carcajou

As others have said, you can be added to your partner's plan, and you can purchase temporary coverage. Your travel policy will not be valid.

You don't need a social security number to get health insurance. There is absolutely no law or requirement in the US to have a social security number. It was originally something used to track income for Social Security purposes, and was common for kids not to get them until they were teenagers. Only in the last 20 years or so have they become something of a de facto national ID number.

Your life, and dealings with bureaucracy, will be immeasurably easier to have one, but it's not a legal requirement (ie, certain financial institutions etc are required to provide them to the IRS, but if you aren't dealing with that, you don't need to have one etc). You have to go really off-the-grid to avoid it but it is possible.

Sarah

Married, my husband went back to college to finish his degree. Neither of us went to the doctor or dentist for 2 years. Welcome to the USA!