On the topic of BOI and insurance. In my case I have Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) through Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic (BCBS). A call to BCBS requesting a Certificate of Coverage and specifically asking them to put "For members in Thailand, this means that the Service Benefit Plan will provide benefits totaling $50,000 or more for covered services rendered to a member". This certificate along with a copy of the Service Benefit Plan (172 pages) and verification of payment satisfied BOI. I'm currently on Step 6 of the LTR-WP. Hope it gets done before my Non-O needs to be renewed on October 6. On the topic of Medicare. I'll need to make that decision in about 5 months and have briefly gone down the rabbit hole of Medicare information. Medicare Part B will cost me $650/mo - $7,800/yr. My FEHB costs $290/mo - $3,480/yr. My out-of-pocket maximum for eligible coinsurance and copayment amounts is $7,500 when using Preferred providers. I will definitely keep my FEHB as long as I find it useful, once I drop it I can't get it back. While I plan on living outside the US as long as I can, FEHB is much more beneficial to me as I'm covered in and out of the US. Calculating the 10% penalty for 1 year (over 10 years) is $7,800. Sometime in the next month or so I would like to start a more detailed on topic discussion about Medicare on this forum. Some of you are much more knowledgeable and experienced on this than me.
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