My husband and I are 65. We currently have medical coverage but when husband officially retires in November we will need a policy for here and overseas that is affordable but good. We could do cobra but with ability to do medicare, we should look into Medicare Advantage as someone suggested.

Because our trip this fall may be longer than 4 months and so we are now looking at how to handle a longer than 90 day stay, I'm wondering if anyone has experience or knows about:
1. long term visa (anyone have insight on how to acquire? Any cautions?) What happens in one year? Renew?

See my answer under your Health insurance question

Here's a link with the info for France, which I think from your other thread is where you wanted to stay (I don't believe there is a Europe-wde long stay visa):

http://www.consulfrance-sanfrancisco...php?article585

This has teh info on driver's licence for you - scroll down for info on non EU/EEA licences.

You need to contact the embassy of the country you plan on staying in - to find out how to qualify for a long-term visa (not simple). Having complete medical coverage (and Medicare does NOT cover you outside the US) is one of the qualifications for getting a long-term visa - as is demonstrating your financial qualifications for supporting yourself.

"I don't believe there is a Europe-wde long stay visa"

Is only partly true.

A long-stay visa for, say, France, gives you unlimited rights during its validity to visit the rest of Schengen. Britain offers all non-visa nationals six months' stay, and Ireland offers three months (though the UK and Ireland can't always be added together to make nine). So any Mexican, Japanese or Malaysian (for example) can travel legally throughout the EU and EFTA with a French one-year visa. So can Americans: Turks and most Indians can't

Incidentally, you need a one-year visa ONLY if you're staying in Schengen for 91 days or more. You DON'T need a visa if planning to be in Schengen for 90 and the rest of your 4 months in the UK, Ireland, Croatia, other non-Schengen ex-Yugoslavia, the CIS countries, Turkey or the Eastern or Southern Med.

Getting a one-year visa for a 4 month stay is a very, very, expensive, time-consuming and energetic process, and you really ought to think several times (and then again) about the point of it. The cost/benefit ratio for those extra 30 days is simply absurd.

To get it, though, you strictly speaking need to apply to the local consulate of the Schengen country you first intend overnighting in.

To answer a question on your other thread. Those European countries which accept US driving licences at at all (Italy, legally, doesn't for example) typically allow their use for 12 months. But the law differs by country, and insurance is void if driving without a locally acceptable licence. Your first port of call is http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html