Obamacare (Medical Insurance) Question

[MandyAlex 32]

How soon after a K-1 beneficiary arrives into the U.S. is required to purchase and carry medical insurance? Is there a "grace period" or any other exception for it not to be required immediately?

[yuna628 9,527]

35 minutes ago, MandyAlex said:

How soon after a K-1 beneficiary arrives into the U.S. is required to purchase and carry medical insurance? Is there a "grace period" or any other exception for it not to be required immediately?

No one is required to purchase health insurance. However if they do not they must pay a penalty in taxes, but note that the penalty is significantly cheaper per year than actually paying for health insurance.

 

Ideally what you'd want to do is obtain health insurance for your spouse by signing them up soon after marriage to your work plan if you have one.

Your next option would be to buy insurance privately through any company that offers in your state.

The above two options can all be done within a few days or weeks of marriage. An SSN is not required but I would strongly urge to obtain that first before anything else shortly within a few days of landing. There will be many that will try to confuse or argue an SSN is required - they aren't telling the truth.

Lastly would be to use the federal exchange or state exchange (Obamacare). There is a grace period for average situations usually for a couple months - however to use O'care you need to prove immigration status - either by your NOA1 for the AOS, an EAD, or green card - whichever comes first. So if you go with this option you'll want to get AOS started immediately after marriage to get the documents. There are exemptions that may be applied for as well.

 

You need to apply for any of these options as soon as possible after marriage, because the clock will start ticking. Do it too late and you won't qualify for a SQLE based on marriage, especially if using the federal exchange.

Edited April 22, 2017 by yuna628

[TBoneTX 43,020]

*** Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the "Moving to the US" forum, to be among similar threads. ***

[MandyAlex 32]

Thanks for the info yuna628. 

[jakartausa 28]

I added my fiance through my insurance broker to my Obamacare plan before she even landed at LAX. She has had health insurance on my plan from the day she arrived. Obamacare just needs a copy of her Passport ID page and her DOB. That's it. It was super simple and your broker if you have one should do all the work for you.