No medical insurance
 

I'm an old git of 68 and arrived here 18 months ago on a K1 Visa and married my American wife who is 51. Of course I have no employment record or social security contributions here so I don't expect any handouts but I was wondering if there are any forum members in a similar situation? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: No medical insurance
 

Welcome to BE!

The advice, if there isn't anything from the state you move to would generally be not do it :lol:

Plenty of threads on bringing parents over that'll apply to you and the thing to consider, any means tested benefits that you might use, they could go after the financial sponsor to repay, which would be your OH.

Re: No medical insurance
 

Can you not get medical coverage through your wife's employer?

Re: No medical insurance
 

Common situation and I am guessing that your wife has not been able to get you attached to hers.
We came over in 1989 and had insurance up the wazzoo. We were then in a car accident when someone ran a red light and took the front off our car. I was Okay, but my wife was banged up due to being hit on the left front corner of the vehicle, and her being all but thrown out of her stupid lap diagonal seat belt. Several operations later, she started have all sorts of odd things wrong with her. Our insurance paid for various 'specialists' to send her around every other specialist who might have needed to suck some money out of an insurance company. A year of this nonsense later, she visited her old GP in Wales, who leaned across the desk and asked; "How long have you known you have Scleroderma?" "What's that?"
Look it up, 75% of women die of it misdiagnosed.
On our return to GA, I told her super specialist what she actually had. His first concern that we hadn't told him she would be seeming someone other than recommended by him. Test run, and Linear Scleroderma confirmed.
Insurance company cancelled my insurance, her insurance and our daughter's insurance as we had lied to them by not telling them she had Scleroderma. Ever tried getting insurance on anything when you are globally listed as having lied on an application form?
We now send my wife to the UK and she goes privately over there. In January, she had a procedure done, for half of what the anesthetist wanted for 2 hours work! I have since arranged two other operations for wives of friends for less than their 'Co-Pay' quote was.
So, good luck.

Re: No medical insurance
 

What State do you live in. Does it have a medical insurance pool for people who cannot get insurance on the open market?

Re: No medical insurance
 

Have you actually applied to any health insurance company and been turned down because of age, pre-conditions etc?

If so, then you could be eligible for the high risk pool run by your State if one is available.

Re: No medical insurance
 

It's just mind boggling that so many people put themselves in such a vulnerable and potentially ruinous position rather than investigating the health care access situation before moving here. To me, sorting out health insurance one way or the other (perhaps through the OP's spouse in this case?) is the number one priority before committing to move here.

Re: No medical insurance
 

Of course it is equally mind boggling that in the 21st century a supposedly civilized "first world" country like the US still hasn't accepted that universal healthcare is part of what it takes in order to really be "civilized" ... :eek:

Re: No medical insurance
 

What does your wife have for healthcare? A company policy? Private policy? Whichever it is I would suggest her adding your name to it asap. However, if she is on medicare, then you are SOL. You will have to find your own policy privately which will be very expensive.

Re: No medical insurance
 

:thumbup:

Re: No medical insurance
 

But..but...you are talking about socialism here. How can people be socialist and civilized at the same time? It just doesn't compute.

Re: No medical insurance
 

An excellent point, of course, but even so it behooves immigrants to this country to work out what their financial situation - including healthcare access - would be before committing to move here.

Re: No medical insurance
 

But the cost of living is so much cheaper here so you have to get your priorities straight. It takes time to research the best TV, computer, car, phone, satellite/cable provider, games system, house, country club, etc, etc.

I know when I moved here the visa was my number 1 concern, health insurance was number 2. At the time I was a completely healthy 23 year old so it does seem odd that a) people with medical problems and or b) people who are getting on a bit and/or c) people who are at an age and experience level where they are supposed to be responsible and savvy put healthcare so low down the list.

Re: No medical insurance
 

I had the same priorities in my '20's too. I realized healthcare access was a possible disaster zone, but convinced myself that if I lost my job (and thus my employer-provided insurance) that I would likely be leaving the country anyway given I was coming on a temporary visa. Of course, I'm still here despite the healthcare access situation...

But the mind boggles at coming over in older age without insurance. And it's not as though this is an unusual thread:- several in a similar vein have been posted over the last few months. I don't want to sound as though I'm beating up on the OP, but I'm genuinely interested in why they moved here without having ascertained whether they could get insurance.

Re: No medical insurance
 

This.