Carolyn is contacting health insurers in the States and ETNA have replied and said they will not cover anyone who has not been in the U.S. for six months... neither of us have...

dont know if this is the right forum but anyone else got a better company ?

What fun this emigrating is...

I'll move this to the "New Life in America" forum, you'll get better answers there, Alan.

Alan...................................*wags finger*

You promised you wouldn't EVER complain once you got your visa........

Will Carolyn not be eligible for health insurance through her job (once she returns home and finds one, that is)?

1 I havent got my visa yet

2 I am not complaining - just asking for a company name for health insurance

I don't mind dying in the gutter with no health insurance - or losing my house and wad - it's the american way and I am coming there of my own free will and with that understanding - but Carolyn thinks it's a problem for her and is very anxious ...

I sense that you feel more comfortable being supportive of womankind so hows about some positive advice about such matters ?

Yes indeed but she is a professional and those jobs take 3 to 6 months to get and she is very worried about the intervening time..

Actually she is one of those clever and good looking women who walk into jobs but I reckon it will be 3 months+

This might be a bad suggestion (I have never looked into it), but could you get travel insurance in the UK that would span the intermediate months?

Got it - annual insurance - max trip 1 month

Too risky - if they found out we were emigrating , we would end up being jailed for insurance fraud...

It has to be a trip...

I was thinking the same thing as Logres; or, she may just need to prove to a company that she has not been uninsured for the period she was out of the country. Each company has different requirements - I'd phone some potential ones and describe the situation, making sure they know you both had coverage during your time abroad. You may have to pay a slightly higher premium, but for no longer than you'll be without her employer based insurance, you'll probably be fine.

Also seek out what your home state (Florida?) has by way of state funded insurance.

I think Alan will be hard pressed to have success in that since he is an immigrant not a traveler. He can find immigrant insurance to cover himself, but not sure what the best approach is for his wife.

Unfortunetly, that makes sense. I was just thinking aloud.

What is 'State funded Insurance'

Carolyn says that if you are penniless then you will be treated free in one of the emergency places on the next trolley to stab victims and people with multiple gunshot wounds - but if you have say 100k in the bank they will bill you and take it all plus your house ...

Is state funded insurance some kind of 'in between' that and real insurance ? ?

Some states have insurance plans for those who are otherwise uninsurable. Tennessee, for example, has CoverTN. I do know that one carrier in that plan says if you have been turned down for insurance by 3 insurers (and have documentation reflecting that), you are then eligible for CoverTN. Or something like that. Not all states have that, though, which is why I didn't want to speculate without knowing which state you were going to (and Carolyn would probably know if they had such a thing).

Thanks julezabelle - I read 'immigrant insurance' out of Logres' post. Perhaps I need to slow down a bit!

Actually, all hospitals that I have ever been in have a sign saying (in a nutshell) that you cannot be denied treatment despite your insurance status. Hospitals will work with you to make out a payment plan in the event that you find yourself uninsured but needing treatment. I would assume that even a rich person would qualify for that same financial arrangement if they were indeed uninsured; I would also assume that houses and property would not be garnished unless one constantly broke the rules of the arrangement and was not paying (or, in other words, the bill went into arrears and the collection agency was unable to get the money).

There are also state run hospitals (the one in Nashville is Metro General Hospital) that are more specifically for the indigent. I'm not completely sure how that works (meaning do you have to document your financial holdings to qualify or what) - but I DO know that it doesn't mean they check if you can pay them before they do a scoop and run with an ambulance (common misconception sometimes).

*edited for clarity*

This is something I've been tussling with myself -- I've been out of the country 12 years, and am for all intents and purposes self-employed. (I work for my UK employer remotely part-time on a consultancy basis, and the fancypants university where I will be starting as a research fellow in 2 weeks has refused me health care because I'm only on a fixed term contract.) I have NO idea where to start, what to do, or anything -- in my whole life I've only ever been on my parents' insurance (as a kid) and then the NHS.

Alan, if you and Carolyn figure out how to do this let me know!

Ah.....I'm just messing with you!!

Where's that sense of curmudgeonliness that I so adore?

Will do ! Carolyn is working on it as number 1 priority while I am making sure my new car is ready ! (and planning my motorbike test)


The visa process has taken away most of my will to live anyway so I dont care any more - but she is very very anxious about it and there will be no peace until she gets cover - and not just pauper cover...

I suppose if I need a new heart or the 'will to live ' part of my brain replacing, then I can always come back to the UK - so its her really...

She has a blood pressure of 125/75 and will live forever but she has seen what happens to people in the US who dont have cover.

If I have a 300k bill then having 2 years to pay doesn't help - its still 300k

I fully accept that I am leaving a free system with no annual limit, no condition limit, no lifetime limit, no copay and no deductible to enter a system of pay unlimited or else. I am not complaining about that coz I know all about it and nobody is forcing me.


How ironic that the immigrant is laid back ready for a either a painful death or all his wordly possessions being taken, while the USC is very worried. Perhaps she knows more than me - but it can't be worse than I have described - can it ?


anyway I am sure there is a company somewhere who will give us cover 'at a price'

I know - sorry I was prickly - I prefer to be confrontational not prickly. I fully intend to return and insult almost ALL women and absolutely ALL princess diana admirers at a later date !

I was practising on carolyn over tea and said that men dont want to turn women into men so whats all this about the new man and changing diapers and chosing which pink for the babies bedroom and all that tosh ! no wonder women cant find a man with a sperm count over 3. I sacked my last bird who was my best friend coz she had a motorbike and boots and a moustache and a deeper voice than me...
I like girlie birds though I despise girly thinking and that is the essence of male normality.
There thats a taster of whats coming once i find her health insurance !

haha curmudgeon is alive and kicking !

*winks*

I'm the least 'girly thinking' girl bird you could hope to find!

Actually I went over the top there again - I am not a mysoginist really and there are an awful lot of women whom I really admire - I reckon I am actually depressed right now and I am thinking and saying things that are not really me.

How weird to get so down when I am 3 weeks away from the interview and everything is going fine really.
I have ordered a superb brand new car which is waiting for me in Tampa and moved 100k in spending money to the US and I am giving notice on this rented dump today.

I really do think its some kind of post traumatic stress which only comes in after the hard times - in fact at a time when the war is over and eveything should be fine. It will be temporary I am sure.

Anyway, sorry to womankind, I don't mean to be SO insulting but I still need to be able to severly ridicule 'Princess Diana worshippers' at some future date

right back to the subject - health insurance - i will do some internetting today but any advice on companies who dont make you do 6 months without cover first, would be most appreciated

love Alan

Try here...... http://www.nriol.com/insurance/view_inboundimmigrant.html


Kez

great link Kez

I will kick it around - dont know if it covers USC spouse but will check it in depth..alan

The hubby and I are planning to get short-term coverage from some place like AAA since we'll be getting car insurance from them as well. I haven't actually called them yet, so hopefully that plan isn't blown out of the water by the cold-hard truth!

we were not able to get my husband insurance through an outside company. We actually were told he had to be here a year before he was eligable. (through an outside company) He was able to get it through his employer though with no problems at all.

Only thing I've heard FL has is KidCare for kids and that's usually based on income anyway, so if you're an immigrant with a liveable income...

You are priceless , Alan.

That sucks

Since my wife was in the UK with me, we all emigrated to American together. When we got there my son and her got Medicare (I could get it for obvious reasons). When I got a job we just canceled it and put everyone on my insurance.

Yes I will be eligible for medicare at 65 as I will have been in country for 5 years...

As I am in receipt of a pension in payment (100% guaranteed by the UK government !), and we don't have kiddies or disabilities (apart from slight curmudgeoness for which I can't get a disabled parking badge), so we won't be getting any favours from anyone. As a middle aged/old male I am used to that.

So we will have to find some company willing to take on aliens with their green blood and blobby finger ends , or be bankrupted if anything happens...

I will look hard at the policies for immigrants mentioned above though...

Anyway it says in my passport that the Queen commands all persons (including unpardoned revolutionaries) to give me assistance, so I can't see anybody risking one of those long looks from Liz.

I got cover with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Arranged it all before I left the UK and I was covered from the minute my feet touched US soil.

They have a six month rule but only for existing illness which haven't been covered by medical insurance. BC/BS in some States will accept the NHS as a previous medical insurer and cover pre-existing conditions from day one.

That is what I did.... I had to send a copy of my NHS card to Empire Blue and once they had seen that I was covered under the NHS in the UK I was able to get health insurance with pre-existing conditions covered from the day we were married...

I have been looking at health insurance for my parents... they hope to immigrate over here as soon as they can after I become a citizen... all the insurance companies I have spoken with have said as long as they can prove they were covered under the NHS insurance then they will be covered from the day they get here and again they will cover pre-existing conditions...

Kez

Thanks for that..good tip ..

When Carolyn registered with the NHS last year they said they didnt do nhs cards any more - I havent seen mine for 30 years or so...

I will call in to the docs on Monday and ask em if they can issue something..

yes good tip..

alan

Hey thats a relief - Carolyn was quite knocked back by the refusal so this is good...

She is working on it now..

I guess we need to have our address fixed up in Florida before they will issue a policy and we already decided to get somewhere blind over the net... We will pay a bit more for rent so we get a good sub division in st petersburg

Then we can get health insurance/car insurance/register the car and get driver's licences

If we get a place on one month's notice then that's all we lose if it turns out to be bad and we cant wait a month to get out...

dont know what people did without the net ! imagine no internet and no vj...

thanks again

alan

I went on my husbands health insurance( Anthem Blue Cross) the day we were married...they needed me to prove that I had been previously insured...so I spoke with someone at the NHS...they faxed a letter stating my son and I had been covered under the NHS.....no problem....thank heavens as my son needed hip surgery 6 weeks after we got here!!!!

let me know if u need the guys name who faxed the NHS reply...I will hunt it out:)

Right ... good thinking... I will call in the docs and see if they will give me a letter...

Weird that they dont bother with NHS cards now

i reckon the doc will fix me up with a letter although i didnt want to tell em i was leaving - but if i need to nip back for a new heart/brain/lungs i just walk in and say i have returned, repair me....

NHS is the best thing that ever happened to the UK and about the only thing of significance that I can remember any politicians doing - they all seemed to go to sleep after that..as I was born 1 year before it started, so my mother probably paid to have me - well worth it.

I will have to ask her...

thanks again... alan

Once you are no longer resident in the UK... you can no longer just nip back for treatment... UK non=resident citizen are not entitled to NHS care... so unless you are going to keep a residence in the UK and continue to pay NI and Tax and be registered for Council tax you will need to take out insurance when you go back to visit the UK...

Kez

Are you not covered for emergencies?

I thought the NHS cover was withdrawn only for routine stuff, to stop being doing as Alan was jokingly suggesting. If you were visiting the UK and were taken ill there would be no charge. After all I have paid National Insurance for 42 years and if I had stayed in the UK when I retired I wouldn't be paying it, but I do pay UK income tax on my pension so consider I have more than paid for any treatment I might need on visits back home.

Can I ask what complex in St Pete? (Some look nice but really aren't...ask me how I found that one out)

That's officially of course...

I paid £24k tax per annum for 14 years plus max NHI right back to 1964.

I see rag tag and bobtails who have always lived on welfare coming back from Tenerife to get full medicals etc without any questions...

When my critics have paid 10% in, of what I have paid in, I might listen to that stuff

Anyway if I needed liver/heart etc I would rent a flat in the UK and become resident for the time it took to fix me up then apply for a green card re-entry permit to the US. That is legal so hah !

It isnt just politicians who can 'game the system' (and get away with it legally)


jeez these goody two shoes types make me puke
- especially when they have most likely made a tiny contribution compared to me

Glad you feel you have paid enough to make you entitled to free treatment in a country you no longer live in or pay taxes too.... what you paid in the past is for the past not the future.... You have chosen to no longer live in the country of your birth... that is your choice... but it is very unfair to expect that country to bail you out just because you feel you have paid more into that countries health service than others....

I too have paid into the NI system all my working days.... but I am not in the same age group as you... you must be 63 years old + but I am not too far behind you...... you will still benefit from your pension you paid into... but as for "gaming the system" if everyone did that then the UK would go bust.... do yourself and the rest of us a favour make sure you have enough health insurance here in your new home country so that you dont have to go back and "Game the system"...


Kez

Lets see what happens if you get something really bad and your treasured insurance find an exclusion. At that stage you have the choice of losing your home and savings or flying back to the UK to get fixed for free.

I reckon you would be up those airplane steps like a hypocritical whirwind.

I have at least the same moral rights as the one million eastern europeans who have just landed. They didnt come for the weather you know. The NHS was a draw for them as well as other factors

Past contributions are a factor otherwise why would state pensioners get a pension ? I know they are not a factor accounting wise but morally they are.

If I land back on the same plane as a Pole who is just arriving, and we both fall down the airplane steps, why should he get fixed and not me ?

I am British and not American - I know that because the USCIS refers to me as an 'ALIEN'

As long as people call me that, I am not cutting my links to Britain.

Not to split hairs, Alan, but you will be a legal permanent resident when you arrive in the US (or at the very least, a conditional permanent resident). No more 'alien' for you at that stage.

Sorry but you are WRONG !!!!

until a person takes US Citizenship they are a registered ALIEN and must report their change of address within 10 days...


even if they stay 50 years


thats why they were able to ban charlie chapin from re-entry decades after he took US residence

So in my case as I still pay UK income tax I can hop on the plane back

EDITED TO REMOVE PERSONAL INFORMATION
Kez

Haven't selected it yet - I thought paying top dollar might ensure a decent place but there are high price dumps so I know to be careful.
I reckon need to pay 1500 plus for something ok...
Been paying that in scummy Darwen, Lancashire - rat and drug capital of the developed world

That may be true - I didn't mean that meant you are completely free of USCIS. I suppose the more salient point is what ARE they supposed to call you? You weren't born here and you won't yet be a (naturalized) citizen upon your arrival. Maybe 'halfway Harry' is a better term??

I was actually trying to make you feel better, but clearly that isn't going to happen anytime soon. So, carry on being mad about being an 'alien'.

Not at all angry about being an ALIEN Tracy - but I know where I stand which is someone who can be deported as compared to a USC who cannot. Not complaining about that status either - all I am saying is that I will remain a British subject.

That means I am 'entitled' to reside in the UK at an instant's notice forever - and just getting a green card will not change that.
Any time I fell like flying to the UK and renting a flat and saying 'here I am, I have resumed residence' means I can access the NHS free of charge and hah ! to those who say I can't.

It is legal, and in my case, morally correct. In fact I dont draw a distinction in this case and I am perfectly happy for a million East Europeans to claim the same right.

After that I can return to the US as a resident either with or without a re-entry permit depending on the time of absence.

Now that may not suit the snooties on here but it is legal fact and I will bet them my green card it is within the law - US and UK

As I say, I have more than done my bit for the UK's finances. I will have the best insurance money can buy in the US if I ever get there, which is not at all certain, but a lot of immigrants have no idea how tough the US can be if the insurance company can find an exclusion in an expensive case...

When it comes right down to it and you are staring bankrupcy or vagrancy in the face while suffering from an awful disease, all the moralists on VJ would take the 100% legal alternative that I am describing.

I don't believe they would volunterer to end up in a hostel for the homeless rather than take that flight.

I simply do not believe them.

Well lets just hope that if and when the time comes for you to need extensive medical care you are still able to return to the UK.... not everybody is...

Kez

I think I understand, Alan. That's just one of many reasons my husband will become a citizen as soon as he is able. Though that doesn't make him any less a British subject (although he is no longer paying taxes there, of course!).

The rest of the discussion (about using the NHS after leaving the country) really isn't for me to say. Doesn't seem exactly right to me, but then again, I didn't pay into that system for years so take that for what its worth.

But yes you're right - the officers at a US POE will not care one iota if you leave to use the UK health system. All they are concerned with is your right to re-enter (which you can do freely with your green card and UK passport). What the UK might think of that, I have no idea.

*edited for typo*

Those of my male ancestors who are not riddled with bullets by the Germans tend to live well into their 90's, and then die of boredom when they can't find any more wrong thinking to correct...

I don't think US insurers cover 'boredom' so I may have to return at that point...(NHS has no exclusions)

alright now fruit and vegetable time