How will Obamacare affect Americans in Foreign countries?

free republic | 03/08/2013 | neidermeyer

[Neidermeyer]

I'm looking for guidance and knowledge here ... I haven't been able to piece much together and I doubt that the administration even has an answer... The bottom line is that I have a farm in a foreign country and I just may move there .. I'm looking for any kind of answer to the Obamacare quandry... How do you comply or is the only answer to renounce citizenship?

Is there any authoritative answer on any government or private insurance website? What have freepers overseas found out about this?

[forgotten man]

Good question. Do you have to be a citizen of that country to buy health insurance in that country? I live in San Diego. The company I work for offers Kaiser and SIMNSA. SIMNSA is a health insurance plan for healthcare in Mexico (we have a lot of employees who are bi-nationals and live across the border).SIMNSA is much cheaper because dead beats don’t get inside the hospital and there are no malpractice lawsuits. There is a new provision for SIMNSA that you must be a Mexican citizen to get that insurance. I heard that the Mexican citizenship requirement is new because of 0bamacare. Is the 0bama regime working to prevent us from getting health care outside the U.S.? There are so many bad surprises in 0bamacare.

P.S. I know the irony about citizenship requirements for health care in Mexico.

[arthurus]

When Obamacare is in full force you won't have much access to actual medical care here in the USA except by going offshore where all the best American doctors still practicing will be. There are already Medical insurance plans geared toward offshore medicine and paying cash is far less onerous iN Belize or Thailand then paying cash in America. The English and even Canadian doctors have blazed the trail and excellent services can be found in India and Thailand. The Caribbean countrìes have been gearing up for American medical tourists by changing their tax laws to be inviting to American doctors. Medicine here must decline in the near term and for us Medicare folks will mostly disappear- is already starting to disappear as doctors are more and moer saying things like, "there is nothing more modern medical science can do for you," when you bump up against the insurance limits placed on the doctors by the government.

As doctors leave or get out of the profession the standards for that MD will decline and nurses will be promoted to do the things doctors normally do. After a time medicine will be like Soviet medicine thirty years ago i.e. a trade like any other trade. The best brains will no longer go into it. It doesn't really need brains anymore with non medical bureaucratic offices deciding on treatments and medicines permissible, and whether they are permissible.

[Buckeye McFrog]

More likely the Mexican government fears their hospitals being overrun by all of California, Arizona and Texas by people seeking treatment post-Obamacare.

[montanajoe]

O’Care wont effect you in a foreign country, you cant get Medicare or other government health care programs (with the exception of Tricare for military retirees) in foreign countries... so you are not getting Obamacare there either. Expats always have been pretty much on their own health care wise...

[SkyDancer]

As a foreign worker here I have acess to over 60 healthcare insurance companies.

[LadyDoc]

I have a private company for my insurance,mainly for catastrophic care or treatment not available here, or if I need medical care visiting the USA. It is a version for expats, missionaries etc. who work overseas. $500 a month with a huge deductable.

When I reapplied, I was told I would be assigned a policy with “maternity care” but I could “opt out” of it. Even opting out, my premiums went up 100 dollars a month. But I don’t know if the increase is Obama care, or because the policy changed company, or because I am now 65...

No, I don’t have Medicare yet: They won’t pay the bills here in the Philippines. We use Phil Health for that.

[LadyDoc]

I should note that to get my care paid for in the Philippines, I have to go to designated doctors.

And I get Phil Health in a family/company policy...don’t know if you can get it as an individual...

[Dysart]

I am not clear on your question. Are you asking about coverage in a foreign land? If here, well, depends on you individual circumstances... your age and health, employment status, financial resources, risk tolerance, etc. I gladly pay cash for medical care which is minimal, maybe two or three visits per year, with a major medical policy. Been this way for years during my self-employment. Find a good Internist attached to highly regarded hospital is what I recommend. When Osamacare care kicks in I will pay a fine and move along. Nothing onerous or complicated about it.

[Neidermeyer]

I’m mostly interested in how the IRS goon squad is going to interpret Obamacare ... I’m in Florida now but have a nice farm in Northern Mindanao (9ha) ... I’ve written to a blue cross insurance rep in Cebu but haven’t heard back yet ... I know major medical is available but I don’t expect the agent to know anything about satisfying the IRS on the Obamacare front (and keeping them satisfied in future years).

Right now between “my” portion and the “employer” portion of the policy I’m paying $22k/year!! for a PPO for a family of 4 ... and that’s with high co-pays.

[Neidermeyer]

When Osamacare care kicks in I will pay a fine and move along. Nothing onerous or complicated about it.
*******************************************
For 2 or 3 years maybe... and even if the “fine in place of” option stays viable for a while longer you can bet your last dollar that you’ll be unable to find a doctor willing to see you on a cash basis ... they’ll make doing so a huge career ending risk for the docs...

[Dysart]

For 2 or 3 years maybe... and even if the “fine in place of” option stays viable for a while longer you can bet your last dollar that you’ll be unable to find a doctor willing to see you on a cash basis ... they’ll make doing so a huge career ending risk for the docs...

Utter nonsense.