classicmds

Hi -

We're emigrating to the US in early August, and will start a new job with health insurance 1st September. My wife and I will need health insurance in that interim. What is the best option? I have seen some recommendations of 'one-way insurance', but they seem to say, 'will lapse 24 hours after you land' or 'maximum 21 days'.

My current travel insurer will not cover, as they say that as soon as I land I will no longer 'be resident in the UK' and so my policy will be invalid.

Is there a company that offers one month US medical insurance - either from this country, or a US based insurer that would offer this?

Feel free to point me to another thread that answers this: I've seen some recommendations, but even these policies seem to have the provisos in I noted above.

Duncan Roberts

Before you look for a policy, make sure your benefits kick in on day one. Usually you will have a 30-90 wait period before health insurance kicks in.

classicmds

Right - so it's probably going to have to be some kind of insurance done from the UK then? But I can't seem to find anything that covers more than 21 days. Anyone have any advice? Do people just go uninsured for a couple of months?

Rete

Not necessarily. Look for threads posted to this forum about the subject. Scores of them. You can attempt to get US Healthcare coverage for the 90 - 120 day period. It will be costly but doable. My suggestion would be to ask for the name of the healthcare company you will be covered under by the employer and then contact them and see if you can get temporary private coverage through them until your employer provided coverage takes effect.

Jerseygirl

Search the US forums for 'Healthcare Insurance' or 'Health Insurance'...I'm pretty sure someone posted details of insurance that kicked in from day 1.

Go to the top of this page...look to the right on the blue bar and you should see 'Search This Forum'. Go to 'Advanced Search' and where it says 'Key Words' put in 'Healthcare Insurance' or 'Health Insurance' on the left hand side. Make sure you choose 'Search Entire Threads'. Press the 'Search Now' tab and it should bring up all the old Healthcare Insurance threads.

C_C

Some big nationwide insurance companies do offer temporary health coverage plans for up to 6 months.
The premiums can be expensive (although this depends on age, zip code, general health etc.) and tend to cover mainly emergencies and less so non-urgent, day-to-day things such as prescription drugs, preventine care visits etc.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ has a short-term insurance section, where you can search for quotes in your region.

I don't know how you can pre-purchase health coverage before leaving the UK (I thought you needed to be a resident already and have an SSN), but if you meant purchasing travel insurance that includes healthcare in an emergency, it's probably a bad idea. Reason being: the UK travel insurance company will assume that you are a UK resident on a visit to the US, and any claims can only be filed AFTER you return to the UK (it's usually a rule when purchasing).
If you're moving to the US you won't be able to do that, so there's no point doing it as you won't have a way to get reimbursed.

classicmds

Thanks for the advice. As far as I can see, the problem seems to be exactly what you say: you can't get UK travel insurance, as you will not be a UK resident as soon as you land in the new country. I'm also not sure about how easy it will be to get US insurance until you are resident (presumably they will want to do medical checks etc.? and you need to be resident to get it (so, you will at least have an uninsured period while you get it set up)

From culling other threads, it seems that the best options are insurance companies in the UK that do allow you to have cover for the purposes of emigration. These are few but seem to be:

Post Office Single Trip Insurance (allows 21 days cover for emigrants)
Go Walk About (17 days cover for emigrants)
Direct Travel (no details on webpage but other posts say call for details)
Atlas Travel seem to allow up to five years for emigration purposes. They're underwritten by White Horse who get very bad reviews, but this seems to be the most flexible option.

Anyone used any of these and want to feedback?

Rete

Several posters in the US Marriage Based forum had to obtain US healthcare insurance BEFORE they would be issued a visa to come to the US. So, yes, it is possible without being here and without a social security number. Research the forum for links.

As noted above residency is not an issue. Nor is a pre-medical since that is rare for someone who is only requiring temporary insurance and is young and healthy.

classicmds

I take your point, although it seems that what the US embassy requires might not be a good guide to whether medical insurers will offer it. I've found people on the forum who were told they had to be resident by a US medical insurer. But it's good to know that there might be some who don't require this, and wouldn't require pre-screening etc.

Generally, though, is it an embassy requirement that you submit proof of health insurance when you go for your visa interview? I've not seen anywhere stating this.

Bluegrass Lass

This has been the case several times for people coming over on Fiance or Spousal visas. It's not extremely common, but it isn't uncommon either. I've not seen this requirement come up for someone coming over on an H1-B or work-transfer visa, but I don't frequent that forum very often to really know.

classicmds

So does everyone going for a visa interview have health insurance in place? I know that you are in a way at the mercy of the person interviewing you, but I'm surprised it's not specified as a requirement somewhere (i.e. in the elist of documents you need to bring) if it could be a reason to deny a visa?

Bluegrass Lass

No, it is not a requirement for everyone. One instance I remember, was when the USC spouse had been staying with his UKC wife in the UK while her visa was processing. She had 3 kids, and when she went to her interview they told her she needed to get health insurance. Her username is Clarissageo, so you could probably look her up. I can't quite remember the details of the other person, but I think it was something similar - a USC living in the UK with their UKC spouse and they were immigrating back to the US. Take a look at the Marriage-Visa forum and do a search and you should come across a couple of examples.

It could be more common in situations where neither spouse are employed in the US and the CO's want the immigrants to have some kind of health coverage, but that would be a complete guess on my part on why a few peeps ran into this requirement.

In your case, you do have a job you are starting, so it probably wouldn't come up as being a problem.

md95065

That is a big generalization.

While the OP should definitely make sure that they understand exactly when their job related healthcare coverage will take effect it has always been my experience (with group plans and fairly large employers) that it is effective from the first day.

Duncan Roberts

It is a generalization, but not a big one. You're maybe the 3rd person I know of who has had active health benefits from the day they started their job.

Jerseygirl

Our US healthcare insurance started 16 days before we got here. It started at the beginning of the month and we landed on the 17th.