Pulaski

Yes, they all have to fit the IRS rules/ parameters
Right, and for mine the numbers are about $2k and about $5k respectively, therefore I have "an HD health insurance plan".

Glasgow Girl

You might want to research employment authorization for H4 visa holders which allow spouses of some H1B visa holders to work. https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the...endent-spouses

If you have not already done so, talk to your employer about applying for a green card at the earliest opportunity. Try and negotiate for them to pay for it without any strings. You cannot stay more than 6 years without one so this is crucial to you staying here long term if that is what you want to do. The process is not exactly fast, and as soon as you get the green card you will be free to change employer. You employer will be well aware of that and may place some conditions such as having to work for x time after you get the green card, but that is another reason to get it as soon as you can.

For sure make the move, you can always move back if you don’t like it, but if you don’t try you will always wonder “what if”. Be prepared for you wife to have a harder adjustment period if she cannot work. I moved to Austin from an area not too far from Warwick so had a similar experience. I found everything to be less expensive than the UK except for health care (which you are already looking at), car insurance and utility bills (your A/C runs all the time in Texas!). I enjoyed Texas but it is hot, or very hot, for most of the year so I hope you both enjoy heat. The opportunities in the US to move up the management chain are abundant if you have the right skill set and are prepared to work hard, and therefore you earning potential is probably much higher and easier to attain out here. Even more so, if you are prepared to move company or even state. You need to seek out and grab the opportunities but it sound like you are that type of person. Good Luck!

civilservant

Hardly relevant here - they would have had to have been petitioned for a GC first.

Glasgow Girl

Actually, very relevant. As soon as the green card application is made the OP can apply for an employment authorization for his wife on an H4 visa. The timeline for submitting a green card application varies, typically a year, but there are exceptions when it can be done very quickly and from the OPs previous post he may well qualify for an early submittal.

Glasgow Girl

The OP needs to research this for himself in conjunction with his potential employer. I came on an H1b visa in very similar circumstances so have personal knowledge of this. To be clear, as soon as the green card application is made which can be quite quick in some cases, his spouse as an H4 visa holder can apply for work authorization which will be the fastest route for her to become employed. Knowing that opportunity is out there can make a huge difference to the adjustment period for her, so well worth pursuing. I will edit the original post to replace H4 visa with Employment Authorization for H4 visa holders as that was badly worded.

Rete

Those were the figures she was giving me two years ago. She had no reason to lie about them. In fact, at that point, their salary deductions were more than their NYC suburb rent. She would often bemoan the fact that they would be pulling out of the account to cover healthcare expenses for my granddaughter who is on the spectrum and her husband who suffers from kidney stones. They are so happy that they were able to change to a standard healthcare plan with her employer.

Pulaski

Nobody is saying that she was lying, however the numbers you quoted do not stack up with the ACA and IRS rules for HD insurance and HSA accounts, hence my suggestion that the $1,200/mth might only have been transitory (for part of a year, not indefinitely). Or perhaps she was just mistaken, or you misheard, or misremembered the details etc.

Any of those things can happen, and it's not a criticism of you or your daughter - we're all human here.

Glasgow Girl

On the health plan, make sure you understand any co-insurance that may apply, and the relationship between that, the deductible and Out of Pocket Maximum. Frequently you have to pay 100% of the cost until you meet your deductible, then you and the plan split the cost (co-insurance) until you reach your Out of Pocket maximum at which point the plan pays 100% of the cost. If you are planning on having children at any point work in those costs, it can be very expensive for the health care required for both the mother, the child and the birth.,

Dental usually has an annual cap on the amount they will pay, usually about $1,500 or $2,000 a year which given the cost of dental work is very low. A root canal or cap will normally gobble that up and then some. Have your teeth worked on before you get here, and once here try and phase work over several years to the extent you can to maximize the annual benefit. As soon as you step into the dental chair they will be wanting to do all sorts of expensive processes!

Pulaski

That is totally not my experience, so much so that I would say it is unnecessarily alarmist. I had a crown, which failed after about a decade, and if I paid anything beyond my insurance for either the original or the replacement, it wasn't much, maybe $100 +/- $25.

The cleanings (included in the dental insurance coverage) are more thorough than anything I ever experienced in the UK, and between brushing and flossing daily at home, I have managed to avoid additional fillings, (though I have had several replaced over the years, at no out-of-pocket cost), or other more expensive work, other than the crown I mentioned above.

I also needed to have a wisdom tooth removed, and I was referred to an oral surgeon, which was mostly covered by my insurance - I think I had to pay about an additional $75 from my HSA. So it was all a bit of a non-event, so much so that having scheduled the extraction at lunchtime I had the tooth removed, then went back home (I work entirely from home) and carried on working.

All that said, don't ask me about little Miss P's orthodontic work. It was all covered in one fee, which is just as well considering what it cost. ... Actually Mrs P paid the bill, so I don't know exactly how much it was, which is probably just as well. I am not even sure how necessary it was, but her parents had not paid for an orthodontist when she was a teenager and was adamant the little Miss P wasn't going to "miss out", though in reality little Miss P hasn't enjoyed the experience much.

Glasgow Girl

Well I certainly don’t want to be alarmist because the whole point of this forum is to help others and provide real information. I agree that cleanings are excellent and fillings probably work out to be an out of pocket cost similar to what the NHS costs. All I can add is that the typical cost of a cap/crown is $1,000 at the lower end of the cost curve, and upwards from there. Frequently a cap and a root canal are required at the same time. The typical cost of a root canal is also $1,000 and upwards. Most dental plans will provide cleanings for free, cover fillings at 80%, but will only pay for other procedures at 50%. If you are at the lower end of the cost scale and on a standard dental plan a root canal and cap will cost upwards from $2,000 and the typical dental plan will cover 50% of the cost, up to the plan maximum, leaving you with a large out of pocket cost. If you are at the higher end of the cost curve, clearly it is a lot more expensive. I think you have been lucky to have excellent dental health and an outstanding plan if you only paid $100 for a crown. Those plans exist but they are not typical. US dentists recommend a lot more work than UK dentists. Is it required? That is a matter for debate but in general I believe that the standard of teeth in the US is a lot higher than that in the UK.

billy_a

Thank you all for the help, I've managed to get my head around the health insurance

I've been told for the position I have applied I will be able to get around 100-110k, so slightly less than I intended.

Has anyone used this website for salary calculator? how accurate is it so I get an idea of the net salary I should expect - smartasset.com

As my wife will be on a dependent visa and wont be allowed to work, will I still be able to file my taxes on the basis I am married? I want to ensure I get the married tax benefit as it makes a difference to net income.

What are people contributing into there HSA? I know it will be dependent on each individual, but I was thinking around $50 biweekly as myself and my spouse are healthy or is that too low?

Pulaski

Anyone who is married can file taxes as married, and for almost all couples it I'd beneficial to do so, especially when both halves of the couple are resident in the US.

Given that funding an HSA is like funding a private pension - contributions are tax deductible, if at all possible you should put as much as you are allowed to, especially in the first year, to build that financial cushion which is what the HSA is for. When you first sign up for HD insurance you are financially exposed until you have that cushion, and in the event of a medical expense, you could end up having to pay for part of it with after-tax money, which is even worse than just having to pay for it.

It isn't too hard to calculate taxes yourself, using a spread sheet, as just like the UK you get so much with 0% tax deducted, then some at each of the tax rate bands. The only complication is that in most states you have the same calculation to do with different bands and different rates.

TX, FL and a few others don't have state income tax, but the state still gets it's money: for example in Texas you get totally shafted on property tax. .... I was discussing this with a friend a few years ago, and he was paying more property tax for a broadly similar home to ours (in NC), than we were paying property tax and state income tax _combined!_.

durham_lad

I just looked at the site and it will give you a decent estimate of your income and payroll taxes. There is no place to enter what you would pay into an HSA so just use the IRA field as all it is doing is lowering your taxable income by the amount you put away before tax

billy_a

On the left panel there is a section to enter pre-tax deductions which does include HSA. But good to know the calculator gives a decent estimate. I just didn't want to be surprised by unknown charges and its best to get an idea now what I'll net. Calculator is giving roughly $3400 (net) / biweekly and >$7k /month, which I guess is in line with what I had initially expected.

There wouldn't be any post-tax deductions to consider?

https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator

billy_a

Thanks, so i have realised the health plan offered has no deductibles, so I'm tempted to start with $50/biweekly and then increase during the year if required, but as you say its about building that cushion.

Im not too sure if I'll buy a house straight away, I may rent for few years especially if the property tax is high. I have a house in the UK which I will keep and just rent, may become a holiday home for when visiting the UK.