Author Topic: Health Insurance for US citizen returning to the US  (Read 2140 times)

katekat

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Health Insurance for US citizen returning to the US
« on: June 16, 2018, 07:24:59 AM »
My husband is a US citizen living in the UK, moving back to the US in a couple of weeks. He does not have employment in the US to provide healthcare. He will be returning to Maryland, if that matters.

Our medium-term solution to healthcare is probably going to be the marketplace, but my understanding is that he can't begin this process until he is resident in the US. I'd rather we didn't have a gap of being uninsured but I can't find any options to avoid this through googling.

The one-way travel insurance I've found relies on him being 'resident' in another country, or finishes at the country of final destination, or doesn't cover US citizens in the US. The expat travel insurance I've found doesn't cover US citizens in the US.

Have any other US citizens who are returning (permanently, not visiting) from abroad managed to arrange health insurance in advance of arrival, and if so, what are the options? We'd be okay with something that only lasted, say, 2 weeks or more, as a stopgap until he can work out how to navigate obamacare. We're just looking something to guard against huge, net worth destroying catastrophes, really.

He was under 26, and on his parents insurance, when he last lived in the US -- so neither of us have any experience of navigating health insurance.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2018, 07:26:38 AM by katekat »

expatartist

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Re: Health Insurance for US citizen returning to the US
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2018, 09:19:44 AM »
@lhamo might have some ideas - she returned to the Seattle area from many years in Asia with her family not so long ago.

katekat

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Re: Health Insurance for US citizen returning to the US
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2018, 02:44:52 AM »
Maryland have expanded medicaid, and he will have no income, but I had assumed that our income would be counted as a household and he wouldn't qualify. I will continue to live and work abroad, making ~$45k, which is well above the numbers I could find for medicaid limits for a 2-person household. Please correct me if this is wrong, though -- Maryland Health Connection, that looks really helpful for understanding the details, seems to block me (I assume because I'm outside the US although I tried with a US proxy and still couldn't access).

So that's why we had assumed we would use ACA. I was aware that he can sign up for a plan outside regular enrollment, but is my understanding correct that he has to do this after he moves? I guess I'm just worried about, e.g., expensive car crash getting from the aiport to home, or something else happening before he has a chance to actually sign up, which is why I was wondering if there's anything we can do in advance.

eta: If the answer from other people who've tried this is just "yeah, there's no way to do this, he has to be uninsured when he lands" I'd be grateful just to hear that -- at least it would mean I'd stop tearing my hair out looking for the 'how'.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2018, 02:48:31 AM by katekat »

katekat

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Re: Health Insurance for US citizen returning to the US
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2018, 12:37:59 AM »
Yeah, travel insurance is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for but as I stated, I haven't found any that will cover a US citizen returning to the US permanently without residence elsewhere, so I was hoping someone might know a specific provider. His current travel insurance, for example, has always been fine travelling to the USA while he's lived here, but only covers UK residents.

Did you and/or your husband end up entering the US uninsured?
« Last Edit: June 19, 2018, 02:50:35 AM by katekat »