Why Can’t I Retiree Out of State with Employer Coverage?
Hi. My wife and I currently live in Southern California. We have Kaiser Permanente health insurance free for life because my wife has been a nurse there for 45 years. I have been a nurse there for 16 years. We would like to retire in New Mexico.
However, Kaiser Permanente tells us there is no Kaiser coverage in NM, and that we would lose our coverage after 90 days. Is this true? Is there a way to transfer our coverage to another health insurance where it would continue to be free?
We don’t feel it’s fair that Kaiser should be able to tell us where to retire after all these years working for them!
Answer
Insurers can't offer coverage in states that they don't offer coverage in. If you have a plan tied to a specific insurer, it may limit the places you can use the plan. In order to take advantage of the "free for life" insurance, you would have to reside somewhere within the network of that coverage.
You should ask them directly for your options, they may have a way to transfer some credit to another insurer, or perhaps they have a multi-state solution.
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Appreciate the time to answer my question. Doesn’t solve my problem however!