Hey fellow VisaJournians,

I was just wondering what everyone is doing in terms of covering themselves (or their non-US spouse) w health insurance in the US.

I managed to get a good deal from AUS were I have unlimited health insurance as well us up to $5 million personal liability coverage for $340USD. Policy is valid for 12 months.

Otherwise living on the east cost, if I got really sick I could fly to the UK for treatment, considering AUS and UK provide each others citizens free emergency medical care.

Cheers
Harry

The best deal if the non-USC can get covered under the USC spouse's employer-sponsored plan. If this is not available, you can look into individual plans offered by large insurance providers like Kaiser (http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/) or Blue Shield. HMO plans are generally more affordable. At least get catastrophic coverage, so that you'd be covered if you end up in the hospital.

My soon to be husband will have coverage through my employment. Then when he finds a job he can decide to stay on mine or go with whatever he is offered, assuming he will be offered benefits.

My health insurance is provided by Anthem. The staffing agency I work for has a tie-up with them so I applied for insurance through the agency. I'm paying $195 a month.

Everyone I've talked to says that he can't get coverage until he has his green card. Anyone else here on a k-3 that has heard different?

That's not right. Who is "everyone" -- friends, HR, insurance representatives? What reasons do they give? Is this an employer-sponsored plan?

I think it depends on the insurance company and their policy. For myself, I was "eligible" to be added to my husband's insurance as soon as I took up residency with my K3. However, we couldn't afford the monthly premium, so I stay healthy, and away from buses

Actually just going through the steps of adding my husband and stepson to my plan now. We got lucky in that my insurance has "open enrollment" right now (which means this is the time to make changes) and is effective as of June 1 which works out great for us since they hopefully will be leaving the UK to come here for good in the middle of May

That sounds more like an annual travel insurance policy, you might want to check the small print.

The UK option is a bit more complicated than you suggest.

Well, I asked about adding him to my employment policy. They said that there had to be a qualifying event or open enrollment. You have to make the change within a month of the qualifying event. So, marriage is one, but he didn't come over here for a year after that. Also, changing jobs was, but he quit his job a few months before he came here. So, I called around to a number of personal health insurance plans to get catistrophic (sp?) insurance until open enrollment next year (even though it will be an arm and a leg). I have talked to 8 and they have all said that he must have his green card before he can be covered. I asked why and they couldn't really tell me. They said something about him maybe leaving. But this didn't make sense to me. They would get their money and should be happy if he leaves (not that he is going anywhere ever again!!! ) and never uses the insurance. And, at the same time, I've heard people on here talk about employment plans that let them add before greencard status, so I don't know. But, after calling the 8th place, I ended up believing them. I guess we just have to wait until August and pray nothing happens to him in the meantime.

Agree with that. When I first came here on K3, hubby could not get me under his insurance. His employer said that since we didn't put me in within 1 month of our wedding date, then I would have to wait until the next open enrollment which would be the first of the year. Nothing mentioned about having green card, just need to provide SSN. I was uninsured for 6 months, just tried to stay healthy, took lots of vitamins I hadn't had my GC yet by the time I was covered under hubby's insurance.

I think you should try to convince your HR that your husband's move to the US is a "qualifying event." If it's not, what is? I'd ask to speak to HR manager/director/VP -- see if you can get somewhere.

If none of this works, check up on places in your community that provide "urgent care" -- if your husband does need to see a doctor urgently, urgent care clinic would be a lot less expensive for out-of-pocket expenses. Don't go to the ER! Urgent care clinics are normally open extended hours (8 AM - 9 PM), have physicians on duty, lab equipment, X-rays, etc.

My husband applied a few days before i got here and put myself and the two kids on his... Id speak with the insurance company though.... And see if you can do a deal through work.. It just dosnt sound right

Most employers health plans do only have one open enrollment period during the year. The rest of the year it does take a qualifying event to change any coverage. Qualifying event: marriage, divorce, birth of child, death of child, and member lossing their job where they had coverage. All of these events require the request of change within 30 days of the event, except death. Now since it is an employer plan, it is usually almost automatic to cover a new member as long as all it is within the allowed enrollment time period. If it is not withing the time period, you can usually forget it, the change won't take place period.

Now as for most plans that are not employ based, having a green card is new to me, but having lived in the country for one year is a common requirement. This may be what the companies are talking about when they say having a green card. I don't always agree with it, but keep in mind that insurance companies look at the risk involved when determining their policies. Their statistics show that there will be a high risk of claims for immigrants within the first year of arrival in this country. After one year, it is much safer to insure the person. It is the same as for pre-existing conditions on some policies. In other words, the insurance companies are in business to make money, and if they see high risk, they run away as fast as they can. Also keep in mind that the majority of immigrants to this country are from third world countries that have less than great health plans, so guess what will happen within the first year here. Nothing wrong with it, and I will do the same thing when my fiancee gets here, but only because I can with my employer plan.

If you don't have an employer plan, start trying independent agents that deal with many different companies. Sometimes you will find one that knows all the loopholes and can find you a policy.

Only want to say - great information in this forum!
Was planning to look more into the health insurance issue closer to immigration date. But we have to check out with Joachim's employer what rules they've got for adding me to his insurance, it's been almost 30 days since we got married... Thanks for the advice.



April 15th 2006: Joachim and Sunnanah got married in the US, Susannah returned to Norway
April 24th 2006: Filed DS-230 to the US Embassy in Oslo for prescreening
May 2nd 2006: X-rays
May 3rd 2006: Contacted the US Embassy to get an interview appointement, we got the week we wanted!
May 18th 2006: Medical exams
June 7th 2006: Immigration interview at the US Embassy in Oslo

If anything, try to get "catastrophic coverage" -- a policy that would cover you if you end up in the hospital. Just the hospital stay can be $5,000 a day, not including the surgery or special procedures.

For routine health care, you can pay out of pocket, if it comes to that.

Clinics run by medical schools often offer low-cost medical care and pretty good service. I got a lot of dental work done there when I did not have dental insurance.

We are currently sorting out health insurance at the moment too and are going with a plan for me that includes dental and is $140 a month with Blue cross blue shield. Seems like a pretty good plan too from what we have read.

Was added to his health/dental insurance on Friday, seems like his company had a 60 day rule, not 30.
If I end up in hospital now I'm covered by all kind of systems, I guess, for a couple of months...

My husband has group insurance at his work, and we are thinking about adding me as well. But actually I am not satisfied with the terms of his insurance even if it will cost $400 for the two of us!

First, seems like it does not cover a lot of things...
And most importantly, in the Employee/dependent information section it says that IT IS NOT FOR NEWBORN babies!

So, I am lost. We are not sure if we can afford having a baby with co-payments and terms like that

Can anyone advise? Could we switch to a better (and more expensive) insurance when I get pregnant or should we do it in advance? Is there any free program that covers pregnant women and newlyborn children, taking into consideration that my husband signed the affidavit of support for me (so I am not allowed to be a public charge, right?)?

Thanks!

Maybe it means that *you* (the dependent) is not a newborn? I'd call the insurance company and find out what they mean by that. Normally you should be able to cover a new child -- the premium would go up, but you should be able to add another dependent to a plan.

Something that varies by State, in mine the new born is covered for x days automatically and then needs to be added.

This sounds good and I may look into that insurance company too.

I have a question concerning pre-existing conditions. I currently take three different medicines all the time, does having health insurance in the US mean they will help me with the costs of these medicines? They would probably cost all up about four hundred and fifty dollars a month, US.

If they don't cover for this then there is no way I can afford to live there as I couldn't live without them (I don't mean that literally.. but it would make life too hard)..

Hardly any plans cover the total cost for meds, there are copays, often the copay is more than you would pay for a prescription elsewhere.

You need a good Group Plan, might be difficult as an Employee, better chance as an adiition to your Spouses coverage.

And of course all these plans are renewable and can change, so not something that you can guarantee long term.

US is not a good place to be with Medical needs and not a lot of money.

As i have advised to some here you shopuld try getting free insurance quotes to insurance broker such as www.insurancepaylite.com wherein you can get rates and policies of 5 different companies in that way you can choose a company that will fit in your budget.

1. Since when have you ever paid to get an Insurance quote?

2. They are a lead generation company, basically they sell your details to local agents.

3. They only deal with those Companies/Agents who have signed up with them, which may or may not be the one for you.