K-1 Health Insurance

[Mrs Ryan Carreras 247]

Usually you can add your spouse to your plan if it’s a life changing event -

marriage, death, or birth and that is a 30 day window. 

Insurance in the USA is awful. I have private insurance and mine will double as well but the alternative .. god forbid ..something happen and out of pocket you end up owing the hospital a years of wages. 

I just had a 4 night stay recently and pay 1,500 a month and my out of pocket was $7,500 for the surgery. 

It would have been around $25,000 had I not had coverage. 

No coverage in the USA unfortunately can be the downfall of a couple very quickly for one incident. 

At a minimum, I would find at least a high deductible plan when you arrive just in case. 

Good luck 👍 

[Mezyan 149]

4 hours ago, payxibka said:

Your employer must only subsidize the employee cost and not family cost

Depends on state you are located in. Sometimes they don't even subsidize the employee.

[Rose711 35]

11 hours ago, Magician50 said:

Yes, I know. it is ridiculous. U.S. health care is run by a bunch of gangsters. The thing is that I don't even need doctors here for regular visits as I'll be returning to Italy often and have my doctors there. I'm just looking for some affordable option to cover those catastrophic situations and emergency room care. The research goes on.

Just be careful of how much time you spend out of the country. You can be considered to have abandoned your status if you are gone too much. You may be questioned at the border as well about many trips back to your former home.

[Loren Y 2,732]

My insurance went from 43 dollars a paycheck to over 190 a paycheck. Welcome to the worst insurance in the world. It is blue Cross blue shield also. But you need it. See my previous post about how expensive it can be for a trip to the hospital for emergency surgery. Yes, I lived it. Did get an expedited EAD out of it.

[QueenComley 295]

I come from a country where health care if FREE so moving here and seeing how much healthcare cost was a complete shock for me!!!

 

For my husband to add me to his insurance would cost him an additional $400 a month - He only pays $50 a month for himself - Its crazy.

 

I have a Humana plan luckily through my work now. I pay $200 a month towards it and my employer pays the other $200. I also have teledoc, but a ridiculously high deductible.

 

A recluse spider bite cost me and ER visit and even with insurance I had to pay close to $5000. Im still paying off the darn bill. But without insurance I would of been in a financial mess.

 

I have hated spiders ever since.

Edited September 11, 2019 by QueenComley

[Nitas_man 3,100]

23 hours ago, Magician50 said:

My next question is that I checked with blue cross/shield about adding me and it would be 700 dollars more per month to do this. There must be a cheaper option than this without putting us in the poor house. 

Afraid not

 

Note:  You’re eligible to be added to her plan as soon as you get married.

 

700 bucks is pretty cheap.  Probably not very good insurance.

 

LOL When we moved back to the US we were paying $2800 / month for a family plan.

 

Gotta pay to play  my friend.  Welcome to ‘Merica

 

 

 

 

[optlh0 19]

If your husbands company covers domestic partners, they may cover you before marriage. My company covers domestic partners so I just had to sign an affidavit that said we live together and we're in a committed relationship. That covered her from day one here until we got married. After marriage we switched it from her being my domestic partner to my wife. Yeah, not cheap though adding a family member  We did not need her to have a social security number first. Good luck! 

Edited September 12, 2019 by optlh0

[Magician50 2]

6 hours ago, Ed&Midori1031 said:

As soon as my wife and I were married, I added her and her son to my insurance plan, it was simple.  Not a requirement to have a green card first. 

Thanks. I checked and you are right, however it is incredibly expensive on my plan. Hmmm, gotta find a cheaper option. 

[Magician50 2]

6 hours ago, Highmystic said:

Shop around.  If you do not foresee any short term medical expense (meaning you are pretty healthy),  you can find something cheap.  I got a company who signed her up for like $137 a month until she can get  a better plan through her employer.

Good idea. No preexisting conditions, so that is good. I'm finding the health care system in the U.S. incredibly bulky and complicated. Really not that efficient. 

[Magician50 2]

1 hour ago, Loren Y said:

My insurance went from 43 dollars a paycheck to over 190 a paycheck. Welcome to the worst insurance in the world. It is blue Cross blue shield also. But you need it. See my previous post about how expensive it can be for a trip to the hospital for emergency surgery. Yes, I lived it. Did get an expedited EAD out of it.

Yes, I know, it is crazy. I know the risks too of not having it. It's a tough situation because my budget is not that big. 

 

[Magician50 2]

31 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Afraid not

 

Note:  You’re eligible to be added to her plan as soon as you get married.

 

700 bucks is pretty cheap.  Probably not very good insurance.

 

LOL When we moved back to the US we were paying $2800 / month for a family plan.

 

Gotta pay to play  my friend.  Welcome to ‘Merica

 

 

 

 

2800 a month? Like I said in my previous post. U.S. health care is run by a bunch of gangsters. 

[Magician50 2]

1 hour ago, QueenComley said:

I come from a country where health care if FREE so moving here and seeing how much healthcare cost was a complete shock for me!!!

 

For my husband to add me to his insurance would cost him an additional $400 a month - He only pays $50 a month for himself - Its crazy.

 

I have a Humana plan luckily through my work now. I pay $200 a month towards it and my employer pays the other $200. I also have teledoc, but a ridiculously high deductible.

 

A recluse spider bite cost me and ER visit and even with insurance I had to pay close to $5000. Im still paying off the darn bill. But without insurance I would of been in a financial mess.

 

I have hated spiders ever since.

Yes, it's nuts here with health care. Sorry about the spider. Those are nasty things. One thing is for sure, and that is I am retiring to a country that has national health care.

[Magician50 2]

4 hours ago, Rose711 said:

Just be careful of how much time you spend out of the country. You can be considered to have abandoned your status if you are gone too much. You may be questioned at the border as well about many trips back to your former home.

America, land of the free.

[Magician50 2]

5 hours ago, Sarah n Ryan said:

Usually you can add your spouse to your plan if it’s a life changing event -

marriage, death, or birth and that is a 30 day window. 

Insurance in the USA is awful. I have private insurance and mine will double as well but the alternative .. god forbid ..something happen and out of pocket you end up owing the hospital a years of wages. 

I just had a 4 night stay recently and pay 1,500 a month and my out of pocket was $7,500 for the surgery. 

It would have been around $25,000 had I not had coverage. 

No coverage in the USA unfortunately can be the downfall of a couple very quickly for one incident. 

At a minimum, I would find at least a high deductible plan when you arrive just in case. 

Good luck 👍 

Yes, I know, the whole thing sucks. This issue alone may cause us to move back to Italy. 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

Just now, Magician50 said:

America, land of the free.

I was paying COBRA.  Between jobs

11 minutes ago, Magician50 said:

Thanks. I checked and you are right, however it is incredibly expensive on my plan. Hmmm, gotta find a cheaper option. 

Or a better job.  Now I pay about 450 for family.