I-944 Health Insurance Options

[YvetteS 178]

13 hours ago, geowrian said:

 

...

8 Have not have established a permanent residency in the Destination Country"

 

 

I find this to be a grey area because whilst I am living here (under K-1 status) I am not technically a permanent resident until my green card is approved, no? 

[geowrian 22,335]

7 minutes ago, YvetteS said:

I find this to be a grey area because whilst I am living here (under K-1 status) I am not technically a permanent resident until my green card is approved, no? 

Ambiguity at its finest. When in doubt, my faith is not in the insurance company coming to my back.

For example, what is the permanent residency of somebody who overstays a visa for 10 years? What about a child who jumped the border with their parent? It would be a very big stretch to say they live abroad just because they lack a green card.

What about 1 year overstay? 6 months? 3 months but they bought a house and have the mail delivered there and a state ID?

 

Immigration status and insurance contracts are very different. I cannot say with certainty which way the insurance company will rule in those cases, mainly because it's not as simple as a a hard line of having a card or not.

Edit: Anyway, the point is to research and know exactly what will and won't be covered.

Edited April 7, 2020 by geowrian

[nelmagriffin 140]

Greetings!

Can someone please enlighten us with this topic. I have read that they may accept Temporary Health Insurance providing that it is at least 364 days, but some states do not cover temporary for up to 364 days but rather 180 days and not renewable for another 180 more. Is it okay to just get the temporary for 180 days? rather than nothing. Is it true that this are effectice last Feb 24, 2020 applicants? and not including those who applied like 10 years back and just recently have their visa availability current? I almost consider buying 180 days here in Michigan via Pivot Health for $69.00 a month just so they have something to show during their interview. Please help. Thanks, NG

[Boiler 43,396]

I will just speak for myself and as somebody who had the misfortune to work for far too long in the Insurance Industry.

 

Permanent residency is not being used in the US sense of Legal Permanent Resident, I know since coming here it seems every entity I have had dealings with has a different definition of what residency counts as.

 

As far as I was concerned my move was a permanent one, I did not retain job etc to go back to, I intended to stay and have so far done so. I sort of assume I will be buried here but who knows. So in my case Colorado became my Permanent Residence once I got of the aircraft. Now I have seen a couple fo cases over many years where people have used a K1 to enter marry and leave, which I why I do not like being too definitive about anything. Seems unbelievably rare and I doubt is applicable here.

[Lil bear 3,831]

17 hours ago, YvetteS said:

I definitely do hope. I'm sorry to hear that.

I only intend to use the short term insurance until I can get my EAD and can get a job with subsidized health insurance. That's my plan anyway. 

 

It's all a huge culture shock to me, after coming from a country where I have never had to think about access to health care. In Australia, we all have access to it (regardless of income). It's so sad to see how expensive it is to access even basic health care here

From one Aussie to another ... yep.. it’s a whole different world here .. it will have you pulling your hair out and longing for that beautiful little green Medicare card, BUPA and HiCaps. Dream on.  PM me any time ! 

[YvetteS 178]

On 4/7/2020 at 5:00 PM, geowrian said:

At the very least, get it in writing that whatever plan would actually cover your specific circumstances. The marketing on websites and the actual policy documents tend not to always align with expectations.

They sometimes use terms like "for new immigrants" that imply coverage once you come to the US, but are really only covering people who are coming temporarily to the US then returning abroad for some time (until they are ready to permanently move). Technically correct, but it's probably not the circumstances most people think of when they hear "new immigrant insurance".

 

There are private plans available. They are better than nothing. They're not great (especially during a pandemic...), but it's something at least.

I really appreciate your input on this discussion. At the very least it's nice having someone to discuss it with.  

 

After some more digging I have found what I believe to be insurance which is better than the others I was previously looking at. I have been looking into some international insurance which covers worldwide and the US and they seem like reputable companies. This is some of whom I'm looking at:

 

https://www.cignaglobal.com/international-medical-insurance

 

https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/index.cfm (I know it says travel insurance, but they also offer worldwide health insurance, including cover in the US)

[geowrian 22,335]

On 4/9/2020 at 5:55 PM, YvetteS said:

I really appreciate your input on this discussion. At the very least it's nice having someone to discuss it with.  

 

After some more digging I have found what I believe to be insurance which is better than the others I was previously looking at. I have been looking into some international insurance which covers worldwide and the US and they seem like reputable companies. This is some of whom I'm looking at:

 

https://www.cignaglobal.com/international-medical-insurance

 

https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/index.cfm (I know it says travel insurance, but they also offer worldwide health insurance, including cover in the US)

Sorry for the delay....this was going to take some time to look at so I was waiting for a lull in my routine.

 

1) CIGNA

As always, do your own research and ask questions. I did do a read through of what they offered and did not see anything that raised a concern about coverage while in the US awaiting a green card. No such language like from the other policies could be located. This is not a guarantee, but I am unable to find an issue with it covering a condition while in the US.

I will add that the overages on this plan are much better than the prior plans IMHO. I have not looked at the costs....I'm going to assume it's more costly than them too (probably a couple/few hundred/month?). But for a non-ACA plan, it's actually not bad (this is a praise...most plans we see have awful coverage).

Disclosure: I have a CIGNA plan myself (via my employer).

 

2) Geo Blue

This is a set of plans so it took a bit to try to find one that may apply. The closest one I saw was XPLORER Premier, but even that had a clause that may disqualify you: "The Eligible Member must be scheduled to reside outside of his/her home country for at least 3 months per year."

I also tried the VOYAGER but that had similar wordings to that of the prior plans regarding home country, and coverage in the home country was excluded.

TREKKER requires a primary plan in addition to it (it's a secondary coverage plan in the event of a gap in the primary plan).

This would be another case of "be absolutely sure you verify with them that they would actually cover you in your specific circumstances".

Edited April 12, 2020 by geowrian

[Crazy Cat 39,186]

9 minutes ago, geowrian said:

1) CIGNA

As always, do your own research and ask questions. I did do a read through of what they offered and did not see anything that raised a concern about coverage while in the US awaiting a green card. No such language like from the other policies could be located. This is not a guarantee, but I am unable to find an issue with it covering a condition while in the US.

I will add that the overages on this plan are much better than the prior plans IMHO. I have not looked at the costs....I'm going to assume it's more costly than them too (probably a couple/few hundred/month?). But for a non-ACA plan, it's actually not bad (this is a praise...most plans we see have awful coverage).

Disclosure: I have a CIGNA plan myself (via my employer).

I like the way Cigna lays out their information.........I didn't look at their costs, but they seem to have a lot of options....

[Boiler 43,396]

A quick upvote for Geowrian for taking the time to go through that. Now I did a lot of Corporate plans some time ago, and back then a long time ago the standard limit was GBP5m with an option to go up to GBP10m. A very long time ago there was no maximum. Times changed. A long time ago as well the rating for the rest of the world was standard, when you had US travel involved you just doubled the cost.

 

I did look for the policy wording for Cigna but could not find it, just summaries, I would mention that the high limits are for the core cover and there are extensions with inner limits for what may be described as routine treatments. Certainly seems possible to but with low deductibles coinsurance high limits not what that would do to the premiums is another issue.

[YvetteS 178]

On 4/13/2020 at 5:26 AM, geowrian said:

Sorry for the delay....this was going to take some time to look at so I was waiting for a lull in my routine.

 

1) CIGNA

As always, do your own research and ask questions. I did do a read through of what they offered and did not see anything that raised a concern about coverage while in the US awaiting a green card. No such language like from the other policies could be located. This is not a guarantee, but I am unable to find an issue with it covering a condition while in the US.

I will add that the overages on this plan are much better than the prior plans IMHO. I have not looked at the costs....I'm going to assume it's more costly than them too (probably a couple/few hundred/month?). But for a non-ACA plan, it's actually not bad (this is a praise...most plans we see have awful coverage).

Disclosure: I have a CIGNA plan myself (via my employer).

 

2) Geo Blue

This is a set of plans so it took a bit to try to find one that may apply. The closest one I saw was XPLORER Premier, but even that had a clause that may disqualify you: "The Eligible Member must be scheduled to reside outside of his/her home country for at least 3 months per year."

I also tried the VOYAGER but that had similar wordings to that of the prior plans regarding home country, and coverage in the home country was excluded.

TREKKER requires a primary plan in addition to it (it's a secondary coverage plan in the event of a gap in the primary plan).

This would be another case of "be absolutely sure you verify with them that they would actually cover you in your specific circumstances".

Apologies for the delay in my reply. I called Cigna and enquired about their plan and they said that they cover Australians who are residing in the USA and it does not matter if the beneficiary is waiting on a GC or already has it, they are covered in both scenarios. The representitivr mentioned that coverage is based on my nationality and the country which I tell them I will be residing in. 

In your opinion, would this coverage qualify as sufficient insurance for the purpose of the I-944?

After many phone calls and lots of reading, it is definitely a suitable insurance for my personal needs, but with them being a global insurer and not strictly an American based insurance company, I have some concerns the USCIS officer may deem it not appropriate.

Thoughts?

Please someone tell me I'm just over thinking it. Sigh.

[geowrian 22,335]

2 minutes ago, YvetteS said:

Apologies for the delay in my reply. I called Cigna and enquired about their plan and they said that they cover Australians who are residing in the USA and it does not matter if the beneficiary is waiting on a GC or already has it, they are covered in both scenarios. The representitivr mentioned that coverage is based on my nationality and the country which I tell them I will be residing in. 

In your opinion, would this coverage qualify as sufficient insurance for the purpose of the I-944?

After many phone calls and lots of reading, it is definitely a suitable insurance for my personal needs, but with them being a global insurer and not strictly an American based insurance company, I have some concerns the USCIS officer may deem it not appropriate.

Thoughts?

Please someone tell me I'm just over thinking it. Sigh.

I'm not the IO so absolutely no guarantees, but IMHO I do not think it would raise a issue. It seems like you've done your homework at this point. 👍

[Boiler 43,396]

This is a new form and I do not think there is enough feedback on how it is viewed, especially when it comes to non normal methods of buying Health Insurance.

[YvetteS 178]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

This is a new form and I do not think there is enough feedback on how it is viewed, especially when it comes to non normal methods of buying Health Insurance.

I couldn't agree more.

 

Given that I feel very comfortable with their level of cover, it is if nothing else a plan which will help me if I need it. Whether it is good enough for I-944, I do not know. At this stage I am willing to be the guinea pig... wish me luck haha.

[YvetteS 178]

Where the instructions say to provide evidence for... "For each policy, a copy of each policy page showing the terms and type of coverage and individuals covered"

 

Are they saying they want literally every page in the policy? That's 44 pages???

[SeanDowney0309 47]

 

Hi, 

 

Sorry to jump in your thread, I have a question about health insurance. I am on my wife's work health insurance as her spouse. Below is a question on the I-944 form:

 

If you answered "Yes" to Item Number 15., when does your health insurance terminate or date that it must be renewed? (mm/dd/yyyy)

 

This question asks when my health insurance terminates or needs renewing, well I don't have an exact date. It only terminates if she were to leave the company and the exact renewal date is still tbd, sometime in the fall she was told. What date should I put? Should i explain the situation in the extra notes section?