jasonatlantica

Thank you for all the responses. 
In answering a few of the issues brought up,  I have marketplace (healthcare.gov) coverage due to my self employment, 

therefore I dont have work insurance to add her to. 

After she arrived in Jan 2018, looked into the marketplace to add her and was rebuffed.  

There's a questionnaire asking if the applicant is a US Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card). (Only 2 options presented)

Upon answering No, the message responds with a "Sorry this applicant does not qualify for marketplace coverage at this time."
The healthcare.gov system did not allow us to proceed further, nor were there any options to select other statuses such as H-visas, K-visas, asylum, people in-process of becoming a greencard holder, etc.

I looked into ALL the insurance company options directly including Florida Blue Cross/Shield, Aetna, United, etc and every single one referred me to the healthcare.gov site to sign up for coverage.  Apparently, due to Obamacare they dont allow anyone to sign up for coverage directly anymore.

(Not sure if this is nationwide or strictly a Florida rule)

It seems to me that applying early for a SSN number wouldnt have helped anything, because she still would have to answer "No" to the above citizenship/greencard question.

Since she didnt make any money last year she technically doesnt need to file taxes for 2018. When I looked into filing as "Married filing Singly"

The higher taxes I would have to pay seem to be close to the $600 penalty for not having healthcare.

Either way I think Ill end up having to pay.

-- Flummoxed in Florida --

Hello all, 

I am new to your site and thought I would post a question that I can't seem to find an answer for.

My finance came in 2018 and we married on a K1 Visa.  She received her work and travel permit in mid-December. 

Now that she has a social security number I will have to do our taxes as Married filing Jointly, I believe. 

As I work through the process, I come to the Obamacare questionnaire about how many months I or she had health coverage.

Im self-employed and had marketplace coverage for most of the year last year. I was not able to get qualifying coverage for her yet

because she wasnt a citizen and had no SSN for most of the year. 

Here's the rub: It appears to be penalizing us for her not having coverage for the whole year,

yet because of her status, she didnt qualify to get coverage to begin with.  Catch 22?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thank you

Jason