I-751 health insurance issues, best course of action?

[mirrortraveler 1]

Hey all, 

 

These will hopefully be the last questions I have to ask before finally sending our I-751 package. Sadly, this is also our most difficult issue in the process so far.

Sorry this is such a long story, but please bear with me: 

 

We have had a lot of problems with Health Insurance Marketplace (aka Healthcare.gov) since 2015. At first, there was the issue with them not allowing me to get on my husband's health insurance plan. I received my Green Card in September of 2015, but in order to get on the same health insurance plan, they made us sign up for a brand new one. This process took a while and we weren't officially covered jointly until March of 2016. From that point onward, we had to switch insurances twice as not all the information on our choices was disclosed right away and we ended up with plans that did not work for us. We finally settled on the plan that we are on now in July of 2016 and have had the same health insurance plan ever since. 

 

We have had to wait for the overdue correct paperwork for a long time, but Health Insurance Marketplace has now finally given us three consecutive 1095a documents for 2016, showing all the times so far that we have been covered jointly. They are having trouble producing paperwork saying that we have been covered for 2017 as well, but Florida Blue, our actual health insurance provider, has that covered. The evidence that we have from them, however, still has our previous address on them (we moved in November of last year), since address changes have to go through Health Insurance Marketplace and...let's just say they are having problems getting that to work as well. We have tried our best, called them almost every other day, but we are at a point right now where we are running out of time, have to just send what we have in health insurance-related documents with our I-751 and hope for the best. 

 

My questions are: 

1) Could USCIS take issue with the fact that we were not jointly insured until March of 2016, considering I arrived in 2015? 

2) Should we send those 1095a forms as proof and explain the circumstances in a letter? Should we send all of them, or only the ones that show both of us insured? Or will that just raise more questions? 

3) I don't drive, so can't be on my husband's car insurance and the only other joint insurance plan we have proof of is renter's insurance, which we signed up for merely a month ago. Will it be enough if we can prove that we have had health insurance since the beginning of the year, even if the address information is outdated? 

 

Thank you very much for your help in advance! 

 

 

[phildinftlaudy 17]

My partner doesn't have health insurance. He elects not to have it and because of my income, we are not eligible for any subsidies through the marketplace. Purchasing on the marketplace or getting coverage for my spouse through work would come with a monthly premium of $900 and a deductible of over $6,000 before the insurance would even kick in.  Long story short, it is not illegal not to have health insurance. We have elected to pay the fee associated with the individual mandate on our income tax rather than get insurance at this time.

 

Insurance, in and of itself does not show a relationship. It may offer some additional support, but I wouldn't see where not having it would cause a problem - especially if there is other evidence that supports and even more clearly shows co-mingling of finances, relationship, etc. In your case, you at least have some documents that reflect periods of coverage, so you could include those with a brief explanation. I plan on using a plethora of other documentation to show our relationship and I'm not concerned about the insurance issue --- even more so now that it has become even more politicized and there is talk about doing away with (or not enforcing) the individual mandate component of the current ACA.  

[f f 725]

they won't care about multiple insurances.

however they would care about joint assets and liabilities.

are you both on the title for the car, both on the lease? joint bank accounts and utilities in both your names? went on trips together? able to use each others credit cards?

essentially things that could be used or taken that would hurt the other since to grant them access you are giving them a level of trust you would mot give a regular friend.