Victoria34

Oops, second thread of the night but just had a thought.

Whilst we are looking to go for the L1 visa through my company, my husband is a type 1 diabetic. Would this cause any problems in terms of our application for the L1 and L2 visa? He very much wants to work out there.

Obviously, when we make the move to the US, we know we would have to pay for his medication.

Ozzidoc

It shouldn't be a problem from the visa perspective.

What makes you think that you will be paying for his medication? Have you ANY idea as to how much it would cost if you had to pay?

BW

Ozzio

Victoria34

Thanks so much. No, I have no idea. It was literally just a thought that crossed my mind as we have just decided to go for the visa.

SanDiegogirl

Moving to the US means that you HAVE to think seriously about Health Insurance cover. Since it is so expensive here (example visit to a GP here will cost approx $120.00;specialist more so, hospitals $800+ a day etc etc) if you don't have insurance you could have serious problems.

Your husband's condition should not affect getting the visa, nor to getting work if his condition is stable.

However it WILL affect him getting health insurance.

Since you are setting up a company with more than 2 employees presumably, you will be able to set up a GROUP health insurance scheme. You, as an employee, will be able to include your husband and children on the policy with relatively few or no pre-condition restrictions.

If you are not contemplating getting a Group health plan, then your next options are individual or family plans. Your husband is NOT likely to be offered one of these because of his pre-condition, or if he is then it will be with restrictions/and or a premium.

Similarly if you have pre-conditions you may have problems getting an individual policy. Your children, if under 18, come under the new Affordable Care Act and will be able to obtain health insurance policies without a problem.

You really need to think about this for your family.

Noorah101

You would be well advised to do tons of research on US Healthcare. Make sure you know what the employer is providing for health care. Make sure you know how much your preimiums will be, how much you'll have to pay for doctor visits, prescriptions, whether it's an in-network plan or out-of-network plan (HMO, PPO, etc). Make sure you know if you have a deductable, or if there is a cap you reach per year.

Don't just assume "oh, we'll just pay for his meds and all is fine".

For example, my husband is covered on my health insurance by my employer. He had a kidney stone attack and went to the ER for about 4 hours (in Los Angeles). The total bill came to about $15,000. We only had to pay $100 out of pocket. Make sure you have very good coverage!

Rene

SanDiegogirl

What I gather from her posts, the OP IS the company.

She has a company in the UK and is looking to transfer herself to a new office in the US.

She will be the one setting up the employer GROUP policy for the new company.

Noorah101

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

Rene

Victoria34

Yes. that is exactly right, but it's a small limited company so not huge and at this current stage, not a business that offers health care . So, with that it would have to be private individual insurance, which I know will cost. the question is , how much ?

Noorah101

You can find some online quotes, but you really won't know for sure until you actually speak to a representative of that insurance program. The online quotes are just very general, and don't take into account immigration status, etc.

Google "private individual health insurance" plus the name of the state you'll be living in. When you get some results, call them.

You'll have employees, won't you? Will you (the company) be offering health insurance to them? If so, you need to set up a "Group Plan", not Individual.

Rene

Victoria34

Thanks Rene, I will do. And thanks again to everyone that has advised. This is a great forum !

SanDiegogirl

It is not a case of offering health cover to your employees, you should be factoring health insurance costs for your family.

If you have 2 or more people employed by your company then you could get Group health insurance - one which is set up for a company. Strange I know that such a small company could be eligible for Group health insurance but it is possible.

You presumably would be employed by your new company and you should think of employing your husband in some capacity because he is VERY unlikely to get individual health insurance; whereas Group insurance has fewer restrictions with regard pre-conditions. With diabetes you could be looking at high costs for medication, treatment etc etc. Is your husband taking daily medications, using supplies etc etc?

I don't know how old your husband and you are but for general comparison costs my hubby and I (62/64) pay premiums of nearly $1,000 a month on an individual plan; and we consider ourselves healthy since we take no prescription drugs and have no ongoing problems. We also have a high deductible meaning the insurance does not kick in until we have paid for the first $5,000 worth of treatment/visits to doctors etc.

You also have children so you would need to pay monthly premiums for them too.

Take a look at ehealthinsurance.com which offers quotes on both Group and individual plans to find out ball park figures - but please take into consideration that these quotes are not final nor guaranteed until full medical history has been provided as per the application form.

Unfortunately, you have a lot to research regarding US health cover and with a diabetic husband if you don't have insurance you could, potentially, be looking at high costs.

Orangepants

The other thing to be aware of, as I have just arranged health insurance for husband, is that certain companies will only insure you after you have been resident for 6 months. Blue Cross of SC will only insure GC holders. As Rene said it can be dependant on immigration status. He now pays $350 a month but he is very healthy and has no existing conditions.

Duncan Roberts

Depending on the state, he might not be able to get insurance unless you get a group policy for the business. If it's a small number of employees it might be quite expensive, a grand per person per mointh would be a good starting point. Obviously you can pass off some of that cost to employees but if it's too much and not enough sign up then the insurance company might pull the offer.

The cash price for insulin depends on what type. Lantus, levemir, humalog, apidra and novolog will run about $115 a vial (1000 units) and $200 a box of pens (5x300 units), give or take $15 either way. Straight up NPH and regular can be picked up for a lot less, some places sell it for $10 a vial. If you go with a mix then you are back to the higher prices. Test strips run about $100 per 100 for the brand name meters, more if you by 25 or 50 packs. If you buy an off brand meter for about $10 you can usually cut the price close to 50%. If he is on a pump then figure about $140 for a 10 pack infusion sets and $40 for 10 reservoirs, unless it's an Omnipod in which case I believe they run around $350 per 10. Lab testing cash price for the basic diabetic stuff will run around $200 depending on the lab, $300-400 when you get cholesterol and kidney function done. Doctors visits will run around $100-200 depending on the doctor. Lab tests and doctor costs can vary a lot depending on where you go, prescriptions can as well but not so much. If you don't have a cast iron guarantee of insurance, do not move here. Diabetes is not something that you want to try and handle with no insurance, many, many people die each year because they don't have the resources to treat it.

Victoria34

Apologies for taking so long to respond to this.

He's on Levemir an Novorapid and we are looking at California.

So basically, am I right in understanding that it is unlikely he would get insurance as easily as myself who is healthy if we tried to get a family kind of cover, but I could get insurance if I ran it through my business?

Presumably, if that were to happen, he would have to be down as an employee?

Either way, from all the helpful comments, it looks like it is going to be very expensive

Egon

It's really hard to give even an estimate because so many factors are involved but my wife and I are currently on private insurance and it's around $600 a month. The coverage is - to be blunt - rubbish.

We're hoping to get work based insurance sorted as soon as possible because the stark reality is we'd could be bankrupted very easily on our current plan.