# Choosing a nob location when you have to for health reasons



## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

This is a spinoff from the Age thread, brought on by RVGringo's need to sell his Chapala home and move to the states where he could get health care under the Vet's Administration and Medicare. 
He's in Tucson and not very pleased about it so far. I don't blame him. Not one of my favorite places.

So: if you could only get the medical care you needed by relocating NOB, where would choose to go and why that particular location?
RV: how about telling us why you chose Tucson, AZ, to get us started?


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

OK. Firstly: My wife has a good friend in Tucson, who moved there from Chapala a few years ago. We also have good friends, from east of Chapala, who moved back to their home in Phoenix after a serious injury, requiring extensive and prolonged treatment and therapy.
Then, there is the VA, where I will register tomorrow, and the Medicare and supplemental programs for my wife.
On top of all that, I do need a lower elevation for my breathing problems, and the desert air is also drier, which does help noticeably.
I must admit that the huge Home Depot makes me want to build a house; but, of course, I cannot do that any more. At least the stores all have electric shopping scooters, so I can go with my wife, even if I have trouble seeing the product details.
We did jump in with both feet and bought a home, which we are now furnishing and adapting to our needs. The lawn and gardens are gravel with cactus and just a few deciduous plantings. There is a large nopal in the back, so we will not starve. As such, we will not need a gardener and everything else is rather easy to care for.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

lagoloo said:


> This is a spinoff from the Age thread, brought on by RVGringo's need to sell his Chapala home and move to the states where he could get health care under the Vet's Administration and Medicare.
> He's in Tucson and not very pleased about it so far. I don't blame him. Not one of my favorite places.
> 
> So: if you could only get the medical care you needed by relocating NOB, where would choose to go and why that particular location?
> RV: how about telling us why you chose Tucson, AZ, to get us started?


Thanks for starting this new thread, lagoloo.


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## Ajijic Lady (Jan 19, 2009)

In December 2012, we sold our home in Ajijic and moved back NOB due to health reasons......not our own health reasons, but those of my 90 year old _suegro _(father in law). 

He lives in his own home in DC Metro (where we lived until our retirement in 2003) and he needs more and more oversight and care. In 2011 we clocked 10 flights from GDL to DCA. Those trips took a toll on us financially and physically. 

We came up with this list of needs: 
Warm climate
Walkable small city or town with a strong restaurant scene
On or near a body of water
Less than 30 minute drive to an airport with short (under 2 hours) non-stop flights to DCA
A place with enough health care resources that there'd be a good choice of doctors taking my health insurance from my former employer. We are under 65, no Medicare no VA.

So, pretty much it boiled down to FLA....a state I had visited often with my family, and didn't much care for (had a relative in the suburbs of Sarasota). 

But we did a lot of research and found 3 delightful small cities within a 30 minute drive of Tampa Int'l (9 daily nonstops to either DCA or IAD). We rented vacation homes in each of these 3 cities' historic downtowns over a period of a year and in April of this year we purchased a home in Gulfport, FL. 

We have found excellent doctors and hospitals nearby and the trips to DCA are a breeze. This works for us for now.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

I think I understand why RV and spouse chose Tucson. a town we strongly rejected back in 1999.for reasons I delineated in a previous thread. If I had to move back to the united States for health reasons today after 14 years in Mexico and with no VA benefits,, here are the places I would choose to consider:
* Birmingham with its historically famous University of Alabama Medical Center and hospital facilities keeping in mind that in 1970 they killed my father who drove there from his South Alabama home town for what was then a complicated cataract operation , came home with Legionaires Disease and dying just a few days later from respiratory failure.
* Pismo Beach California where, if they don´t kill you you can at least die on the beach.
* Greenville, Alabama, about three hours fromt he Birmingham major hospital where the doctors killed my father who drove up to the big city to avoid the local doctors who actually gave a damn who he was.
* That filthy, poorly managed hospital in San Cristóbal de Las Casas , Chiapas where, in their grungy operating room they unceremoniously ripped out my gall bladder after my insurance company warned me not to let those hillbilly doctors even touch me and offered to fly me back to Giadalajara for free. Well I survived that ordeal among those yahoos and am still here. 

No matter where you are, trust your soul to your personal god (who will probably let you down), lean over and kiss your ass goodbye. If you survive, hope they don´t inadvertently leave some implement in you gut that interferes with your abiity to digest a Cheese Whopper accompanied by a Cuba Libra.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Well darling except fr San Cristobal I am afraid you would be there alone.. Birmingham, Pismo Beach and Greenville???Have you lost your mind totally?
I would not move back to the States and would go home to France to a small town if I had a choice but if I had to move to the State for insurrance reason Tucson would be in the running. I rather like Tucson.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


citlali said:



Well darling except fr San Cristobal I am afraid you would be there alone.. Birmingham, Pismo Beach and Greenville???Have you lost your mind totally?
I would not move back to the States and would go home to France to a small town if I had a choice but if I had to move to the State for insurrance reason Tucson would be in the running. I rather like Tucson.

Click to expand...

_I am quite fond of you as well, jerkette! Tucson sucks. Mexico has been a blast for 14 years now. Good choice.


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## makaloco (Mar 26, 2009)

I've considered that the day might come, but I'm at a loss as to where I'd go. I haven't lived in the US much since the mid-'70s and not at all since the early '80s, so I'm pretty much a cultural stranger. My few relatives and friends there live in cold states with the exception of Florida, which is too muggy for me. Cost of living is a big limitation, and my only insurance would be Medicare. Maybe I should join Citlali in a small town in France, where I'd be covered by my private insurance.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

_"But we did a lot of research and found 3 delightful small cities within a 30 minute drive of Tampa Int'l ..."_

Would you care to name the other two 'delightful small cities' that you considered? Please.


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## Ajijic Lady (Jan 19, 2009)

RickS said:


> _"But we did a lot of research and found 3 delightful small cities within a 30 minute drive of Tampa Int'l ..."_
> 
> Would you care to name the other two 'delightful small cities' that you considered? Please.


In addition to Gulfport we considered Dunedin and Safety Harbor. Again, looking at the historic districts only.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Ajijic Lady said:


> In addition to Gulfport we considered Dunedin and Safety Harbor. Again, looking at the historic districts only.


Dunedin and an area very close to Safety Harbor have also been near the top of my list for possible relocation.


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