What are the healthcare options in Florida?
It only stands to reason that the US state of Florida would have an exemplary health care delivery system. Within the United States, Florida is known coast-to-coast as an ideal location for retirement, largely because of its lovely weather. Since older individuals naturally have more health concerns on average than their younger counterparts, Florida's status as a wonderful place to spend one's golden years has caused it to gradually develop a first-class health care industry.
Florida features world-class facilities including satellite locations for the prestigious Mayo Clinic and the equally well-regarded Cleveland Clinic. The medical industry in the state is on the cutting edge of many specialty areas including heart research, fertility, pharmacology, and quite naturally, gerontology.
Access to healthcare: private insurance options
For UK and international homebuyers, one concern may be access to the Florida's vast healthcare system. The United States, unlike many European nations, does not have a government-run system for medical care, but instead has evolved a complex system of private and public systems that help citizens and resident aliens to find affordable coverage.
One of the ways to access healthcare in the United States is to purchase a private health insurance policy. Such a policy will typically require purchasers to pay for a certain amount of care out-of-pocket in the form of deductibles, or amounts that must be paid by the consumer before insurance coverage begins to pick up a large portion of medical bills. Private insurance policies provide important financial protection because they will cover extremely large expenses that private individuals would be hard-pressed to meet on their own. Thanks to recent changes in insurance regulations, health cover is required to include a family's children up to the age of 26. This is a true boon since many young adults are not yet in a position to arrange for insurance cover of their own.
Most adults who relocate to Florida in order to pursue professional opportunities in fields like administration, technology, engineering, and the bio-sciences, will find that medical insurance is a standard benefit provided to all full-time employees. Employer-provided coverage has the strong advantage of being highly affordable, since the worker will typically be responsible for paying 20% or less of all premiums due. These policies will still usually feature a deductible, requiring workers to meet, for example, the first $300 of medical expenses each year.
Access to healthcare: public insurance options
In some cases, private health insurance cover may be quite expensive. Like all states, Florida has systems in place to assist when this is the case. Medicaid is a publically funded health insurance programme open to low-income legal resident aliens living in Florida. Non-citizen children in Florida may also be eligible for the KidCare programme. The Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention programme features income restrictions but is open to both citizens and legal resident aliens.
The healthcare system in the United States may be unfamiliar territory to many UK and international property buyers. Once they learn to navigate it, however, they will quickly realise that medical care in Florida is among the best in the nation.
