Is the expat party coming to an end?

[TonyTigre]

As I said, show me the numbers.

And outside of NYC, I can't imagine a place where you could reasonably live without a car.

I had a house in a beautiful rural area of Massachusetts, but as I said, I couldn't afford one now.

But I'd really like to see the numbers for how anyone could live in the northeast on $3000/month. (I'd have to do it on $1500)

You can get over that $3,000 amount if you include the following benefits:

SNAP (food stamp) benefit $291

Additional SSI benefit of up to $914

Medicaid (basically everything is covered for free including drugs if you can't afford. They will even pay you to go get preventative care in the form of a prepaid debit card for each activity you checkoff...)

Free phone and internet access with LifeLine and ACP

Senior discounts for various things including public transit, museums, stores, etc...

Some government programs help with energy cost especially in the winter

 

[TimeTraveler]

With a DNI I have had insurance with Hospital Italiano over the past 4 years. I'm 71. I'm paying about $110,000p a month. As I understand it Italiano is one of the few plans that offer coverage to the elderly. Other plans either don't make the offer or charge an exorbitant rate.

Can I ask what it covers? Dental, vision as well as medical? And did you ever consider simply paying as a “privado”? I’m looking at these options myself.

 

[TimeTraveler]

As I said, show me the numbers.

And outside of NYC, I can't imagine a place where you could reasonably live without a car.

I had a house in a beautiful rural area of Massachusetts, but as I said, I couldn't afford one now.

But I'd really like to see the numbers for how anyone could live in the northeast on $3000/month. (I'd have to do it on $1500)

i know of people (elderly couple) living on less than 3k a month outside of NY, car payments included. They have subsidized housing but are still very tight. they would be in a much better position if they moved to a place like Argentina.

 

[Johnny]

Can I ask what it covers? Dental, vision as well as medical? And did you ever consider simply paying as a “privado”? I’m looking at these options myself.

I only use it for medical though I understand that Dental exists as well as vision. I go private frequently for outpatient work as there can be long waits for appointments.

 

[TonyTigre]

And this is another part, (or perhaps I should say another symptom), of the ongoing destruction of the middle class.

There's another way of looking at this. People are simply more reliant on the government to live a middle class lifestyle. That happened because they keep voting for politicians and policies that allow for corporations to pay a lower salary and for government benefits to make up for the difference. The same people live just as comfortably as the middle class years ago. "The poor" who educate themselves on all the available government and charitable resources can certainly live a middle class lifestyle, at least at the lower end of middle class.

 

[SinPulgas]

You can get over that $3,000 amount if you include the following benefits:

SNAP (food stamp) benefit $291

Additional SSI benefit of up to $914

Medicaid (basically everything is covered for free including drugs if you can't afford. They will even pay you to go get preventative care in the form of a prepaid debit card for each activity you checkoff...)

Free phone and internet access with LifeLine and ACP

Senior discounts for various things including public transit, museums, stores, etc...

Some government programs help with energy cost especially in the winter

Yeah, but I only have $1500, which would be reduced by the cost of Medicaid. And in any case, even with those benefits, you'd always be tight, and always be worrying. Or at least I would be.

 

[SinPulgas]

And this is another part, (or perhaps I should say another symptom), of the ongoing destruction of the middle class.

In my case, I made a conscious decision to come to Argentina at age 47 so I could stop working in a job that paid well but that I hated. Had I stayed, I would have worked, probably until last year, and I'm sure that I'd now be very comfortably retired in the US (if I didn't die first from stress).

But having had the experience of being able to stop working for a paycheck at 47 and having all those extra years to do what I wanted to do, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[SinPulgas]

I only use it for medical though I understand that Dental exists as well as vision. I go private frequently for outpatient work as there can be long waits for appointments.

I've started to pay for some things privately, also, when they're not too expensive. I recently had several eye exams. Nine dollars each, and I could get an immediate appointment and no wait time in the office.

 

[TimeTraveler]

I've started to pay for some things privately, also, when they're not too expensive. I recently had several eye exams. Nine dollars each, and I could get an immediate appointment and no wait time in the office.

lol! I pay multiple times that in the US even with pretty good eye insurance

 

[Johnny]

I've started to pay for some things privately, also, when they're not too expensive. I recently had several eye exams. Nine dollars each, and I could get an immediate appointment and no wait time in the office.

Getting an actinic keratosis removed privately later today. As an aside, I have been surprised at how many local dermatologists don't use liquid nitrogen. I never met one in the states or Mexico that didn't use it.