Travel insurance for flight over/ Medical Insuarance for after POE

[bob+senga 11]

HI

I have 2 questions re insurance.

For the flight over i would like Travel insurance to cover my daughter and self for flights over- flight delays, lost bags, missed flights etc- can anyone recommend or tell me who they used- do we tell them we only need it for 2 days say.

Also what about medical insurance once we get there- ive read on some feeds that any insurance we get will not be government compliant and we will be likely be fined when it comes to filng taxes- but again i would like some insurance- fiances insurance would go sky high with us on it so we would like to look at that later- i may be lucky and get a job which comes with medical once i start working. Just looking for ideas on last one and any guidance

many thanks

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Proper health insurance is expensive and you will still pay doctors, hospitals, pharmacies money even with insurance. So that will be a big sticker shock adjustment for you.

Jobs with insurance benefits usually means they offer you a group policy, but you will still pay monthly premiums. And keep in mind that insurance is one of those areas like education, banking, marriage and divorce that your state legislates. So specific companies and policies one might suggest on here may not even be offered in your state. Look for answers from Ohio residents. Yuna always has sensible posts on insurance so hopefully she will offer some info.

[Boiler 45,468]

Travel Insurance is for those on a return trip. I have seen new migrant insurance mentioned but not the same. Might want to check if what you think is sky high is just normal price.

[bob+senga 11]

Thanks for the comments, i did see some comments Yuna had made in another post re healthcare and ACA, so thats gave me some stuff to go on, it starts to make a bit more sense now lol.

In regards to travel insurance- insureandgo and duinsure both offer immigration insurance covering you for 5,17,31 61 and 90 days. Though im not convinced the extra cover would actually mount to anything if you did need it, before you managed to sort out the health insurance.

gives me something to work on though

thanks again

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Here's some basics about health insurance insurance to know as simplified as I can tell them. (And of course nothing is really that simple.)

Premium: The amount you pay each month for insurance.

When you compare plans they will be priced according to the coverage you get. Some factors are--

Deductible: The amount you pay your doctor/hospital/pharmacy before insurance will pay anything. A low deductible like $100 will be more expensive monthly. If you find a low premium plan but the deductible is $6000, then it won't be help a lot if you only have the occasional sniffles and antibiotic. But it will be useful for a heart attack and surgery that could run up a half a million dollar bill.

Co-pay: The part you pay for every doctor visit. Say it's $25. The doctor bills $150 or more for every visit. You pay $25 every time and insurance deals with the rest.

Co-insurance: The percentage of the bill you pay and insurance pays. Let's say you already paid your deductible amount for the year so it's time for insurance to start paying something. Your doctor charges $150 and your co-pay is $25. So who pays the remaining $125? If your plan has a typical 80% co-insurance, then insurance pays 80% of the balance and you are responsible for 20%. Your insurance pays $100 and the rest ($25) is yours to pay. So a $150 doctor visit costs you $25 co-pay + $25 co-insurance.

There are also certain things Obamacare law says will be covered by insurance regardless of deductibles and co-pays such as annual wellness visit, mammograms and others I forget.

Out of pocket maximum: An amount set where you will pay no more to doctors/hospitals once you have paid that much out of your pocket in a calendar year. If it's $3000 OOP and you had some big bills with surgery, pregnancy, broken leg...then once you have spent $3000, insurance pays $100% the rest of the year. When a whole family is insured on the same policy, the out -of-pocket usually applies as a family. So if Dad had $3000 he paid out toward his hernia operation, insurance pays $100% for him, the wife, and four kids the rest of the year. Sometimes the policy is written such that per person is one amount and the whole family is another amount. But that means all six in the family don't have to reach $3000 each. I think the OOP is important to look at because you know the most you would pay in a year for something catastrophic. From experience, when a family member has cancer you go through that OOP in January and the rest of the year is pretty much covered 100% by insurance.

Benefit of group plan for the whole family offered by employer--usually has better coverage for lower premiums than an individual can go buy on their own.

Bottom line---it is expensive and you will never quite understand it.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Nich-Nick