International Living Community

You may have trouble getting into a private insurance plan but depending on the country (and sometimes depending on the community) you choose and depending on the type of residence/visa you utilize, you may find you have other great options such as getting into the public system or a hospital membership plan. True, most do make the move before the age of 80, and at any age there are a lot of factors to consider, including health, personality type, community ties, finances... but there are some wonderful 80+ success stories! Here's some inspiration:

https://members.internationalliving.com/articles/finding-adventure-in-retirement/

Plus you might enjoy this video of 81-year-old world travelers on the International Living YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/JSpt-xjkxFU?si=cs7RF78dCJ4BgkwE

Best,
IL Overseas Editor Jess Ramesch

Tuula, merci for your reply and for the link to your video. I'm sure I'll be contacting you again :-).

De nada!
Thanks for posting and best of luck with all your Panama plans.

I haven't been there but perhaps one of the other ILers will comment.

I'll just add that, while I can't tell you when or if International Living will ever cover Paraguay, I can tell you that the countries covered here generally check the majority of the following boxes:

Home to expat communities Welcoming to foreigners Straightforward access to legal residence Safe for families, retirees, single women Excellent infrastructure (roads, telecommunications, power, water) Politically stable Strong/stable economy Straightfoward access to bank accounts You can move your money in and out with reasonable ease A good range of property available for sale and rent Excellent value (cost of living vs what you get for your money) Easy to travel to/in-country
And more (for a full list of categories see International Living's Annual Global Retirement Index: https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/january_2024/4158110/ )

To sum up there typically needs to be great value and a high enough standard of living to entice expats to go, especially when much longer flights are involved. (For example, even though it takes 8+ hours to fly to Uruguay from the States, we do cover it from time to time because it offers so much. You can read our latest coverage in the June issue of IL magazine https://magazine.internationalliving.com/internationalliving/library/item/may_2024/4189974/ )

Best,

IL Overseas Editor Jess Ramesch