Perpetual tourists and earning a living on the road

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As suggested by Taomist, I thought I would share my story here…

Some background:

My wife and I are Americans in our mid-late 30s. Shortly after 9/11, the company I worked for in Nevada (USA) went out of business. I lost my health insurance and (because the company folded), there was no COBRA option. I have a pre-existing genetic medical condition that resulted in being declined by every insurer in the state. This condition does not affect me in day-to-day life and I have spent less than $10K my entire life in dealing with it.

About the time my job ended, our small software company started doing quite well - earning more than I did with my old job. We tried to get insurance based on this company but because the rate is based on the group, we were quoted $5,400/mo for coverage with a $10,000 deductible.

Having no other real option for insurance, and a portable business, my wife quit her laboratory job, we sold everything and left the USA. We were than easily able to get very good insurance ($1500 deductible) for $200/mo… not valid in the USA, but everywhere else was ok.

Now, it is not really possible to simply move to another country on a whim… one needs to get proper residency permits/visas… unless the stay is limited to (typically) 90 days or less. So we became nomadic (thus the user-name).

We have legal residency right now, but there have been years when we’ve had to move countries every 90 days to stay legal… eg 90 days in Turkey, 90 days in Germany, etc. That gets expensive, and prevents us from really owning anything that we can’t carry. Plus, we are not allowed to work, so our only income is from the software business, accessing funds via an ATM card.

We’ve had proper, legal residency in the Republic of Georgia, UAE and Czech Republic. But have “lived” in dozens of countries. For several years now, we have owned an apartment in Europe where we can keep things… but we can’t stay there full time.

At one point we had our belongings scattered in apartments, friends houses, storage units and hotel rooms in 7 countries (USA, Czech Republic, Germany, UAE, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo).

I am not sure where I am going with this…

Taomist said *You need to write a book!

Or at least an ongoing story in Cafe Society or something. Please consider it!*

My wife is working on the book and this starts maybe a series of posts on the saga.

Hopefully someday we’ll be able to live in our own country again.

2

Lots of people in the US don’t have or can’t get insurance and have to pay for their healthcare as they go, and they don’t think about leaving the country. Was that the only reason you left and went on the run, so to speak?

3

Wow! Have you been paying into the US system such that you will be covered under Medicare when the time comes?

There really is a book in your story.

4

The insurance was a huge factor… coupled with the fact that the business could be run from anywhere. I don’t mind paying a bit for a doctor visit (in fact we have never filed a claim on our UK-issued health insurance), but when a friend broke his arm (no insurance) and was charged $17,000 to have it set, it felt like that sort of risk was not worth staying in the US.

I recently had surgery in Europe and paid $450 for a procedure that would have cost $10K+ in the US. All cash, no ID, forms or anything.

5

We have paid US taxes every year since we left in 2002. I am working on moving my company out since we have no plans to ever return full time to America. It is only in the last three years or so that it has mattered a lot - since the laws on expat wages and excluded income changed about then.

6

It’s interesting to me that you have UK insurance. So, they’ll give it to anyone with, say, a PO Box?

7

I assume you are U.S. citizens. Do you plan to retain your U.S. citizenship?

8

Would you change your mind (about not living in the US) if health care reform means that health insurance in the US is no longer unaffordable?

(BTW, IMHO, your situation is an example of why we do need to do something to change the current health care system in America.)

9

Note that it is private insurance and not anything related to the NHS of the UK. You need legal residency somewhere to get it in the first place, but it is pretty easy to maintain as long as you have a legit foreign physical address, which we do.

Yes, we are US citizens. We tried to get New Zealand residency (and citizenship) but were told we would need jobs (never mind that we earn several times the average NZ wage and would have employed a New Zealander). Most governments are not set up to handle immigration for people that only want to spend money and not take a job on the local economy.

Yes, I think we would. I still think we’d maintain a home outside the US forever, but insurance and a safety net is important to me - I am not sure why I can get reasonable private insurance in every other country except the US. I don’t think government-only answer is always perfect, but it is better than what we have.

We have sought medical care in: Georgia, UAE, Cambodia, Thailand, Tunisia, Yemen, Australia and the Czech Republic. Overall the best experience and quality of care was a tie between Czech Republic and Yemen.

10

Moved Cafe Society --> MPSIMS.

11

How come you can’t get US insurance with a specific exclusion for your condition?

12

Very good question. I don’t know. I have asked this question of the dozen or so companies that declined me and was told my condition is a auto-decline with no recourse, and in the same category as AIDS and diabetes.

My condition affects about 1 in 3000 people and my case is very mild… if you met me you would not know I have it.

13

I dont normally ask personal questions, but since you made it the main focus of your post, (and of your entire lifestyle), may I ask what your medical problem is?
If you have spent less than $10 000 treating it for a couple of decades, why does it worry you so much? That’s barely $50 a month.

And yes, please do write a book!
If you are able to manage a good lifestyle and support youself while travelling so easily among so many vastly different cultures, then you’ve got a lot of skills I would love to hear about.

14

Immigrate to Canada. Sounds like you’d do well on the application, it would take some time, but in 9mnths to a year your problems would be over. Your health coverage would cease to be a controlling factor for your life, you’d be free. Welcome to Canada, eh?

15

I’m not the OP but he said in the first post that because of the preexisting condition that, “We tried to get insurance based on this company but because the rate is based on the group, we were quoted $5,400/mo for coverage with a $10,000 deductible.” So the problem is that the preexisting condition makes health insurance in the US unaffordable.

16

Exactly. I am not too concerned about my condition (though there is always a chance something serious could result from it).

The real concern is that I can’t get insurance at all in the US for anything close to affordable (how many couples here can afford $5400/mo?). So if I fall and break my arm… totally unrelated to my condition, I’ll have to pay out of pocket. Ok, I can come up with $17,000 if I had to. What about cancer? I can’t come up with a million.

17

We did look into that (2007??) but because my degree is not in Computer Science or Business (it’s in Int’l Relations), getting immigration to Canada to work was not possible unless I was a farmer, artist or in the medical field.

18

Any chance you could learn to speak french? Because that would up your score, might be enough.

You could come on a guest worker visa, find a job, make some friends, maybe learn French!

19

What do you mean by this? Just curious since I’m a tax lawyer.

Also, can you provide some more info about the health insurance you bought? It only covers people while they are not in the US? Is it like coverage for travelers and you are permanently “traveling”?

20

My wife is studying French (she already speaks a smattering of many others), but only to make living/travelling in Africa easier. I speak basic Russian and a bit less of Arabic… and am not very good with languages.

I wish immigration were easier for people like us - we have bank reserves of several hundred thousand USD, have a steady income and do not want to work on the local economy… but could hire a local in many places, but Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore all have no system in place for residency or citizenship to make it work.

The UAE and (formerly) the Czech Republic were easy for residency, but not citizenship.