Well, I've done it. I've committed the unforgiveable blogging sin: I haven't kept up with my posting schedule. Normally I put up a new article every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But the past couple of weeks, I've only done two, and not on schedule. My bad. I've gotten distracted by another project. Shame on me. I should be superwoman and do it all regardless, right? Well, er. . . no. [ad#Google Adsense-1] You see, the other project I'm in the midst of deals with health and wellness, and I …
How Will the New US Health Care Law Affect Expats?
On March 21, the House passed the health care overhaul bill and on March 23, President Obama signed it into law. Nobody really knows how it’s going to impact expats, but preliminary indications are that, unless you earn more than the FEIE (foreign earned income exclusion) annually in US income, it won’t effect you at all. That figure is currently $91,400. US citizens resident in other countries will not be required to buy US insurance, but may end up with a slightly increased tax bite, …
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Rush Limbaugh Threatens to Leave the USA Over Health Care Reform
A couple of days ago, Limbaugh, self-proclaimed leader of the far right, told an on-air caller he will leave the country if health reform passes. Read the article Limbaugh said he would go to Costa Rica. The only problem with that plan? Costa Rica has universal health care. [ad#Google Adsense-1] According to International Living: “Costa Rica has universal health care, one of the best health systems in Latin America. “Statistics from the World Health Organization frequently place Costa …
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Assisted Living in Mexico
Tied to concerns about health care, some expats and future expats are also looking into what would happen if they were to retire overseas and then become too ill to take care of themselves. Mexico is working on an answer. As the US population ages, and as more and more Americans decide to retire abroad, Assisted Living is becoming big business in Mexico. It even has its own non-profit organization! AMAR is the Asociacion Mexicana de Asistencia en el Retiro in Spanish, the Mexican Association …
Which Countries Have the Best Health Care?
In the Expat Web group on LinkedIn, a member asked recently, “As an Expat, which countries do you think have the best and worst health care systems?” Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Malta and France all received positive comments. One poster said Japan’s was “the worst I ever experienced.” The US was mentioned favorably, but “only if you have good insurance. Prices are about 5 to 10 times the costs of France or Belgium.” This kind of anecdotal information is interesting, but not all that …
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Top 10 Retirement Havens
Live and Invest Overseas publisher Kathleen Peddicord has named the Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2010, and the list includes some surprises. Panama occupies the top spot, and Peddicord comments that "this country manages to become more appealing all the time." Her Top 10 picks include: Panama France "World's best quality of life, world's best health care, world's best infrastructure, world's most romantic city" Uruguay for "The banking, residency, and tax advantages of Panama without the …