their pricing was a little suspect.At the end we had our daughter pick up the mail and send it to us and the actual mailing cost was almost half what the store charged us.
Thanks!
Doug
Doug
-- Edited by Racerguy on Saturday 25th of July 2009 10:18:11 PM
I tried this yesterday and I totally confused a salesman from USA-Health. We live in Colorado, I entered 3 different state zip codes, plus I still have a Wisconsin cell # from 3yrs ago. His message to me was please call on Monday and let's talk.
Thanks!
Doug
Good Luck!
I agree, everytime I talk with Drs, Insurance or medical billing people or even hear anything abouth healthcare I need medication as well.
Again good luck with everything including the exit tax and please turn the lights out when you leave.
Doug
PS. Why doesn't Good Sams offer health insurance!Anyone up for a RV March/Rally on Washington D.C. next Spring 2010.... to promote our generations issues?
We don't own a home in Colorado or have any relatives here who's address we could use. Do you know of any residence/mail fwd service companies in Colorado?
Thanks!
Doug
I hope they have learned to do it right now. Before full-timing (2002) we used the UPS Store for mail forwarding and had two problems. Problem one is they did not always get it sent out the same day since the person doing the work would get interupted and finish the next day. Problem two was their system was more like the Post Office, where they really intended forwarding to go to a stable address, so changing the address each time was error prone with them. Only once did they send the mail to the previous address, luckily it was only about 70 miles. But that one time spooked us and we found a reliable relative to do our mail forwarding, otherwise we would have used Escapees.
We also had a problem a few years ago with the UPS store (only once). They sent our mail to a store we had been at the previous week. I guess communication between store staff can be a problem if you don't stay in one place.
Does anyone know if you can use the UPS store as a Residence address for that state?
Thanks!
Doug
Margie M.
blog: www.bruceandmargiesfulltimejourney.blogspot.com
www.myhealthylivingthruweightcontrol.blogspot.com
We have been using UPS stores for years as our permanent address. Each location varies as they are independently owned franchises. Most are owner-operated with a few part time employees that change often. We pay an annual fee plus shipping each time we have our mail sent to us.
Our current UPS store has 1 gal who we can count on weekly to text us with VIP mail pieces and we decide how important it is and where to have her send it.
Of course, we have eliminated or converted all our paper magazines and will only subscribe/renew if there is an online-ONLY version. Most of our paper mail can wait a week or 2 to catch up with us.
The other benefit to a UPS store is that you can order products online (Yea, Amazon Prime!) and the UPS store employee will sign for it. A Post office box does not offer the same benefits.
We have a key to access the store front door and our box 24/7 so we can always check our mail personally when we are in town. The retail part of the store is secured with a fence, so after hours access is only to the mail boxes area. We have only used this feature a couple of times, but it was convenient when we needed it.