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Great News: 2 Million People Liberated by the ACA

by Brian on February 6, 2014 in Travel

We understand that our point of view on many things is, shall we say, somewhat out of the mainstream. And we understand that this is particularly true when it comes to issues of life / work balance. But that understanding didn’t stop us from being a bit bemused to read all the recent handwringing and teeth gnashing over some unabashedly good news.

“Health Care Law Projected to Cut Labor Force,” cried the New York Times

“CBO: Obamacare Is A Tax On Work, May Cut Full-Time Workforce By 2.5 Million,” yells Forbes

That certainly sounds bad. So why are we so happy?

You’ve Heard Wrong. It’s Easier Than Ever to Buy Health Insurance

by Brian on October 28, 2013 in How To, Money & Finance, Travel

Health Insruance Application

Here’s something you probably haven’t heard: getting an individual health insurance policy is far easier today than it was before the government’s disastrous health insurance exchange rollout. I know that’s not what you’ve read elsewhere, but it’s true, and we’re going to prove it to you. More importantly, we’re going to show you easy ways to shop for health insurance that completely bypass the error plagued website.

By all accounts, the Federal Government’s health insurance site, Healthcare.gov, is a complete mess. That’s the website were individuals were supposed to be able to shop for and buy health insurance plans under the newly enacted healthcare legislation. The site launched on October 1, and promptly failed.

Nearly a month later, few people have actually been able to purchase insurance through the site. The best guess is that it will take at least another month to fix. At this point, though, nobody really knows when it will operate correctly. But even if the site isn’t fixed, you may be surprised to learn that you can still get health insurance quite easily under Obamacare.

Your Questions Answered: Health Insurance for the Perpetual Traveler

by Brian on September 30, 2013 in FAQ, How To, Money & Finance, Travel

It is perhaps the biggest mistake we see long-term travelers make. Foregoing or ignoring health insurance.

We understand the reasons. Budget travelers are, almost by definition, short on both time and money; the very two things most needed to tackle the complicated and expensive health insurance market. But it wasn’t until we stirred up a hornet’s nest last week by diving into the politics of U.S. health insurance reform that we realized how long overdue this article really was. We received so many questions from our readers that we thought it worthwhile to dedicate an entire post to the subject of health insurance.

Here are some of the most frequent questions we received along with our opinions and some resources to help answer them.

Do Republicans Hate Perpetual Travelers?

by Brian on September 25, 2013 in Travel

If the title of this post strikes you as an inflammatory detour into politics and away from our normal travel-related writing, that is only because politicians have inflamed us by forcing a detour of our travels. What’s worse is that their purpose for doing so threatens to undermine the kind of location independent lifestyle we routinely advocate here.

But before we get to that, we’ll start with the detour.

What the ObamaCare Decision Means for Perpetual Travelers Like Us

by Brian on June 29, 2012 in Money & Finance

Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

EverywhereOnce isn’t a political blog, and this isn’t a political post. Health insurance, for us, isn’t a political matter but a practical one.

Of all the things we had to consider when preparing to hit the road full-time, how to manage health care costs was not only the most significant but also the most unpredictable.

In 2010, when we left behind our Mega Corp provided health insurance coverage and surrendered ourselves to the tender mercies of the individual insurance market, we couldn’t guarantee we’d even be sold an individual policy. Now that we have one, we can’t be sure it will actually be honored if ever we get expensively sick—despite paying hefty premiums each and every month.

We’ve written before about the special challenges we faced in trying to obtain health insurance without a physical address. We worried, and still worry, about our insurance company’s ability to declare our application fraudulent because we don’t actually live in our state of declared residency – or any state for that matter. Being citizens of the U.S. should be sufficient to buy a U.S. health insurance policy, but alas, it is not.