#expat-experience

#expat-experience

When I moved as a college student, I was going to college in Oregon, and they had a great sister school program with Tokyo International University. It was just a six-month exchange program, and then I went back to the US. After college, I did an MBA, and once I finished, I learned that there was a program for being a civil servant in Japan where you would facilitate exchange between your home country and Japan, work with nonprofits, and do translating.

When my first child was born in Medellín, Colombia, I had an emergency C-section after a long labor. My doula supported me at home, then accompanied us to the hospital, where I paid a small copay of 53,000 Colombian pesos, about $14. On discharge day, my husband was sent to the finance desk to settle the bill. Nervous about what we might owe, we learned that almost everything had been covered.

The recent back-and-forth over the Social Security Administration's processes for accessing benefits has left many American retirees abroad confused about their options.