fatbrit

No mandates. You have to be sh!t poor for the state Medicaid program -- ACCHS. PCIP (the Obamacare interim plan) is only available after 6 months without insurance. Though it's a great and very affordable plan (I'm on it myself!), it disappears in 2014 as the main Obamacare legislation cuts in.

If OP is in Maricopa and needs medical care without insurance, she needs to go here: www.mihs.org. She'll be fleeced, but not totally fleeced.

Mummy in the foothills

Even if she were dirt poor, isn't she the responsibility of the person/people who sponsored her visa and not eligible for programs for so many years or has that bit been done away with. I know my Dh had to sign stuff making him responsible when we got married and applied for my green card.

fatbrit

You certainly still sign for responsibility. I've never read of anyone actually getting dinged with medical bills by the feds, though. Of course, AZ is a community property state, so your spouse is going to be targeted by medical billers, anyway.

Bob

So you don't need to have been a MA resident for 12 months first any more then?

nun

No, you still need to meet the residency requirements.

Nutmegger

The very first thing you should do -- in fact he should have done this before he was married -- is have your husband contact his insurer, say I'm married now, and I want to add my spouse to my policy. Just call and ask them immediately. If -- just for the sake of argument -- he already had a company insurance plan set up, he would still be adding you to his coverage as his spouse, not as an employee.

jeffreyhy

Her sponsor is responsible to see that she has a minimum level of income, and for repaying any government means-tested benefits that may have been granted (if asked for reimbursement by the government agency that provided the benefits).

The sponsor is not responsible, under the I-864, for paying the immigrant's bills. The immigrant's spouse or others may be responsible for other reasons, but not as the sponsor of the immigrant.

Regards, JEff

Zyssi

When I first moved to the US I didn't think I would be eligible for the company policy due to the pre-existing condition clause. However, this is not the case. If you can prove you had coverage in your home country before moving here. I provided the insurance company with the details of my UK National Insurance number. They verified it and the pre-existing issue was resolved. There were also a number of insurance companies out there willing to provide cover despite my newcomer status. Good luck.

ian-mstm

A word of warning to people reading... you only have 62 days in which to get US insurance coverage in this manner. On day 63, you will not get coverage for a pre-existing condition that was covered by the NHS.

Ian

GeoffM

To add to that, note that travel insurance and most temporary health insurance plans (eg Seven Corners inbound immigrant, plus others) do not count towards prior credible coverage.

SanDiegogirl

The OP's spouse has an individual policy - you can't add a spouse to an individual policy.

The US spouse would have to change his plan to a family one to include new spouse.

Nutmegger

You are absolutely correct, the word I should have used is "convert" -- but I still feel that their first call should be to his insurer to see if, as a current customer, he can convert to a family plan.

Mummy in the foothills

Thats what we did when Dh changed jobs, I had an individual plan and he and the kids had cover for free from work, then the new job didn't cover anyone for so many hours of work (4 months or so) so I changed the plan to a family one and covered everyone till his new insurance came into play and we all went onto that works plan.