As an Idaho resident, I signed up for Affordable Care health insurance through the Idaho exchange. I chose a plan with a $500 deductible for in-network visits and $5000 deductible for out-of-network care. I assumed that while traveling, I would have to bite the bullet and use out-of-network. Yikes! What about emergency care, I worried?

Yesterday I spent a few hours reading my insurance policy. I found some great surprises. First, for emergency care, the in-network deductible applies wherever I am in the US (not overseas). If something happens down here, I am covered under the lower deductible.

I called my insurance provider (Bridgespan ID/WA/OR) to verify this. Yep. Then I said, I have a stupid question. Can I get regular care down here in FL? Ha-ha. You know, routine care, blood tests, etc? Again, the answer was Yes. How does that work, I asked?. The rep told me to login to the website and click Look for a Doctor.  She directed me to a pulldown menu where I choose a network. This is all familiar right? All insurance websites have this. However, this time, the pull-down menu included National Network. I put in my Florida address and BINGO. In-network doctors. I put in some random cities across my route home. Bingo. Network doctors. There is absolutely no reason to use out-of-network and face the big $5000 deductible. There is also no need to fly back to ID in December for my blood work (flights $400)

I was so surprised because I did all of my initial health insurance research at RVer websites. As a whole, they suggest that most states don’t have Affordable Care that provides good coverage while on the road. Some say they have researched the matter and found that only FL has good mobile coverage (my interpretation). So,  I got great coverage while in ID and set off down the road with a bit of apprehension. I am healthy overall but I do take a few meds. I  need blood work every 6 months and the annual gal stuff. I figured I would do all this in ID. Not true.

Are you thinking about Affordable Care? Do you need better “on-the-go” coverage for an existing plan? You can change policies in the upcoming open enrollment. Be sure to ask:

• Do you have a national network?
• Is emergency care in other states under the standard deductible?

One important consideration: to keep this great coverage I need to remain a resident of ID. They have an income tax, but I don’t have much in the way of taxes anymore. I need to spend at least 6 months there, which is the plan, anyway. This is a happy day as I am about to set off again into the woods for my volunteer work and face potential trips and falls due to my clumsiness (workers comp does not cover volunteers).

Furthermore, I can use my RV mail-forwarding service, which gives me a FL address, and remain a resident in ID as long as I meet their residency requirements. Again, based on RVer posts, I thought that I had to become a resident of FL to use the FL-based RV mail-forwarding. Ditto for the TX-based and SD-based mail-forwarding services. I spent a great deal of time getting Idaho residency (part time job, transferring everything legal like auto insurance, driver’s license, etc). And I know for sure I will be there every year, which is not true of any other state.

Be sure to think all this through and maybe make big decisions about residency after living on the road for a while. Everything becomes easier to understand in time. Also be careful what you read. Someone blogs something, then someone else blogs something and misinformation spreads rapidly. Be informed, take your time, ask tons of questions.