McBean

I will be unemployed initially, yes. Also, things have changed somewhat from what you guys are talking about right now. Unfortunately my wife no longer works for that company and is working 'on a 1099' as she puts it. This means she's basically self-employed right now and is receiving no benefits. I'm past the point of no return though so I have to just get over there and do my best. She's continually looking for a job with benefits - preferrably working for the county/state or a federal job as these have the best benefits, but no luck yet.
It looks like maybe I should forget the whole NIC thing right now and try to get a foothold over there first. The Class 3 NICs would end up being about $80 a month, which I can't really afford right now. I might have to just settle for 2/3 of my state pension and hope I'm in a position where I don't really need it by that stage. I could manage the Class 2 but I'm definitely not going to be working for an employer over there in the first instance. Can I start paying the Class 2 NICs as and when I get a job over there?

nun

So your wife is employed as a contacted and I I whine you won't have access to group medical insurance. The state that you are moving to now becomes more critical. Some, like MA, mandate that you buy your own. It is a serious move to come to the US without health insurance and if your wife is also uninsured that goes double. It seems that you are determined to do this, and I understand your desir to join your wife, but you are taking an enormous risk.

rallybug

When I moved over, we looked into adding me to my wife's company health insurance, but I also did some quotes online - worked out cheaper to do my own individual health insurance at (now) $235 a month. Some companies (like Humana) wouldn't cover me until I'd been a resident for 6 months, but I found one that would cover me immediately.

My class 2 NI contributions are still going out of my Lloyds account in the UK at the standard £2.65 a week - one of the joys of being self-employed in the UK is that that was all set up and working before I even met my wife.

Speedwell

rallybug, which company did you find? We will need to compare rates for my husband too.

nun

Be careful to look at more than just the premium, make sure you know what's covered and the level of any deductibles and max out of pocket costs.

Speedwell

Of course, thank you, nun. The important thing is that he be covered, and I don't really want us both depending on one job for health coverage... two eggs is too many in this basket for me, if you know what I mean, and COBRA is a joke at exactly the time when you have to worry about keeping a roof over your head.

sunnysideup

And to think the OP is/used to be employed by the NHS. Boy is he going to miss it - cutbacks or not. Personally, I am utterly disgusted with the healthcare system in the USA. A civilized country would have something akin to the NHS. It is far easier to fix the shortcomings of the NHS than it is to fix the monster that is the US industrial/medical industry. When I moved here 20 years ago I thought 'So there are 280 million-ish Americans, so the healthcare system can't be all that bad, right? Otherwise they would have figured out something better.' How wrong I was. Healthcare is the reason my retired parents didn't move over here (as a US citizen I sponsored them) and it is the reason I'm going back to the UK when I retire. And I'm relatively well off. The poor get screwed.
So - welcome to the USA! Hope you get wealthy and stay healthy.

moneypenny20

You will need your P45 in order to get the tax rebate on the P85. You don't have to be in the UK to do it though, you will however need a UK bank account as they will want to refund you in pounds Wanders back to Aus.........

rallybug

Agreed - mine is with Select Health, and I made sure to match the deductibles etc as on my wife's employer plan as much as possible.

We'll have to revisit health insurance in June when our baby is due, to see whose insurance company is better.

BritishGuy36

I got a 6-month policy with the folks linked below before I flew over. Paid ahead of the move by credit card. Didn't cost too much and there was a sizeable deductible, but at the end of the day, you NEED coverage so that if you have a major health event while you are settling in and finding work that has health insurance, that you aren't bankrupted.

Take a few hundred dollars of that $100k and spend it wisely now.

www.assuranthealth.com

McBean

Well, thanks everyone for all the replies, and for your concerns. If anyone's interested I'm now in the USA, living in the basement of the house we bought a couple of years ago from the UK and are renting to my wife's sister and her family. They're paying all the bills and the mortgage so my wife and I have no bills except for food, fuel etc.

Of course having no bills is far too cushy so we've been looking for a house for the two of us, and we've found one. Barring any unforseen disasters we'll be moving in to our new home at the end of February.

Our financial situation is far too precarious for most of the people who have replied here to even contemplate, and I myself am far from happy about the situation vis a vis health care here and the lack of money for either of us to have health insurance at the moment, but that's just the way it is. Right now we're on the 'wing and a prayer' plan. Hopefully we'll not be struck down with anything serious for the forseeable future and one of us can get a job with good benefits as soon as possible. That's what we're working towards - it's really all we can do right now.

The main reason I'm popping back on here is to ask for yet more advice! I noticed someone mentioned the P85/P45 thing, and I was wondering where to send the stuff. I printed out the P85 and my previous employer sent me my P45 which I've filled in and the two forms are ready to post off to HMRC but I'm going round in circles wondering what address to send it to. I was living in Houston, Renfrewshire, and was employed by NHS Greater Glasgow. The HMRC website isn't very forthcoming about the address I should send these forms to. Any ideas? Thanks. Oh and if anyone knows how to go about getting hold of some Lurpak spreadable over here I'd love to here from them too

rpjs

You should send the P85 to the tax office that dealt with you when you were employed in the UK and that address should appear on correspondence from them, e.g. notificstion of your tax code. If you don't know which office it was, then this page gives a general address of

HM Revenue & Customs
Pay As You Earn
PO Box 1970
Liverpool
L75 1WX

McBean

"You should send the P85 to the tax office that dealt with you when you were employed in the UK and that address should appear on correspondence from them"

I've never had any dealings with any tax office, so I should just send them to the Liverpool address?

rpjs

I'm sure if you did it would eventually fetch up in the right place. FWIW when we sent in our P85s the letters we got back came from an HMRC office in Bootle, Merseyside and that might well be the office that PO Box address fronts for.

richbogle84

How does a person get such a certificate from the NHS?


If I'm planning to move to the states in the summer, and decide to pay Class 2 Contributions for the full 30year term, what are the benefits I should expect to receive on retirement? I appreciate there are likely to be a bunch of cynical answers to this one...!

Many Thanks,

Rich.