Wednesday, December 9, 2015

RV'ing Domicile and Obamacare


Here we go
changing our domicile again

We began our full time RV lifestyle this past February leaving Georgia and heading straight to Texas to begin our first workamping job. One of the first things we had to deal with was changing our legal residence to Texas. That included changing our address to the Escapee's address in Livingston, new drivers license (which created all kinds of problems because the DMV doesn't understand RV'ing full time) and sense I still had my original SS card which states in tiny print across the bottom Not to be used for identification, I had to apply for a new card and wait two weeks to get it., state inspections for our truck and 5th wheel (I guess the state really needed that extra $7.00). Which wasn't to bad, the bad part was having to hitch up and take our rig to be weighted and driving it through town to the inspection station. Next came registering our F-250 and 5th. Wheel so we could get new license plates and don't forget switching vehicle insurance. Which of course all cost time and money. But Wait, There's more.

Obamacare, AKA  Affordable Health Care. We got lucky coming out the gate, we signed up with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and because we weren't going anywhere for eight months we signed up for an HMO. Which meant going to a local Dr. and not straying outside our network area. The plus side was all our maintenance prescriptions were 100% covered.
And now the rest of the story
We're currently in Florida visiting family and taking some time off before heading to North Carolina for our next gig. I went to get my prescription filled the other day and found out in addition to seeing a doctor you must be in network to fill a prescription. My fault, I guess I didn't read the really fine print. So my $10.00 meds just cost me $64.00 although BCBS will reimburse me 50% after filling out some forms and waiting who knows how long to get my money back.

We found out no insurance company in Texas is writing any policy for 2016 with coverage outside of Texas. Remember I said we are going to N. Carolina in March. So the search has begun. I think we have found something that will work for us. The upside is its an EPO so we can get meds and see a doctor in network in N. Carolina. The downside is its Florida Blue which means we are moving our legal residence back to Florida. So the hassle begins again, Oh and the price is double what we were paying. But at least we can travel again.

Here's hoping we can locate all the documents we need to complete this quickly and easily.


UPDATE                                                                                      Well, a couple of weeks have past since I wrote the above words.  I can now say we are FLORIDIANS again. Drivers license have been obtained, titles transferred, plates for the truck and 5th. wheel just need to be put on the vehicles. And since we were former Florida residents we saved $225.00.  Even Maggie got all her shots updated and rabies shot also. 

We're still trying to figure out our health insurance, The above EPO policy we found out will not work for us in North Carolina so we went with a BCBS policy here in Florida until we can change our address once we get to N. Carolina. We're keeping our fingers crossed. 
Until next time.

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.

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