London7

Hi!
I moved to Seattle this week on a TN1.
My law firm does not pay medical for 3 months and was hoping that I could get some recommendations about who to use, as its a minefield..
I would need to cover myself and my 6 year old.
Thanks!

frrussre

Sad to say, you should have negotiated it before you took the offer & came here. Usually, company/work Health insurance kicks in after 30 days, never heard of 90 days.
When our son got kicked off (Aged out) of, our insurance, he went on ETNA. Guess may want to try the company that insures, your employer. Will not be cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So as not, to be uncovered for pre existing, you will need to inform them you had cover from NHS UK.

Bob

Bit late now....and it'll be rather expensive with a kid....but there are a few threads on here that you can search out with recommendations and check out e-insurance.com

Just depends on what you feel comfortable with for a deductible, can get cheap cover if you don't mind paying a lot if you go see the doc, but with a kid, don't know if you'll want that risk where a broken arm can easily cost you $10K

frrussre

Hi Bob, $10k covers the ambulance one way.

Reg. Frank R.

md95065

Since the OP is here on a TN1 visa it is pretty safe to assume that they are either Canadian or Mexican and are thus unlikely to have been covered by the UK NHS in the immediate past ...

frrussre

Then possibly my mistake, I assume everyone on here is British & LONDON7 was the kicker

Guess its London, Canada? Is there a London Mexico?



Reg. Frank R.

Jscl

Ask your HR department if they have a Benefits broker they could refer you to. Depending on the broker they might be able to arrange for private coverage for you. You'd want some sort of emergency only coverage (I assume), basically the "pay out if I'm hit by a bus" insurance, but one where you pay up front for regular things like seeing a doctor, or paying for a prescription.

You could also try somewhere like http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/shor...alth-insurance. If you're both in good health now it shouldn't cost too much, but of course mostly you'd pay for things out of pocket (i.e. you'd have a high deductible).

London7

I am from London, UK
Moved to BC, got Canadian citizenship
Now in Seattle

frrussre

Hi London7,

Canada, has its own special relationship with USA, so getting Health Ins, maybe easier. When we got the Etna policy for our son, we needed to prove, he had continuous cover.

Yours is short term, though don't know that you need to tell them. We cancelled sons cover after couple of months, he got a job with health cover benefits.

Good luck.

Frank R.

Rete

Unfortunately, it is usually the probationary period and here it is 90 days.

frrussre

Hi Rete, I have never heard of 90 days, always 30 days.

Reg. Frank R

Duncan Roberts

It really depends on the company. I've seen 90, 45, 30 and 14 days before. Some will let you sign up before you even start so coverage kicks in on day 1. The kicker to this is that the 90 days puts you outside the HIPAA creditable coverage period which might majorly screw things up if the OP has a pre-existing condition. The only positive in that case is the pre-existing condition exclusion period and the waiting period run concurrently so by the time benefits kick in the pre-existing condition exclusion would only be 9 months, assuming it's a 12 month exclusion period.

insubuy

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Hovik

I've heard good things about Group Health, http://www.ghc.org/index.jhtml . you can also check Premera, https://www.premera.com .

frrussre

When you go on Company/group plan, they usually I would say always waive Pre Existing condition.

Reg. Frank R.