rastersmith

Hi everyone
We are leaving London for Seattle in about a month and need to get some kind of health care coverage for the short period between when we arrive and when my husband starts his job and our health coverage starts on his company plan - about two weeks. I could really use some help.

I've tried searching the forum, I have read the wiki article on insurance. I noted the three immigration insurange providers at the bottom of the article - has anyone used them? Looking online, they don't seem to be highly rated.

I have also contacted companies here in the UK about one way insurance, but they all seem to expire 24 hours after arrival in the USA.

I have also tried contacting a broker in Seattle who was not helpful. I am trying another one today.

I have tried registering on the Washington Health Care exchange, but since we don't have a US address yet, this is proving difficult.

Our relocation contact suggested contacting our HR department in the US, which we did. The HR dept only said that 'coverage starts on the first day of employment'. Not very helpful. Surely if you are recruiting internationally there are going to be other people in the same predicament?

Does anyone have any advice or leads? Considering insurance is now mandatory in the USA, surely someone will want to sell our family a policy? We don't mind paying for the whole month of January just to have the peace of mind of being covered until our employer plan starts on the 30th.We only need coverage for a couple of weeks, but I don't want to risk going without.

Thank you.

MidAtlantic

The Washington State Insurance Commissioner is a good place to start: https://www.insurance.wa.gov/your-in...h-plans-rates/

In my experience any of the major providers will sell short term policies.

ian-mstm

Time for some out-of-the-box thinking. Use the address of a Seattle hotel (for example)... and then amend the address afterwards.

Ian

scrubbedexpat099

You have to be resident in a State to use the Exchange and then it takes time.

tom169

As long as you have health insurance for one day in January you should be OK for your ACA tax compliance for the entire month.

max930

Id buy coverage in the UK. Problem Americans in Seattle are used to dealing with Canadians mostly from British Columbia. British Columbia will cover some of the cost of emergency care in the US for Canadians on BC's health plan. BC will reimburse medical costs in the US up to what the government would pay in BC for the procedure and in Canadian dollars. So most of the travellers insurance in Washington are based on that formula.

Pulaski

Which will likely be void if you try and claim on it when they discover you've moved to the US to live, and that you're not a visitor.

Personally, for two weeks, I'd wing it for two weeks, and I believe most Americans would. Given that I would recommend "high deductible" insurance, and indeed frequently do, there would be very little downside to paying as you go for minor matters, because that is exactly what you do when you have high deductible insurance.

Siouxie

Perhaps this? Covers you for normal 'travel insurance' pre-travel and during travel, plus from 5 days to 6 months health and other insurance when you arrive.

Emigration Travel Insurance | Emigration Policy - DUInsure

dj6372

Personally I would hang in and wait. I waited close to 3 months, I did get a pretty bad chest infection, I used a walk in clinic, and for $120 I got checked out by a very pretty doctor, and a ton of meds.

Oh and a shit look from Mrs DJ for 'flirting' with the doctor (damn british accent )

cmsebast

We are probably going be in a similar situation next summer and I have been looking into some things as well. I'm still not entirely sure what the best route is but I was going to contact AXA closer to the move:
https://www.axapppinternational.com/...te-healthcare/

kins

I used Medibroker but that was for cover for around 6 months.

Rete

I would, most definitely. If you got a cold or the flu or twisted an ankle, you go to Urgent Care and be seen by a doctor. Even with insurance you will be paying for it out of pocket anyway. So why the hysteria?

max930

For minor emergency care, the US is not as bad as people think. It gets expensive when hospital stays and care is involved. Things that can be treated via a walk in clinic, its in fact fairly reasonable in most of the US. I love near the US/CDN border and have lived on both sides. My American friends don't bother coming to a Canadian walk in clinic if their kid has an ear infection or something like that. They stay in the USA even without insurance. My American friends wife had her appendix removed on an emergency basis. The bill was over $10k US. The hospital did work with them to get the bill broken into easy affordable monthly payments. I can see why people get insurance. But for us Canadians its a waste of money. Id rather pay monthly after the fact VS paying up front for something I may never use.

petitefrancaise

Can't recommend AIG Travelguard/Inbound USA enough. It's a concierge service and whilst they will help you with just about anything, they excel at insurance coverage that international relocatees need. Including short term health cover.

It's about $450 for the year but we saved that on our first 6 months' car insurance premium they found for us. Well worth it.

http://www.travelguardworldwide.com/...r-brochure.pdf

ETA with a family, I WOULD NOT wing it. Not my family anyway!!

rastersmith

Wow, everyone thanks for your replies, suggestions and experiences. Very useful. I was finally able to get through to someone about the Washington Healthcare Exchange. They put me in contact with the Washington Healthcare Authority and a helpful woman there had me and the two kids signed up for Apple Health Care in minutes. She even allowed me to use a mailing address in IL so the documents could be mailed to my parents' home and my mom forward them to me! I guess Apple Health is Medicare and we qualified because when we arrive we technically don't have any income yet as my husband doesn't start working for two weeks. Unfortunately, My husband was not eligible for Apple Health because he didn't have a social security number. But this could be amended once we arrive if we phone with his immigration number or something, I need to phone back for further clarification. The kids and I are dual US/UK citizens.

I did phone a couple of the big insurers - Cigna would only sell a three month policy and Premera in Washington would sell me a month but it was $1,000. Premera was my back up plan if I couldn't find something else as I don't' mind paying but $1000 for two weeks of cover that we were unlikely to use seemed a lot if I could find something cheaper.

I also contacted a couple of places here in the UK, but only a couple offer policies that will cover you for a bit once you arrive to your destination. Most one way policies terminate as soon as you land. However, there are two that offer some cover once you arrive - as one writer suggested DU insurance is one- but they have not replied to me.

The other is go walkabout insurance based in the UK and they quoted cover our outbound trip as well as emergency medical cover for up to 17 or 31 days in the USA under their 'emigration policy' for under £200 for the whole family.

I will definitely have a look at the AIG travelguard, thank you for posting that.

So we will likely sign up with one of those options too as it will give us peace of mind for our flight and will cover my husband. Thank you all for your input, it looks like we will all soon have some kind of cover in place for the two weeks before the company policy kicks in.

I do hear what some of you have said about going without cover as you pay for it anyway, but last time I was in the states with the kids, my son got pneumonia and it got very expensive very fast. Luckily we had travel insurance which covered most of it. I wouldn't want to risk that again especially with the little ones- my son nearly had to be hospitalised last time!