Health Insurance while waiting on Green Card

[Anna92 107]

Hi,

 

I was wondering how easy it was to get health Insurance while waiting on your Green Card to come after arriving in the US (K1).

 

I want to have health Insurance right after I arrive in the US, is that possible?

 

 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

2 hours ago, Anna92 said:

Hi,

I was wondering how easy it was to get health Insurance while waiting on your Green Card to come after arriving in the US (K1).

I want to have health Insurance right after I arrive in the US, is that possible?

How does your fiancé get their health insurance, is it through the market place or their employer? 

[Anna92 107]

5 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

How does your fiancé get their health insurance, is it through the market place or their employer? 

The market!

[little immigrant 800]

I'm not sure if your fiance can add you to his. But when I arrived, I didn't have health insurance for two months. Until I was covered through my job. And I'm chronically ill. I took three months worth of medication with me from home when I moved here. Take care of yourself. 

[Unlockable 7,306]

Well, money still reigns supreme. Out of pocket pay is accessible to EVERYONE. With a lot of research you can find plans that will give you the coverage you need.

Edited October 29, 2018 by NuestraUnion

[HP+IC 292]

5 hours ago, Anna92 said:

Hi,

 

I was wondering how easy it was to get health Insurance while waiting on your Green Card to come after arriving in the US (K1).

 

I want to have health Insurance right after I arrive in the US, is that possible?

 

 

This was one of the first questions we discussed with my fiance after he proposed. He gets his from his employer so adding me and my son to his plan is a matter of a few months after marriage and way before we get our GCs. But K1 is technically a temporary and not an immigrant visa at all so I think about purchasing a travel insurance in my country. It will be a dozen of times cheaper than paying right out of the pocket and may work.

[Unlockable 7,306]

4 minutes ago, HP+IC said:

This was one of the first questions we discussed with my fiance after he proposed. He gets his from his employer so adding me and my son to his plan is a matter of a few months after marriage and way before we get our GCs. But K1 is technically a temporary and not an immigrant visa at all so I think about purchasing a travel insurance in my country. It will be a dozen of times cheaper than paying right out of the pocket and may work.

Usually, marriage is a life changing event so most employee based insurance give you 30 days after marriage to add your spouse and stepchild(ren). This is what I did with my wife soon after we were married. Simply sent in our marriage cert to the insurer.

[HP+IC 292]

1 minute ago, NuestraUnion said:

Usually, marriage is a life changing event so most employee based insurance give you 30 days after marriage to add your spouse and stepchild(ren). This is what I did with my wife soon after we were married. Simply sent in our marriage cert to the insurer.

That's great to hear. Immigration is quite a journey and I may be confused with time frames for several important events. I know lots of things must and will happen within the first 3 to 4 months following marriage but I am not yet sure which is which. 30 days is great but doesn't leave me comfortable because of my kid. Is it effective immediately upon adding or adding is simply an application?

[Unlockable 7,306]

1 minute ago, HP+IC said:

That's great to hear. Immigration is quite a journey and I may be confused with time frames for several important events. I know lots of things must and will happen within the first 3 to 4 months following marriage but I am not yet sure which is which. 30 days is great but doesn't leave me comfortable because of my kid. Is it effective immediately upon adding or adding is simply an application?

For my insurer it was relatively quick. I called and told them that I got married and they gave me a link only to make the changes to my dependents. I had to send in supporting documents like the marriage cert, my wife's SSI and ID's. I do believe there was a questionnaire on the health history of my wife but since there were no preexisting conditions she did not have to do a physical. It only took a day to update her in the system. She received her insurance card a couple of weeks later. By the next paycheck I saw the hit (deduction difference). LOL

 

Be advised to contact your insurer now to see if they have the same policy. For most people 30 days is not a lot of time and we have definitely seen cases on here of people missing that deadline to add their spouse.

[Alekezam 161]

19 minutes ago, HP+IC said:

That's great to hear. Immigration is quite a journey and I may be confused with time frames for several important events. I know lots of things must and will happen within the first 3 to 4 months following marriage but I am not yet sure which is which. 30 days is great but doesn't leave me comfortable because of my kid. Is it effective immediately upon adding or adding is simply an application?

I just contacted my employer's insurance and was told that all I needed to submit is the marriage certificate and they would simply update my coverage to include my fiancee. 

 

And just to make sure I also asked them if I needed to provide any other identification information such as SSN, GC, etc. and was told that I didn't need any of those items. Just the marriage certificate. 

 

So I suppose it just depends on your specific insurance provider. 

 

I forgot to ask about the time frame that you need to get this in due to a life changing event but I wasn't too concerned with that as we were planning on getting married within the same week she arrives. 

 

To answer your question on when the insurance kicks in, I was told that it is retroactive to the date of the actual marriage. Again, my information is based on my specific insurance provider so it may vary from provider to provider but I have no reason to believe yours would be similar. 

 

Hope that helps. 

[HP+IC 292]

5 minutes ago, Alekezam said:

I just contacted my employer's insurance and was told that all I needed to submit is the marriage certificate and they would simply update my coverage to include my fiancee. 

 

And just to make sure I also asked them if I needed to provide any other identification information such as SSN, GC, etc. and was told that I didn't need any of those items. Just the marriage certificate. 

 

So I suppose it just depends on your specific insurance provider. 

 

I forgot to ask about the time frame that you need to get this in due to a life changing event but I wasn't too concerned with that as we were planning on getting married within the same week she arrives. 

 

To answer your question on when the insurance kicks in, I was told that it is retroactive to the date of the actual marriage. Again, my information is based on my specific insurance provider so it may vary from provider to provider but I have no reason to believe yours would be similar. 

 

Hope that helps. 

Much different you wanted to say? He's in a city job and to the best of my knowledge he has Aetna. Probably this is why he wants us to get married asap upon arrival. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by HP+IC

[Jenny17655 283]

I went into the NY State of Health marketplace when my husband (then fiance) arrived.  He was able to get insurance no problem.  If you are not in NY then the website is www.healthcare.gov

 

[Anna92 107]

1 hour ago, HP+IC said:

This was one of the first questions we discussed with my fiance after he proposed. He gets his from his employer so adding me and my son to his plan is a matter of a few months after marriage and way before we get our GCs. But K1 is technically a temporary and not an immigrant visa at all so I think about purchasing a travel insurance in my country. It will be a dozen of times cheaper than paying right out of the pocket and may work.

How does that work,  buying a travel insurance in your own country? We have that too in my country, but you leave there. Who pays for the doctorbills?

[HP+IC 292]

3 minutes ago, Anna92 said:

How does that work,  buying a travel insurance in your own country? We have that too in my country, but you leave there. Who pays for the doctorbills?

It depends. Either they directly speak to medical specialist/hospital and approve all expenses before they are actually incurred and what happens next is none of your business. Or you pay and save bills and they reimburse you later. I think, for Ukrainian providers it is country-specific. A simple medical (no flight delay, no baggage/document loss, no child care/body repatriation etc) short-term travel insurance with a 75K limit per person may cost in between $100 and 300 for two and should work. Technically it should work because on K1 you are sort of visiting and remain resident in your country until you file for AOS or even longer.

 

[C-ma'am 684]

**Post moved from K1 to Moving to the US and Your New Life in America, where similar posts are discussed