Medical insurance options

[EmilyTim 3]

We were approved yesterday at the U.S. Embassy!! I'm hoping to fly out next month, but need to figure out health insurance beforehand. I currently have basic travel health insurance which is valid until the end of Nov 2019. 

I can't seem to find any helpful info online. Is my travel insurance valid? 

Is there a different insurance company I should use? And what happens after we're married (end of Aug/beginning Sept) - do I need to take out a new plan? 

I admit I'm pretty clueless about all of this, so thanks in advance for any help!

[debbiedoo 2,339]

once married your spouse can add you to their plan

[Boiler 45,670]

Travel Insurance is for when you are coming back.

 

32 minutes ago, debbiedoo said:

once married your spouse can add you to their plan

Agree, get married and get added.

[JFH 12,190]

*~*~*question about healthcare for new immigrants moved to “moving to the US” to be among similar threads*~*~*

[JeanneAdil 6,559]

the threshold to add you is limited to 30 days from date of marriage for most (not all) insurance health plans

if not added at this time,  he would have to wait till the yearly "change in insurance plans "  timeframe

[yuna628 9,680]

6 hours ago, EmilyTim said:

We were approved yesterday at the U.S. Embassy!! I'm hoping to fly out next month, but need to figure out health insurance beforehand. I currently have basic travel health insurance which is valid until the end of Nov 2019. 

I can't seem to find any helpful info online. Is my travel insurance valid? 

Is there a different insurance company I should use? And what happens after we're married (end of Aug/beginning Sept) - do I need to take out a new plan? 

I admit I'm pretty clueless about all of this, so thanks in advance for any help!

Congrats!

 

Now onto your options:

 

Travel insurance? Nope. No good as you touch this side of planet earth (unless your agent says otherwise). You are immigrating, not visiting. You can get insurances that are temporary or 'new immigrant' insurances, but these are subpar at best, and fiddly when it comes to coverage. It's not meant for something serious and long term.

 

For health insurance in the US there are a couple of ways to obtain:

 

1) Determine if your spouse has health insurance - either privately or via work. Marry and have that spouse add you for coverage. Try to do this as soon as possible. Ideally get your SSN before marriage and very soon after you arrive. It's not required to obtain health insurance by law, but it will make your time doing so a heck of a lot easier.

 

2) Sign up to Obamacare. The federal exchange is how a lot of people find coverage. It's not currently open enrollment, but you will have several special qualifying events that will trigger coverage. You will need to be married, and have applied for your adjustment of status. Again needs to be done as soon as possible. Wait too long, and you're stuck until open enrollment. In states that offer state exchanges you must choose those options first, rather than the federal exchange. In general, it's all the same thing.

 

3)Obtain insurance privately via any insurer in your state. Most of the plans are pretty much the same as what you can find on the exchanges. Shop around to see what's the best option for you. This is the option I took when my husband arrived to the US. We moved over to his employer coverage later on, when he was hired.

 

4) Medicare and Medicaid are off limits to you.

 

Note: Insurances in this country are expensive. Any discount that may be offered on the exchanges typically may not even apply to the average person, so very little savings may be had. They are typically on tiers. Low tiers offer cheaper monthly premiums but higher deductibles meaning more out of pocket expenses. Higher tiers offer more expensive premiums in exchange for lower out of pocket costs. My husband used to complain how much we were paying out of pocket a month, and then was shocked at how much his company was paying out of pocket for us both for our high tier plan - but boy... you never know how much joy you have when it's a $40,000+ hospital bill and you only owe a few hundred dollars.

 

 

 

[geowrian 22,337]

17 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

the threshold to add you is limited to 30 days from date of marriage for most (not all) insurance health plans

if not added at this time,  he would have to wait till the yearly "change in insurance plans "  timeframe

Moving to the US is almost always a Qualifying Life Event for enrollment outside the normal enrollment period. Any ACA-compliant plan must allow this.

 

For marketplace plans specifically, here's the list: https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage-outside-open-enrollment/special-enrollment-period/

There's a 60 day window on the above events.

Edited July 21, 2019 by geowrian