Baby-Boomers Become Super-Boomers As Medicare - The Perceived Barrier To Living Abroad - Crumbles!

I don't mean that 'the sky is falling'. I'm not talking about a doomsday perspective of Medicare. What I do mean is a lot of 'seniors' are so attached to their 'Medicare' benefits that they don't consider moving out of the country for fear their health care needs won't be covered by their benefits.

I'm predicting that Medicare very soon will no longer be the barrier it once was to retirees moving abroad, which opens the door to living where expenses are significantly lower.

Why? What's changed? Well it hasn't happened yet, but as insurance companies compete to manage your Medicare (They call them MedAdvantage programs), they will have no qualms about paying for your care in other countries. Why would they? It's a win/win situation financially for you and for them.

You're seeing the trend of U.S insurance companies paying for and promoting off-shore medical care evidenced by the increase of cross-border and off-shore plans being marketed by leading insurance companies to employers. As a direct result, U.S. companies and individuals benefit by paying substantially lower monthly rates and virtually no out-of-pocket expense for high quality care.

Some of the best doctors and medical institutions in the world are not in the U.S. And soon you're going to hear the insurance companies breaking through the taboo of admitting that, because it's in their financial interest to do so and there's no denying the U.S. healthcare system is challenging to everyone.

Even though we have many of the world's best doctors, hospitals, and technologies, we do not have a monopoly on those attributes, and the "system" continues to make things difficult, expensive and hence exploitive in terms of hindering our lifestyle choices.

But guess what, folks -- and you heard it here -- it doesn't matter what age you are; you can get the same or better insurance rates for the same quality of care in a lot of other countries right now. So if Medicare or U.S insurance company benefits have been the cornerstone to your health care strategy, the door to that confined thinking has been open for quite some time. You just need to walk through.

For example, Martin Frankel, the founder Argentina-based expat-connection.com, has been able to negotiate a group insurance rate for people in his group. "If you're between the ages of 18-64 it cost under $100 a month," says Frankel. "That covers all traditional health care including dental care. No deductibles, no co-pay, it gives you 60 days at a time for travel insurance when you leave the country, it gives you 40% off all your prescriptions, and there are parts to the insurance you just don't see in the U.S. For example they'll send a doctor to your home."

And as more foreign insurance companies learn how to market to Americans the competition is going to drive the cost down for individuals globally. As Super-Boomers, we will take our business where the environment is financially friendly.

Ilene Little, founder of http://www.Traveling4Health.com was a newspaper columnist for the Journal of the San Juans and The Key West Citizen, and Special to The Seattle Times.

SPACE.com - Anyone gazing at the summernight sky for even a short length of time is likely to spot a few"shooting stars" darting across the sky.