Obamacare while waiting for adjustment of status on K-1

[jbm1700 0]

Hi everyone,

My (now) wife came to the U.S. on the fiancee K-1 visa. We got married in November and are now filing for the adjustment of status. We have been trying to research the question of whether she is able to apply for the Affordable Care Act. The Obamacare hotline does not seem very helpful. Have any of you guys tried it? Would be very grateful for any suggestions!

On their website it says that applicants applying for the LPR adjustment of status are eligible for the Obamacare (https://www.healthcare.gov/help/immigration-status-questions/) Do you think that K-1 visa holders fall into this category?

Thanks in advance everyone!

Joe

[Lynkali 163]

I can't answer this 100% yet, but all indications point to YES. My husband came on K-1 in September, and we filed for AOS in November. In December, we sent in our application to Covered California (the state Obamacare exchange) and on Dec 31, we were approved and they told us that our insurance company would be sending us a bill. We did have to use the paper application and attach copies of his AOS NOA1 -- the website did not have any provision for that particular document or a way to prove my husband's legal status, but the paper version worked well, it appears.

I'm still waiting for the bill so there COULD still be a hiccup in the process, but we will be getting the federal subsidy and purchasing our insurance on the Exchange.

That's completely different from the other side of the ACA, the Medicaid expansion -- I have no input at all as to whether K-1/AOSers would qualify for that. We're purely using the federal subsidy and purchasing regular insurance via the exchange website, which is still saving us more than $600/month compared to the open market.

[jbm1700 0]

Hi Lynkali,

Thank you very much for your useful answer. We'll keep researching! If anything comes up - will let you know.

Cheers!

[slowlyman 118]

You are no longer a K-1 visa holder. The K-1 is a one time entry visa which expired on entry.

The I-94 gives you legal status until it expires, then your pending AOS is your status.

Anyone can buy insurance on the exchange or directly from the provider. Obamacare is the law that dictates requirements for carriers and policy holders.

The short answer is yes, she can apply for any insurance she likes. The only question they can ask is do you smoke? Further, if she has a SSN and income in 2014 and files taxes, she will be penalized if she does not have a qualifying policy.

Subsidy amount is based on total household income & number of people in the household. Again, there are no questions involved with qualifying other then income.

Edited January 8, 2014 by slowlyman

[Lynkali 163]

Subsidy amount is based on total household income & number of people in the household. Again, there are no questions involved with qualifying other then income.

Mostly true, but they do verify your immigration status -- you have to check a box either Citizen or LPR, and then for LPR, give supporting documentation such as your greencard or other residence/AOS information. So someone completely out-of-status will not be eligible, but anyone doing things the right way will be approved after showing proper documentation.

[slowlyman 118]

Mostly true, but they do verify your immigration status -- you have to check a box either Citizen or LPR, and then for LPR, give supporting documentation such as your greencard or other residence/AOS information. So someone completely out-of-status will not be eligible, but anyone doing things the right way will be approved after showing proper documentation.

We were not asked any question about status and we provided no documentation.

[Lynkali 163]

We were not asked any question about status and we provided no documentation.

Okay, I guess it must vary on the state exchanges. Here in California we did have to provide documentation and it was a required checkbox on both the online application as well as the printed paper version. So I guess if you have a state exchange it may be different from the federal healthcare.gov site.

[slowlyman 118]

We went directly through the insurance company.