robtuck

My Health Insurance comes out around $600 a month for a family of four including dental and eye care. That's with a $1.5k deductible and $3.5k max out of pocket. We had a lower plan the first year we were here (monthly) and ended up with one child visiting A&E and the other needing an "elective" surgery so we maxed out the $7.5k for the family on that one! The A&E bills were eye watering - think we stumped up $2.5k in the end, to be told our daughter had fainted and to keep an eye on her (she'd hit her head on the way down and complained of pains in her arms and chest, so the advice was to get her in).

tom169

Depending on circumstances a highly deductible plan may be a good option.

petitefrancaise

opening a bank account - the issue is always providing them with the documentation they require. Different banks have different requirements. Bank of America/Wells Fargo/Advancial credit union are ones that will open an account with just primary ID (passport/Driver's license) secondary ID ( existing credit/debit card), a local address ( doesn't have to be documented) and $25-$100 cash. Chase is almost impossible for a new arrival, it's unusual for a new arrival to have the documentation they need. You can always open an account as soon as you arrive with the 3 I mentioned and then change 6 months later once you've got yourself a bit more established.
Social Security number, I would always recommend going to the office over getting it delivered by ticking the box. IME, it's 7-14 days if you go to the office.
Schools - your address will determine the school. Go to the school district website where they probably have a bus/route finder, put in the address to find out which are the allocated schools for the address. Go to the school website and look under "registration" or "enrollment" to see which documents are required. NB. Proabaly FULL (not abbreviated) birth certificates for the kids. Will need proof of address - get renter's insurance if nothing else available as this is about $20 a month and will give you proof of address. Vaccinations - https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/vaccines-age.html you 're probably going to need to get Hep B done. Most public (not private) schools are strict on vaccinations but you've probably had to get them all done anyway for the visa.
Medical Insurance - there are always horror stories but since you have to take whatever your employer offers, then that is something that you need to investigate before accepting any job. From what I've seen, tech companies offer good insurance. To be on the safe side for the first year I'd opt for a low deductible/higher premium so that you don't get any unexpected bills, especially with 4 kids! As you get used to the system and recover somewhat from the financial pain of moving, you can switch over to a high deductible plan.

Driver's license. Doesn't seem too tricky. You will have to provide documents listed on this page International Customers and go to one of the 21 offices able to handle international customers. Looks like you'll be applying for a beginners permit btw...

steph0scope

SarahG

I work in downtown Charleston and my husband works on Daniel Island so both of us have to deal with busy bridges to get to and from work but we are used to it now.
We have health insurance through my husband's company and luckily he has really good coverage. I work for a hospital and could get equally good coverage for us if we wanted to switch. I can't recall how much it would be for the 4 of us. I think around $300 a paycheck, but I could be wrong.

SanDiegogirl

What does 'a paycheck' mean?. Does your husband get one paycheck a month (so $300 a month for health insurance) or does he get 2 paychecks a month (so $600 a month for insurance). ?

Saying 'a paycheck' can be so misleading regarding monthly costs.

SarahG

My husband gets paid biweekly so he usually gets 2 paychecks a month. The $300 I referenced was in regards to how much I would pay if I were to have the health insurance plan for the 4 of us. I have no idea how much my husband pays.

I said 'paycheck' because that is what I am used to it being referred to as I have lived here for a decade. Apologies if anyone found it misleading.

TexanScot

vespucci

Also a lot of people get a paycheck each week or each fortnight, so the premium needs to be stated as so much per.. whatever the period is.

SanDiegogirl

Correct ... not having a go at all..... just trying to get folks to give accurate information as to what they pay for insurance on a monthly basis so the original OP has a good idea of what his expenses might be.

Scottish_Lad

Thank you very much for the detailed response, this what l was looking for and you have really helped..!

Brendan

Pulaski

Oh yes there can, though most people get heavily subsidized by their employer.

Of course some people (even today, tens of millions of US residents) just remain uninsured, and others buy discount polices that cover them if they have huge bills .... a "good" discount policy is, as Tom said above, a "high deductible" policy, and then you would have a Health Savings Account linked to that. Other people, on low income, may have a cheap policy and no HSA and barring a health crisis, such as a heart attack or cancer, effectively have "no insurance", and no funds to pay for basic healthcare, such as a basic visit to a doctor. Hence demand for things like "minute clinics" that pharmacies offer.

Scottish_Lad

Bob

Well it's something offered or not by employer, so there's not much to narrow down really.

Pulaski

Typically employers will give you a choice between "traditional" health insurance or High Deductible insurance, not always, but usually, and the push seems to be towards encouraging people towards taking HD insurance as a good part of the cost of traditional insurance (small claims for GP consultations and out-patient treatment) is picked up by the employer, so the company benefits if the employee picks up the small claims, until the deductible is reached.