wanting to move to another state

[marlinfshr]

Has anybody on dialysis and currently on the transplant list moved to another state?
Was it a pain?
Do you keep your current time if transferred to a new transplant center or do you start over at day one again?
I'm assuming regular medicare part A & B would be no problem but I guess the current medigap plan would have to be changed to the new state?
How about the American Kidney Fund which is covering my premiums for medigap? Would that transfer?
There is also a kidney disease program I am applying for which would assist in premiums and deductibles whenever I receive a transplant and the kidney fund stops. That program is here in MD, I wonder if there is anything like it in FL?

I know these are a lot of questions but I used to do a lot of traveling and would always winter in a warmer climate. I bought a place in MD a few years ago before I came down with this "issue" and truthfully, I only like it here in the summer and fall. I don't want to see another winter like last and my wife, whose Colombian, is completely bored here in rural MD. She would find a much easier time getting a decent job in South FL then here and when I return to work, though I love MD for a few month's, FL has always been a base for this type of career.

I have told her that once I get a transplant we are moving but I'm really wondering if I can make it that long. I think it's 3 to 5 years here and I was just listed this January so I still have a decent wait.

Perhaps I can put it off a little longer as she plans to go to Colombia for January and I told hetr when she gets back we are going to take a drive down the coast and head west for a month. Of course dragging my boxes of PD solutions with me so Who knows if I can really do it. I really just want to move south.

[jeannea]

Your wait time will transfer. The rest is more complicated. I think once you pick where you're going, the social worker at dialysis should help you figure out the insurance stuff. Medigap plans are different in each place. Then you have to get accepted by a new transplant center. They might require some re-testing.

It's all a pain doing paperwork and insurance and finding new docs. But if it's what you want it will be worth it. I say go for it. Don't wait for your transplant. When you decide where to live, come back and post and someone will give you advice about the transplant centers there.

[Jean]

I vote for what Jeanna said. Good advice.

[noahvale]

*

[dialysisuser82]

Maryland has the best transplant program at the John Hopkins Hospital in the country.

See http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant/programs/kidney/incompatible/

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant/about/contact.html

I had my fistula done in 1982 at the John Hopkins Hospital and it has been intact.

best,

[amanda100wilson]

You can transfer the time that you have already accrued at one transplant unit to another.  You have to sign a form to do so, it is not automatically transferred.  If you also wish to remain listed at the other unit, your time there will start again there.  If you move transplant units bit do not transfer your time, you will start at the beginning for the new unit, but will keep your time at the previous unit.

[marlinfshr]

Thanks for the reply's. Looking into costs of regular insurance for my wife and a medigap policy for me (under 65) it looks like I'll be staying here in MD until after a transplant. Perhaps I'm not looking right but through BCBS FL a bronze plan for my 38 year old wife is just about 400/month in FL and FL does not have a medigap "a" for people under 65 so the other medigap policy's are in the 400-500/month range. Fricken ridicules. Mine just went down to 140/month here in MD and a bronze plan for my wife will be the same when she gets off her work insurance.

Perhaps I need to look a little deeper in the FL prices but so far it's not looking good. I hate being miserable where I live and right now I'm starting to rapidly feel that way here in the soon to be frozen tundra of coastal MD.