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and the wrong medical care can give you miserable years of disability. (More than a few friends suffer due to botched medical procedures.) A very healthy and active uncle was a quad for 15 yrs due to a mistake in elective surgery.
I'm taking the first bus outta here.
It's been good while it lasted.
If I needed good medical care in the USA, I could never afford it, or have the advocates to assure it.
I know I'm better off getting that overseas (if I wanted it, which I don't).
So many friends in the USA have exited leaving impoverished spouse due to costly medical procedures to 'prolong' their agony. I'm not interested in that.
Poof, GONE.
Different strokes for different folks. Due to the medical treatment my wife has been getting, we are planning on heading back to Alaska next year. She decided hang around a while longer and not take the first bus outta here
It was a factor when we relocated to this rural area over a decade ago, but not the most important factor. We were still working & healthy & at the time, this area had decent medical care.
I couldn’t look in a crystal ball & learn that the medical care here, like in other rural areas, would turn to **** & that we would have some of the health issues that we now do. Now we often have to take a long journey into the Big City for a lot of health care. It gets exhausting to do that.
But, if we had stayed in the major metro, expensive area that we moved from, the healthcare professionals that we used were aging out & retiring, anyway. Nothing in life stays the same, ya know?
Experience, Always ask how many times the doctor has done the procedure, 2nd opinion is also suggested. Moved to a small town, Excellent medical facilities.
Considering moving to another small town, as my husband was disabled, did consider medical facilities; husband died before we could move. Again, excellent care when diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer. Age 64 diagnosed, celebrated his 65 birthday 3 weeks later.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by JRR
Different strokes for different folks. Due to the medical treatment my wife has been getting, we are planning on heading back to Alaska next year...
Certainly, enjoy the good years / times / recovery / remission
Some are not so fortunate.
I've been a lifelong caregiver, so do have my bias based on my experiences (which is fine for each of us to have).
How big of a factor was the local healthcare system in selecting an area to retire to?
Zero for me (while in USA).
More important if chosing a location overseas.
Tho my retirement location choice spreadsheet has a section for medical care, and also for commute time / cost for medical care and procedures / treatment. When I was younger and determining a location, my favorite got axed due in part to medical access (6 hrs drive for specialty care / treatments).. . at this age... (pre 70), it is of far different importance to me. (None)
When I moved to the central Texas area 11 years ago, medical care was important due to DH having medical issues. He passed 5 years ago. I thus far am still healthy but I do know my son is glad that he does not have to retrieve me from a home 30 miles from the city. Sure, I would rather be remote but how smart is that when you live alone. You may say that you are going to keep yourself healthy but how realistic is that? At 81 I am going to exercise classes four days a week, have various clubs (art/nature), social groups, and church. Many of those activities which keep you moving and engaged do not exist in small towns. I moved here for my husband's needs but I am very grateful FATE has put me here so that I can still be enjoying good medical, good senior social services, good uber, good shopping, etc.
Health care was a priority among my criteria, but not a top priority.
I don't want to be in a small town far from a good hospital. I don't want to be in a city with a terrible doctor/patient ratio. Knoxville has about a 150:1 patient/doctor ratio with only 25% above the age of 60. Not as good as Nashville, but reasonable.
My top priorities were safety, cost of living, and quality of living. Medical was 4th, so a high priority but not a top priority. At my age, I can't afford to be without health care. I am getting to the point where I will be in the system regularly. When I develop a chronic medical issue that can't be treated well in Knoxville, I will just move to a city that has better medical. Meanwhile, I will take my chance with medical here.
When I moved to the central Texas area 11 years ago, medical care was important due to DH having medical issues. He passed 5 years ago. I thus far am still healthy but I do know my son is glad that he does not have to retrieve me from a home 30 miles from the city. Sure, I would rather be remote but how smart is that when you live alone. You may say that you are going to keep yourself healthy but how realistic is that? At 81 I am going to exercise classes four days a week, have various clubs (art/nature), social groups, and church. Many of those activities which keep you moving and engaged do not exist in small towns. I moved here for my husband's needs but I am very grateful FATE has put me here so that I can still be enjoying good medical, good senior social services, good uber, good shopping, etc.
To each their own. City life would probably be the quick death of me.......well, at least the undertaker won't have to drive far.
On one note of that, how do we handle our health when for what we never thought about to handle things is no longer there? In my case, it was alcohol. That I don't drink is, of course, a good thing but now, having to face all the world's stresses head on does create needs to figure out how else to handle it.
Certainly a toss up, in the short story version, of living in the city where there is more stress than relief......and going to a doctor to ask for pills to calm me down......or not being in the city and engaging in an environmental therapy.
When it comes to health, we have to ask what is important to us, what works for us, especially when we consider all the years of our life that brought us here.
Healthcare was a priority item in our retirement destination decision.
Sacramento has U Cal Davis Medical care, which is highly rated. We also are only 2 1/2 hours from Stanford Medical, which is an added benefit when something potentially concerning arises.
I used to live in a small town in Florida that had an excellent hospital (4 star rating by federal government) 8 minutes away but I also had some crappy doctors, they were not related to the hospital, just saying that I saw more doctors outside the hospital.
Yes, when we decided to move I looked to see where an ER was, what the rating of that hospital was and whether we'd be able to get a primary doctor easily with Medicare supplement plan. When I saw a home listed that fit our needs I then looked to see how far from the ER it was. We got lucky because the house we bought is 10 minutes from ER of the best rated medical corp in the city and our primary doctors are located in the same building.
A year before we decided to move, my husbands sibling, who lives several states away, had a cardiac event with no notice. He has excellent health coverage and lives in a very exclusive suburb but he almost died because he could not be treated locally and could not be air-evac'd due to weather and had to be driven by ambulance to a bigger city with better hospital.
If we can get the other person in the car we'll drive to the ER, I pass it every time I go grocery shopping.
So far, so good but you really never know what can happen.
Death is not feared by me but "incapacitated" is not how I want to live.
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