Boswortha

Hi everyone,

Only 2 weeks left now until the big move from London to NYC.

I am trying to find out some information about temporary health insurance as I can get health insurance through my work after 3 months but will need something else in the mean time. My new boss suggested looking in to Obamacare for the first few months.

I cannot access http://nystateofhealth.ny.gov from outside of the US so I called their helpline and they told me I have to physically be in the US to apply for any healthcare and I would also need my SSN.
She told me that I can't apply for any kind of health insurance before I move which leaves me feeling a little nervous as I imagine I'll be in the US at least 2 weeks before I receive my SSN and that's 2 weeks uninsured.

Has anybody been able to get temporary health insurance before they even got to the US (without an SSN) and could you suggest specific websites/plans?

Thank you.

Nutmegger

The three month thing is usually applied to a brand-new employee, so that the employer doesn't go through the whole rigmarole of putting the employee on the HI and then finding that they aren't going to work out, or they quit. It isn't usually a mandate of the insurance company. Seeing as you are taking the big leap of faith to move across the Atlantic for them, perhaps you could ask your new boss to intercede with HR to get you on the HI right away?

Rete

Unless you have a ongoing health issue, you can suck it up like many Americans do. Live without insurance for the short time period. Not ideal but it is doable if you are in good health.

michaeldc

...and then you get hit by a bus and your life is ruined after 2 days in intensive care...

Don't go without insurance if you can avoid it, anything can happen to you.

scrubbedexpat099

2 weeks maybe before you can apply but a lot longer than that before you would be covered.

I agree with getting it through work.

MidAtlantic

If you can't get it immediately through work I have seen this site recommended, although I have no direct experience of it.

https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

I agree with others. There is no way that I would go without insurance, even for a short period.

Rete

And if that happens the city pays for it -- not you.

Geez my daughter, her husband and three children have NO INSURANCE since Obamacare outpriced them on the open market and they cannot afford the premiums that O'care wants to cover them with a half-way decent premium and a deductible that isn't the ransom of the first borne male.

Rete

Apologies for being mouthy. Just this topic irks me to no end.

I see how my children and their families struggle with healthcare and my heart breaks for them. While they had insurance before which they could afford with reasonable premiums and deductibles per person, the advent of O'care took away that option when Humana (which is just about the only healthcare insurance in the backward state of Mississippi for private individuals) raised their premium rates and deductible to astronomical heights. They cannot afford a deductible in the five figures and because they are self employed in a small business without employees, they cannot get anything under O'care that they can afford either. So they pay out-of-pocket for doctors, dentists and visual and also pay the government fine for not having healthcare. It is still less than what their yearly premiums would be.

O'care is wonderful for many people in the US with existing health issues and those who cannot afford healthcare because they live below or just over the poverty guidelines. It didn't work out for many middle roaders.

If you get sick with a cold or something minor you can always go to an Urgent Care center for under $150 per visit. If something major occurs they go to the hospital and when presented with the bill either get a large discount for paying in cash (this is how they paid in Vegas for the birth of their first child) or make arrangements for a payment plan which is what they did when their youngest had a seizure while in a swimming pool on vacation New Orleans). And you pray that no bones get broken or that cancer doesn't strike and hope that O'care is either revamped into something workable for them for eliminated all together. The US needs something that all its citizens can participate in without leaving them in poverty.

We pay enough in taxes and even if you added another say 1200 annually to our federal tax bill, why can't the US then offer each and every citizen medicare and then the private citizen, if needed, can get supplemental insurance as we seniors need to do.

cautiousjon

Medicare for all is not the solution. Bernie Sanders proposed this but the math just does not add up.

The US already has huge, nearly crippling debt, which is estimated to be $19.3 trillion. Under Bernie Sanders' current plans, we would be nearly doubling it, which, quite frankly, is crazy. We would be consigning this generation and probably every generation after us to even more indentured servitude. The rich are rich enough to find ways to not pay large taxes, and the poor are not expected to pay the taxes, so will pay them? The people in the middle.

Asg123

These studies are complete rubbish. Costs would be far lower under a universal free system.

Boswortha

Thank you MidAtlantic.

Strangely, when I enter my soon to be NY temporary accommodation zip code which is a Manhattan zip code, the website says:
"We currently do not offer Short-term Health Insurance in your zip code"

Why is this so difficult!
I will call them up to see what they can suggest but does anyone else have any other recommendations?

Thanks so much in advance - this website is a godsend.

MidAtlantic

Try again. I just did it for that zip code and it came up with 13 plans!

kins

Try Medibroker. They specialise in international health insurance.
International health insurance - Request a Quote | Medibroker

Boswortha

I called e-health and was told that the state of New York and New Jersey do not offer any short-term health insurance at all.
I was also told I do am not eligible to apply through a "qualifying life event" since this is only applicable to those who have already had US health insurance in the past.

I'd be interested to hear how any others worked around this problem?

The e-health representative has suggested I look at www.sevencorners.com
Has anybody had experience through this route? It is travel insurance rather than health insurance but the agent said I would qualify as my visa states I will be returning to the UK at a certain date 3 years from now.
I am looking at the Liaison Continent plan and it seems very affordable at $222.62
Medical Maximum: $100,000.00
Deductible: $250.00

Too good to be true?

sir_eccles

Sounds like bollocks to me.

https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrant...ration-status/

I don't know what visa you have but that is an in-exhaustive list of those that are eligible. Moving to a new State (i.e. Entering the country) counts as a special enrollment qualifying event (assuming you have the right visa).