Health Insurance for my Thai wife in the USA?

[rideswings]

Hopefully some time this year, my Thai wife will be coming with me to the USA for a year or two. I think that the government will require her to have health insurance but Im not sure where to start. Seems we will need to get a joint plan, I dont have insurance there now. I have been living in LOS for a long time.

Has anyone else brought their wife over and what did you do to procure health insurance for her? Based on some of the plans I have been reviewing online, the price for 2 people on a plan appears to be a little less than double for a single person. The plans also seem really expensive and many have high deductibles, or maybe Im just getting sticker shock.

Any suggestions?

[AaronLV]

You will need to sign up on your states health exchange and/or will need to use the healthcare.gov site if your state does not have one. If you are signing up outside of the open enrollment period you will need show a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) of why you did not sign up during the open enrollment. Since you have been in Thailand and not living in the states, that would be a QLE. The insurance plans are horrible compared to any of the plans I have ever had through an employer, or private insurance before. The only good point is no pre-existing condition exclusion. They are expensive depending on your age and lifestyle (smoking etc). We can only hope many parts of it repealed in the coming year.

[rideswings]

Thanks for the info Aaron. Yes I agree the plans are horrible, but I guess its better than nothing in the event of having an uncovered event.

Edited February 3, 2015 by theoldgit
Uneccesary follow on quote removed

[gk10002000]

Thanks for the info Aaron. Yes I agree the plans are horrible, but I guess its better than nothing in the event of having an uncovered event.

Aaron is completely correct on the health insurance. The plans are expensive. I am grandfathered and keep my florida blue cross blue shield "private" plan, but they raised the rates 28% and I now pay 265/month. It was a catastrophic coverage plan that did all that I need. I don't care about a few deductibles. I just wanted insurance for major expenses. The current cheapest plan in Florida I could get would be $388/month if I used their health site. So things are going in the wrong direction.

[gk10002000]

On second thought, you said your thai wife might be in the USA for only one year or so. I am not sure your wife will be required to get insurance. Are you filing a joint income tax return? Is your Thai wife your legally married USA wife? You are not actually required to get insurance, but if you don't, you have to pay a fine, which at the moment is trivial. You might want to consider having her on Thai medical insurance and handle it that way. If something severe happens, fly back to Thailand.

[Loptr]

You will need to sign up on your states health exchange and/or will need to use the healthcare.gov site if your state does not have one. If you are signing up outside of the open enrollment period you will need show a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) of why you did not sign up during the open enrollment. Since you have been in Thailand and not living in the states, that would be a QLE. The insurance plans are horrible compared to any of the plans I have ever had through an employer, or private insurance before. The only good point is no pre-existing condition exclusion. They are expensive depending on your age and lifestyle (smoking etc). We can only hope many parts of it repealed in the coming year.

I would recommend to STAY AWAY from the state or federally sponsored ACA health care plans... The premiums are astronomical and deductibles so high that you will never benefit if you need treatment...

There are still state-specific 3rd party insurance providers that have policies available which are cheaper and provide better coverage than the ACA... The who, what questions are based on which state you are going to live in... My only other advice is to bend over and grab your ankles, because are not going to like the premiums... My example being myself as I still carry insurance coverage in the US... My premium is $904 per month, just for me and I have zero pre-existing conditions and am in perfect health... There are reports of families of 4 paying in excess of $2400 per month, just for health care coverage... I know you are not going to like this, but it's reality under the Obama regime...

EDIT: Another option is to claim indigence and go on Medicaid... That's how the millions of illegals in the US get treatment...

Edited February 3, 2015 by Loptr

[rideswings]

On second thought, you said your thai wife might be in the USA for only one year or so. I am not sure your wife will be required to get insurance. Are you filing a joint income tax return? Is your Thai wife your legally married USA wife? You are not actually required to get insurance, but if you don't, you have to pay a fine, which at the moment is trivial. You might want to consider having her on Thai medical insurance and handle it that way. If something severe happens, fly back to Thailand.

Yes we plan to be in the USA for at least 1 year or more. We plan to file joint taxes in the USA after she gets there and gets an SS number. Our marriage is registered in Thailand.

I see that the penalty for not having insurance is trivial in the USA, certainly cheaper than some of the monthly insurance payments, but the downside is not being covered.

She currently has Thai medical insurance that costs around 3000 baht per quarter. Yes she could fly back to Thailand if something severe happens, but its 24 hours travel on an airplane, so I hope if it was something severe, she would still be able to fly.

[rideswings]

You will need to sign up on your states health exchange and/or will need to use the healthcare.gov site if your state does not have one. If you are signing up outside of the open enrollment period you will need show a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) of why you did not sign up during the open enrollment. Since you have been in Thailand and not living in the states, that would be a QLE. The insurance plans are horrible compared to any of the plans I have ever had through an employer, or private insurance before. The only good point is no pre-existing condition exclusion. They are expensive depending on your age and lifestyle (smoking etc). We can only hope many parts of it repealed in the coming year.

I would recommend to STAY AWAY from the state or federally sponsored ACA health care plans... The premiums are astronomical and deductibles so high that you will never benefit if you need treatment...

There are still state-specific 3rd party insurance providers that have policies available which are cheaper and provide better coverage than the ACA... The who, what questions are based on which state you are going to live in... My only other advice is to bend over and grab your ankles, because are not going to like the premiums... My example being myself as I still carry insurance coverage in the US... My premium is $904 per month, just for me and I have zero pre-existing conditions and am in perfect health... There are reports of families of 4 paying in excess of $2400 per month, just for health care coverage... I know you are not going to like this, but it's reality under the Obama regime...

EDIT: Another option is to claim indigence and go on Medicaid... That's how the millions of illegals in the US get treatment...

Yes the premiums are astronomical, almost double what health insurance for me costs here. We will be living in Florida, probably one of the more expensive states for coverage.

Yes your premium of $904 per month is really high, but you probably have good coverage. Some of the lower cost plans I was looking at dropped to about $250 per month, but the deductibles are $12,000 per person for the year per person!

My income places me above the indigent level, so I prob wouldnt qualify for Medicaide, but its a thought... haha