Medical Insurance?

[Carin Lynne 0]

Hello,

What did you guys do for medical insurance before having your SSN and green card? I was going to buy travel insurance from BCAA (I live in B.C.) before going down the States. I assume this is what's necessary until you have a green card??

[VeeNDee 44]

That's what I need to find out too - since I can't get covered under my fiance's health coverage until we are married and what if I need something before that day? Better to be prepared! Let me know if you find out anything! I am from BC too btw Whereabouts? Surrey here!

By the way, I did find out that BCAA/ICBC will let you extend your car insurance to cover you while you are down in the USA until you can get the license/coverage over there - they just have a separate category for that type of insurance. I forget the exact name... but I think it may have been Z something. Going to look into that more in November when my car insurance is up for renewal but glad to know about it.

Apparently you could pay month by month but it's much cheaper to just pay for the year and then get a refund on the months you don't need once you get everything figured out in the USA so that's probably the route I'm going.

[at long last 58]

Hi There

I already checked this out with BCAA and here is what they told me. At the moment we leave Canada our memberships are void. No coverage. If you have less than 5 months left on your membership you don't even get a refund. The travel insurance won't work because you have to be physically residing in Canada. Don't forget to cancel BC medical or they will continue to add amount owed until you do. That happened to my friend and she had to pay over $500 back. So basically I found no one to cover me in the interim.

Terri

And as for car insurance that too has to be cancelled because we don't reside in Canada any longer. I have kept a car down there for over a year and my insurance was specifically for the out of country insurance but when I cross to get married no longer valid and I have to send my plates back if I want a refund. I have timed it so it expires on Nov 12 so I will not even do a refund for 2 weeks worth.

Edited October 16, 2012 by at long last

[codygrace 14]

I have a special insurance that covers my car in the United States, also. I renewed in August though, so I can't wait to get my check back to pay for all the other things I am going to have to do just to get my car to the States in the first place

[Carin Lynne 0]

Thank you so much for your response!

I'm so excited for your upcoming marriage! Congratulations!

Do you know when we are considered not BC residents? I thought it was if you have spent more than 6 months of the year outside of BC?

Best wishes with everything!!!

Hi There

I already checked this out with BCAA and here is what they told me. At the moment we leave Canada our memberships are void. No coverage. If you have less than 5 months left on your membership you don't even get a refund. The travel insurance won't work because you have to be physically residing in Canada. Don't forget to cancel BC medical or they will continue to add amount owed until you do. That happened to my friend and she had to pay over $500 back. So basically I found no one to cover me in the interim.

Terri

And as for car insurance that too has to be cancelled because we don't reside in Canada any longer. I have kept a car down there for over a year and my insurance was specifically for the out of country insurance but when I cross to get married no longer valid and I have to send my plates back if I want a refund. I have timed it so it expires on Nov 12 so I will not even do a refund for 2 weeks worth.

[at long last 58]

Thank you so much for your response!

I'm so excited for your upcoming marriage! Congratulations!

Do you know when we are considered not BC residents? I thought it was if you have spent more than 6 months of the year outside of BC?

Best wishes with everything!!!

We are considered not a residence from what I understand from a long conversation with the NICE folks from Revenue Canada today from the date stamped in our passports on our POE..

Gosh I wish everyone was on the same page.. Sheeesh I was told just in Aug that our insurance would cover us IF we still maintained a residence in BC otherwise we aren't covered no matter what they call it...lolol...I even asked about the not officially a permanent resident of US until we have our papers that tell we are.. So many grey areas. If anyone can shed more light on this I sure would like to hear also..

Terri

Edited October 16, 2012 by at long last

[VeeNDee 44]

We are considered not a residence from what I understand from a long conversation with the NICE folks from Revenue Canada today from the date stamped in our passports on our POE..

Gosh I wish everyone was on the same page.. Sheeesh I was told just in Aug that our insurance would cover us IF we still maintained a residence in BC otherwise we aren't covered no matter what they call it...lolol...I even asked about the not officially a permanent resident of US until we have our papers that tell we are.. So many grey areas. If anyone can shed more light on this I sure would like to hear also..

Terri

When I phoned BCAA/ICBC I told them specifically that I was immigrating to the US on a K1 visa and they said I would definitely be able to use the special Z car insurance for that purpose. But if they told you something differently I wonder if that person was confused. Or maybe the person you talked to was confused.

I have chronic health issues - I definitely need to get some type of interim health insurance that will take me with pre-existing...any thoughts?? Ideas?

[Hugglebuggles 60]

You don't necessarily need an SSN or your GC before getting health insurance. My husband added me to his plan the day after our wedding, and I didn't have either one yet. If you are planning on moving and getting married immediately, and you plan on being added to your spouses plan, you can do this right away with a very short period of time with no coverage.

[hikergirl 277]

I looked on the BC Health site the other day and it said that you are covered under the MSP for the remainder of the month in which you leave BC to reside outside Canada.

I know I saw a thread a while back on interim insurance companies if you don't plan on getting married right away as Hugglebuggles suggested above. I'll see if I can't track it down.

[codygrace 14]

It depends, for my fiances health insurance it was made clear I needed a SSC. I don't think I have to wait after we get married though.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

It depends, for my fiances health insurance it was made clear I needed a SSC. I don't think I have to wait after we get married though.

Usually you can only be added due to a significant life event, like a marriage. So I would definitely verify this. All companies are different, so you might be right. They may consider your move a significant event,

When I moved down here I went 6 weeks without health insurance. Knowing what I know now about medical costs, I would never have taken that risk. Not that anyone is suggesting that.

[CarolinaGirl 2]

hikergirl

This may be a silly question but if you're considered covered by BC MSP for the remainder of the month, what good is that when you're out of BC/Canada? We currently have BC MSP and anytime we go to the US we use our travel insurance that is covered by our extended health care because BC MSP won't cover us when we're out of the country.

[hikergirl 277]

hikergirl

This may be a silly question but if you're considered covered by BC MSP for the remainder of the month, what good is that when you're out of BC/Canada? We currently have BC MSP and anytime we go to the US we use our travel insurance that is covered by our extended health care because BC MSP won't cover us when we're out of the country.

I think that would only be helpful for the people who are moving only a short distance away like WA where they could go back for treatment. Not exactly sure, it was just what the MSP website said.

I did however find a thread that was discussing coverage between POE and coverage by the spouse's medical plan: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/229277-medical-coverage-in-the-us/