how easy is it for two disabled Americans who live on SSDI to move to the Philippines ?

Question

have a good friend who lives in Manila and she wants me and my wife move there. Does Medicare or Medicaid work there? We make about 2000 dollars a month off of SSDI. Will we lose that if we move there or would we still get it or lose it?

Answer 1

You cannot have Medicare here. You will have to get the Tourist Visa which will cost you about $100 every 2 months each & have to briefly leave the Philippines every 16 months to restart the process over. But your Medicare costs you close to $100 per month so you are still ahead $100. Medicine is very cheap & when you have a prescription filled they give it back to you!

I would suggest looking at this website as they have some clips of everyday life here. "big jims philippines experience.com"

Answer 2

Sorry to tell you Medicaid/Medicare is useless here. They will not honor claims outside the us.

Good news is medicines cost 1/10th of what they do in the States. What costs my insurance $880 a month in the states costs me $120 a month here out of pocket. Other medical needs are also very low priced compared to the US. I know for a fact Medicare/Medicare wil not pay claims outside the US because I moved my 67 yo mother her with us to the Philippines. Blue cross and Medicare medicare is useless here.

Good new is you can still collect your SSDI here. $2,000 a month for 2 people is living very comfortably evan in Manila. If you move to one of the smaller cities like Iloilo or Bacolod the cost of living is 30% less than Manila or Cebu.



I would recommend you vist www.livinginthephilippines.com for a ton of free information about living here.

Answer 3

You will still have Social Security but you will not have Medicaid or Medicare. Medicaid and Medicare are only available in the USA. However you can live anywhere and receive Social Security.