Pregnant and moving to the US without a job or health insurance

[Niceb 2]

I won the DV2015 lottery. My interview date is in January, and I don't see any reasons as to why I wouldn't be successful in obtaining a green card.

However, I am pregnant and my baby is due in June. Originally my husband and I had planned to move to the US after the baby was born (but activating our green cards before). Unfortunately, my husband got made redundant two weeks ago. It's going to take a minimum of four months to get a new job, if he's really lucky. With my husband's redundancy, we also lost our health insurance (we live in Brazil, so it pretty much essential to have). As I am already pregnant, I probably won't be covered by a new insurance policy. It will cost us at least $5-10k to pay for private. Going public here is very risky, and as I am 37, even more so.

We were thinking of just biting the bullet and moving to the US. Our savings would be wasted on just surviving here anyway, and at least if we moved to the US we could get set up, I could look for some short contract work, and my husband could look for a permanent job.

However, the cost of giving birth in the US really scares us. I went on the government website but I can't seem to get a real idea of how much it would cost us to have the baby there. Philadelphia is where we are thinking of moving to. Can anyone point me in the direction of someone/an organisation who can advise me on this matter? Also, as we will both be unemployed initially, would it be possible that we would qualify for Medicaid or the ACA? Sorry if my questions sound dumb. I don't really understand the US health system, and don't want to throw away our life savings giving birth. Any advice would be really helpful.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Niceb

[ForgottenNotes 12]

You should look into Obama care or the Affordable Health Care Act is the proper term I believe.

Edited November 25, 2014 by ForgottenNotes

[Bjorn&lyne 20]

Costs can vary anywhere from 3K to 40K depending if you need special services. You might qualify for Medicaid under the guidelines. Here is a link to information about that. The state you will move to will decide if you qualify or not so you need to research or contact the particular state and ask if you qualify under Medicaid in their state under your circumstances.

http://www.visitorscoverage.com/health-insurance/medicare-vs-medicaid/.

You mentioned Philadelphia, which is Pennsylvania, so here is the Medicaid link there you can use to contact them and ask.

http://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1148

Some other forums claim you need to have lived in the US at least 5 years and paid taxes to contribute to the system to qualify for Medicaid on Green Card.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100416085242AAWD1vo

Edited November 25, 2014 by Bjorn&lyne

[kzielu 1,147]

Typical bill is $20-30k, if you get insurance in time (which you will be eligible for once you are a resident), you'll probably pay $5-6k out of pocket expenses with your insurance.

[msbau764 245]

I won the DV2015 lottery. My interview date is in January, and I don't see any reasons as to why I wouldn't be successful in obtaining a green card.

However, I am pregnant and my baby is due in June. Originally my husband and I had planned to move to the US after the baby was born (but activating our green cards before). Unfortunately, my husband got made redundant two weeks ago. It's going to take a minimum of four months to get a new job, if he's really lucky. With my husband's redundancy, we also lost our health insurance (we live in Brazil, so it pretty much essential to have). As I am already pregnant, I probably won't be covered by a new insurance policy. It will cost us at least $5-10k to pay for private. Going public here is very risky, and as I am 37, even more so.

We were thinking of just biting the bullet and moving to the US. Our savings would be wasted on just surviving here anyway, and at least if we moved to the US we could get set up, I could look for some short contract work, and my husband could look for a permanent job.

However, the cost of giving birth in the US really scares us. I went on the government website but I can't seem to get a real idea of how much it would cost us to have the baby there. Philadelphia is where we are thinking of moving to. Can anyone point me in the direction of someone/an organisation who can advise me on this matter? Also, as we will both be unemployed initially, would it be possible that we would qualify for Medicaid or the ACA? Sorry if my questions sound dumb. I don't really understand the US health system, and don't want to throw away our life savings giving birth. Any advice would be really helpful.

If you are having financial problems, I would suggest not moving to the Northeast. The cost of living is very expensive. Try Texas. There are many jobs to be had here and the cost of living is a lot lower than up North.

[Niceb 2]

Thanks for all the replies. They have been very useful. It looks like we won't qualify for Medicaid as one needs to have lived in PA for at least five years. It looks like ACA is the way to go.

[Lorvin 45]

Congrats on getting the chance at a green card via the lottery! They don't give to many of those notices out to Ireland.

[Niceb 2]

Congrats on getting the chance at a green card via the lottery! They don't give to many of those notices out to Ireland.

Thanks, I've been doing the DV lottery since I was 22, and trying to get to the US via the sponsored job route with no luck, so I am truly delighted