Duncan Roberts

Yes and no. It's not a requirement that the company has to extend the policy to cover spouses and/or children so there may not be an option to add anyone to the policy. It's not uncommon now for employers to offer employee only or employee + child policies. However, if there is a spousal policy they can't be denied a group policy, but depending on a few things the insurance company doesn't need to cover pre-existing conditions right off the bat, they can exclude them for up to 18 months depending on a few things like your health insurance history and how you enrolled in the plan.

JCSky

Thanks again everyone. Aside from insurance, do you think that his diabetes will stop him from getting the visa? He is in good health otherwise, just wondering about the medical?

ian-mstm

No.

Ian

Bob

And they don't have to offer any benefits from day one either, so it is quite common seeing it being offered after a probationary period of 90 days, which would break the continuous coverage, so that pre-existings can be excluded, so the employers premiums can be reduced.

Giantaxe

I've never made that connection before but it's a really good rationale as to why so many employers won't give coverage for 90 days. What a completely screwed up mess health care access is in this country.

lyonsden1193

Our office sees so many people who get caught in this one. Although it is expensive, try and get a 'catastrophic care' policy to keep the cost down but throws the break in coverage out. If you have a ongoing med condition it can save you a bucket load of money over an 18 month period.

Mummy in the foothills

We got around that one with Dh's new job by me continuing to pay for cover for the whole family, on a policy we had bought ourselves due to the old jobs useless coverage. We both had preexisting conditions and didn't want to be denied anything connected with that. It cost quite a bit and we felt so poor for a few months but it all worked out.
Once the company cover kicked in, we let the boys out and told them to go break a leg

Steve_

Ha, diabetes coverage in the US, I could write a book on the subject.

First of all, the US still uses the old units of measurement for measuring blood sugar, i.e. mg/DL rather than mmols. Frankly I think this is a vastly superior unit of measurement because it uses whole numbers rather than fractional ones. Companies that make the meters now set them to the local measurement and it cannot be changed, supposedly this was to stop "confusion" but in reality it was done to stop grey imports into the US from other countries. Also some meters use slightly different strips in the US to stop grey imports also.

If your employer doesn't cover you, prepare to join the large and growing club of people who have to pay out of pocket for everything (unless you're old enough to claim Medicare and have a good drug plan on it).

Various medications in the US have different names, e.g. Novolog instead of Novorapid, unlike the usual trick of screwing people on grey imports, Novorapid was a new name they used to make it easier to understand abroad.

I have a somewhat different perspective because I live in Canada but I lived in the US as well as the UK. In Canada the prices over the counter of all diabetes medications is way less than in the US. For example Novorapid costs around $30 a bottle at a drug store - Novolog costs around $120 usually (and that's without prescription drug coverage that you can get in Canada).

What I noticed in the US over the years is the rapid and fast increase of drugs. For example in 1990 I could get Humulin R for $11.95 at Eckerd Drugs, I went into a CVS in 2008 and it was $35. Inflation over the same period doesn't explain it. Each year it seems to go up by a buck or two.

DO NOT buy anything from a store that you can buy by mail order, the best example being test strips, you can get them way cheaper from some of the on-line stores. Insulin is more tricky because it has to be refrigerated (supposedly, this is also a con to protect drug stores imo, if you look on the bottle it usually says keep below 85 F, depending on the insulin).

You may be thinking about prescription drug plans - having looked into it multiple times in multiple States, there is no point to these as an individual, the overall cost ends up being more. If your employer offers one on a group plan, read the fine print, i.e. possible co-payments that make it pointless, limits of coverage, etc. Tell the HR people about the diabetes situation, they have no doubt been asked before.

This Obamacare plan stops insurance companies from cutting out people with pre-existing conditions, but I don't think it does anything about drug prices which are the #1 problem for diabetics.

Being diabetic does not preclude you from immigrating into the US, what they're worried about is communicable diseases mainly, the only thing you should think about on an I-130 is that as explained on the I-864 the sponsor is liable for repaying Medicaid if you claim it. As there is no govt. funded healthcare system in the US per se, they don't care if you get ill and get lumbered with a huge bill, frankly.

Also - don't be afraid of stocking up abroad. Everywhere is cheaper for drugs pretty much except some places in the Caribbean. You are allowed to bring in enough for your "personal" use although supposedly going to Canada for example is frowned upon. My personal view on that one is my middle finger, because I have sat at Coutts POE and watched busloads of biddies going up to Lethbridge to have their prescriptions filled. Foreign drugs are sometimes described as being inferior - this is total BS. CBP don't really give a crap imx for common medications. I've taken in box loads of syringes with no problem. I had a cooler full of insulin one time.

JCSky

Thanks everyone! I think we will be ok for now as my husband is going to take as much as he can with him and then we will sign up for the drug company to give 3 months free... all the while looking for a job. Also, if he can't get insurance for 6 months the PCIP plan in Florida kicks in, so I think we will go with that if needed.

Duncan Roberts

True, but the silver lining to that is the 90 days are counted as part of the exclusion period. If it was 12 months black out and you waited 90 days to get benefits you would have a black out period of 12 months - 90 days. Not great, but 3 months less isn't bad.

Steve_

And one other thing popped into my head - I've certainly met a lot of Canadians who think they're covered if they get travel insurance. Wrong, read the fine print, chronic pre-existing conditions and anything that could even be vaguely caused by it are not covered either. Companies that sell travel insurance for the US use a US company to provide the coverage. (And I have to say if you're travelling to Canada, buy the travel insurance provided by Blue Cross, not some travel company).

Bob

It's cheeky because a lot of these places probably figure people will move on within 2 years, so they won't have most of the problems figured into the insurance, so it's a nice way of saying they offer medical insurance benefits, when it's really just a token gesture in reality.

Scouse Express

One of you should try gaining employment through a Healthcare Provider (Medical Clinic or Hospital).

It will help off-set the costs of supplies.


Jim.

Duncan Roberts

Wouldn't bet on it

Jerseygirl

Likewise with pharma companies...drugs manufactured by them are usually free.