Hannahmichelle

We are due to be emigrating at the end of this month and we cannot seem to find any kind of good health/medical insurance to keep us (myself, husband and three children) well covered until we have jobs with health benefits. We had hoped our travel insurance would cover us but they say they can't as we will be residents as soon as we arrive. Any words of wisdom much appreciated.

Hannah

Ray

How are you emmigrating without jobs .. your previous posts seem to indicate you was going to be only based here a few months of the yearr...

Hannahmichelle

I am a dual citizen and my husband has a spousal greencard. We don't have to have jobs to go and as we are moving into a family home we don't have to mortgage and bills etc for a few months while we get ourselves set up. So...any words of wisdom on the insurance front, Ray?

Ray

It can vary so wildly... and they are all crooks anyway ..
We don't have any now!! We did .. but the wife had a small op and ended up with a $20,000 bill ... they kindly returned her nearly 2 years of premiums and told her she was cancelled ...
You may care to try blue cross/blue shield have not heard to many bad things about them .. But you may have to make a lots of payments before you can make a claim ...its all a crap shoot ..

scrubbedexpat099

It varies by State, I went with a high dedudible policy ($5,000) initially as it was not tooo expensive.

But best to plan on not getting sick.

However you fund/manage it, its going to cost, especially with children.

Bob

yup, depends on the state...but it'll hurt big time with kids...best bet, find a job quick, that'll provide insurance for you and family straight away...doesn't always start straight off the bat.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield aren't bad if you get it through an employer, but if you get it on your own, you'll get the shaft for rates and treatment...

Angry White Pyjamas

LOLOLOLOLLOOLLOLOLOL.

I realise this isnt constructive but you used the words "Good" and "health insurance" in the same sentence.

Titchski

As others have said, I think BC/BS is the only halfway decent Insurance Co. in the country, but by god they'll make you go through a strenuous wallet-ectomy exam to ensure eligibility.

BritGuyTN

I think this is not correct

2 points.

1. saying they are the best in the country is like saying everywhere in america is warm and sunny

bc bs is completely regionalised with differing levels of service standards and policies depending on where you are - and they are certainly not the same

In fact bc bs just got dropped by my local state govenrment for one of their plans because of so many complaints

I have personally had no problems with Aetna or Cigna

Extreme

Maybe this page can help: http://www.buyamericaninsurance.com/

NC Penguin

Just bear in mind that there are many, many Americans with jobs that have no healthcare benefits.

The topic comes up from time to time. There's threads on this subject in this forum. Please search for them.


NC Penguin

Hannahmichelle

Thanks, every one for your help. I'll keep plodding along and see what I can see. NC Penguin, I actually did attempt a search on several ocassions butit was sooooooooooooooooooooooo slow I gave up. I'd have been in America already by the time I got the answer!

Hannah

Titchski

Thats a fair comment, I've hadboth BCBS of Michigan and Florida, with no problems- however in CO I had nothing but trouble with Aetna - I guess its a lottery as to whether you get a decent one or not

jen_andreson

Hi,

Am new here (will go introduce myself next), but I am a bit confused.

In the UK we paid 9% of our salaries to NHS tax in which we had 3 week wait for doctors, dirty facilities and standardised meds that are so old-fashioned that aren't used anywhere else in the western world.

Since arriving in the US, my husband and I opened a policy that costs us $240 a month (a lot less than 9% of our wages), gives us immediate access to doctors, meds, tests, etc.

Is our positive experience here unique? I'm getting nervous reading all the negativity about being crooks, expensive, etc as so far it's much better (for us) than NHS.

Back to the original question: try ehealthinsurance.com for a quote generator that searches all the plans in your future state. We had a problem getting insurance with some of them as they require legal residency of 6 months to a year, but we found several plans that worked.

scrubbedexpat099

$240 is the starting point as far as totality of cost etc is concerned.

Medical costs are a common cause of bankruptcy in the US, half of those had cover.

Fortunately I have yet to personally go through the US system, 2 years total out of pocket expenses $35 for a Health Check.

I had a few bad experiances with the NHS, but mainly OK. But I have never had to wonder if I would be pauperised.