Fly to Manila each month to get your SS Check? Plus bonus question.

Basic Rules for Receiving TRICARE and Medicare Benefits Together
Here is a summary of the basic rules when receiving TRICARE and Medicare benefits at the same time:

Medicare: Medicare and Other Programs

This website page ALSO has a snippet of information on the penalties AND possible waiting periods IF you have NOT enrolled in MediCare, or, you if have cancelled MediCare and now want to re-enroll.

Yes. There ARE penalties and waiting periods for most people (both Vets and non-Vets) who have declined MediCare, did not sign up for MediCare when they were supposed to (in whatever "window" that was open at that time for you), etc., and NOW they want to get back on MediCare.

Due to all the penalties and possible wait times BEFORE MediCare can kick back in, I will NOT be modifying or cancelling any of my current health care coverage policies.

I have TriCare as a military retiree, have Medicare Part B, and am enrolled in the VA system as a 100% P&T Vet. With all this in place and currently active, I do NOT have to file additional IRS tax papers/forms that revolve around health care as I have a letter from the VA I get every year that says I have the minimum health care requirements.

So far, in the States, I have been able to avoid expensive financial health care "bullets". The policies I have will remain in place no matter where I am in the world, even though I still have to pay a MediCare premium for a policy I cannot use outside the US and it's territories.

Guam (US territory) is the closest to the Philippines if I need some sort of expensive health care thing done to me where all my current coverages will work. Hawaii (US State) is another.

I'd rather pay a MediCare monthly premium over time -- even if I do live for 3-5 years in a place where I cannot use it -- than cancel it to save a buck or two right now, but have hefty premiums to pay later, and then have to wait for the policy to reinstate itself again (which can take months -- months I may not have time for). Cancelling MediCare would be a penny wise move for the immediate -- but could become a potentially risky and very pound foolish thing to do in the end.

Plus, I would lose options for immediate care right when I might need it the most.

So I'll keep what I have right now and then when I come to the Philippines, I'll also pick up that PhilHealth thing that Dave D wrote about in another thread.

If I had tons and tons of money laying around in the bank, I'd do things differently. But since I'm a 99%er, I'd like to at least leave my Son with a minimal amount of worry during my last days on Earth (should I have a slow life ending and/or he has to step in to make decisions/pay bills if I am suddenly unable to do so).

Plus, keeping what I have now maintains IMMEDIATE options of cards to play IF I'm forced to play an immediate scenario not of my choosing.

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

I agree with your approach. I like options, and the option of keeping healthcare now is something that I can afford, it only equals the cost of about 3 bottles of Tanduay Rhum 750 ml. which I would be happy to give up for immediate (well if I go to Guam or back to US) healthcare benefits.

I did recently sign up for PhilHealth, at 69 years old. No health check. I am not as concerned about the economic healthcare benefits as I am about getting immediate hospital admittance which I have been told that PhilHealth does guarantee in most cases (correct me if I am wrong). I can not imagine arguing with some hospital admittance person about getting admitted to the hospital if just having a PhilHealth card would avoid the argument. The cost was 600 P for the first three months, no initiation costs. (less than $4.50 a month USD). What ever medicare cost benefit that gives me, it is a rather economically efficient plan.

Thanks for the information nwlivewire

nwlivewire

 

Thanks for the clarification. I am not retired but have many friends and acquaintances who are I am only VA Disabled and was trying to tell what I knew to be true. Not aware of SSDI though. Good info. Thanks!

 

Dear DaveD:

The VA and the Social Security Agency (SSA) -- each have their own individual qualifying standards, laws and rules of what is "disabled" and what levels or degrees of disability a person has to "rate" before a disability ruling is issued.

I applied for SSDI before the SSDI section of SSA had a "POMS" or a Federal law mandating the expedtion of SSDI claims for Wounded Warriors. So I got to go through the "JOYS" of going through the SSDI claims process as if I had been a non-combat, civilian injury claimant. Took three years and a lawyer, but I was approved for SSDI.

Believe it or not, I rec'd my affirmative SSDI ruling while I was gong through the military medical board proceedings for injuries sustained while on orders in Iraq. I discovered the Army (military) has their own rules on disability, the VA has their own rules on disability, and the SSA has their own rules on disability. All are different.

In my case, I qualified for affirmative rulings for all three disability ratings/rulings. I did my twenty for "God and country", got injured and was then parted out of the service on PDRL (permanent disability retirement list). The VA looked at all my service-connected "boo-boos" and "totaled me out", too. But SSA was the first Federal agency to grant me a disability ruling -- before the Army and the VA rulings.

I needed a lawyer for the Army and I needed to hire a lawyer for SSA (SSDI). The VA basically reviewed all the overwhelming evidence I had to substantiate my claims with them, so I was awarded 100% P&T right off the bat. The VA was the only agency to get their determinations even close to being correct -- and IAW with their own laws and rules -- and do so without my having to pay for a lawyer. Can't say that about the Army or SSA, though. I had to get a civilian lawyers to argue my case before both the Army and the SSA/SSDI admin law "judge" (ALJ) in order to get a just and fair outcome, and get the just and fair outcome due to me from both the Army and the SSA.

Such a deal! During that time period, I read so many POMS, military regulations, and CFRs, that I could have quoted to each of them chapter and verse of their own laws. But I still had to "lawyer up" and fight for my disability rulings.

I have often wondered since those dark days as to why the military took such a tack as to try to save a buck off the backs of their broken. Guess those mucky-muck Officers up at the Pentagon who make the rules and then try to break them all, never spend much time in the field or in harm's way during their careers. Maybe they think all us Enlisted are just "push-overs" and "stupid", or think if they delay and deny often enough, we'll all just give up and "go away" without receiving our just and fair due.

Those seven years of illness and injury and fighting for what is right are behind me now. I lived, got stronger (in spirit anyway), and am now moving on. I lost alot in this process -- I was injured, my husband died in an unexpected car accident, I had to get medically repaired, I had painful recovery to do (physically and emotionally), I had to hire two lawyers, and I was forced to financially fight "the system"(which cost me all the money I made when I sold my house).

So I do get a bit cynical in my attitude inside myself whenever someone comes up to me and says, "Thank-you for your service." The old thank-you and 50 cents gets you a cup of coffee, right?

Methinks they have no idea of what the reality can be like for many of us.

But I do thank the military for teaching me to never give up the fight, to push on, and to adapt and overcome. I could have become just another nameless notch on the military suicide statistic board, but I didn't elect that option (though I did spend many a night on that "Bald Mountain" mulling it over).

Having gone through this rough patch and making it through to the last word of that chapter is a great feeling! And I'm turning to a new, blank page and am beginning to write another chapter.

Life does have meaning and I intend to make the most of it.

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

I concur with most of the others. We maintained our BOA acct here in the states for my husband's SS direct deposit and we would deposit a check each month into our BPI based acct from his US acct fee-free (takes about 30 days to clear, so plan accordingly). We could use the BOA debit card to withdraw the funds at BPI (for a fee) for urgent needs, and we didn't continue with his Medicare as it can't be used in the PI, so that saved add'l money each month.

 

I will maintain my US bank account with direct deposit of my SS check and use transfers via Xoom. I may get a Philippines bank account to keep some amount of pesos locally in case the transfer system goes bonkers. (President Trump may at some point get a wild hair (no pun) and use an executive order to shut down international transfers until "we figure out what the hell is going on!")

In reading several books on moving here from the US, a good point (maybe paranoid, maybe not) is that if you have your SS, pensions, etc. sent directly to a Philippine bank, then anyone who works there may be able to see your balance. Not that SS is a great deal of money, but it is quite rich by Philippine standards. If you are seen as "rich," your home may be targeted for burglary by the bank employee, or a helpful cousin.

 

Sorry but yes! I think it is a paranoid thought. I have my Pensions paid into a PI Bank and have done for many many Years. Some will yell, saying corruption & many other things about this but I ask one (1) question, is there Anyone here on this Board, that has been Fiddled, Funds Missing or had problems because of a bank account?

 

I understand that. I don't expect at all that the funds would be pilfered from the bank. That would be easily traced. The question is: Has anyone had their home burglarized? Could the reason that your home was targeted be that someone who works at the bank knows your financial status and told her brother, who told his pals? I am just not sure (as was the author of the book on emigrating to the Philippines) that Philippine banks have all the privacy infrastructure in place to keep your balance private.

 

Yes, but that is only because you have opened such a wide area of possibilities. In my case it was a bank in Cebu that had a crooked manager. I would withdraw 10K via the ATM and 20K would somehow disappear. This went on for some time but because banks do not give bank statements for ATM accounts, I could not (at that time) prove that my funds were dwindling faster than I was taking them out. I must have been one of many as there came a day when the bank suddenly replaced that manager and the problems stopped happening. The bank never admitted anything had happened but it stopped happening with the new manager. Since then I have learned you can go inside and request an account statement that shows all activity on your ATM account, it often costs up to 200 pesos for that service though.

Bottom line: Bank managers can be crooked. Be aware but do not be paranoid. It can happen anywhere.

 

Probably written by someone who has never been here (As many writers elsewhere) I have never had any problems at all. You don't need leaked information to have people KNOW! A Foreigner lives in a particular house, The Whole Barangay know who you are, where you live and probably know more about your daily Routine than you have forgotten. Believe me, this is 2016 not the Dark ages.
NYC, I think personally, you are reading the wrong material here.
JMHO But......................