Health Insurance

[yuna628 9,713]

40 minutes ago, geowrian said:

$1700/month??? My roommate has it and the cost is like $170/month (silver plan).

 

(Not getting into politics...just surprised at the huge difference here)

 

How many providers does PA have active and did the friend qualify for a subsidy? Being able to qualify for one unfortunately is not typical for a lot of people. Georgia's prices seem to be fairly around the same as MD.. if not a little cheaper, considering the cost of the highest tier plan is extremely cheaper than it would be in MD. If I'd want the highest tier plan in MD I'd probably be paying around $1700 per month, and the cheapest tier for around $500. They hit me with a $200 increase (mind-boggling) last year, and we almost lost our insurance. MD has an exchange, but Georgia doesn't I think.. but it makes little difference because at this point there's only one or two providers on the exchange. My sister had just signed up with a provider a few months ago, but then they pulled out with little warning and she lost it all over again.

 

The average cost for single plans without subsidy in MD is around $430 or so, but in states without exchanges that must use the federal exchange, it's around $480. If qualifying for a subsidy, it cuts the cost down to around half. We have about four carriers on the exchange - with two of them being nearly junk. That leaves BCBS with the top two and a near chokehold on competition. I imagine this is roughly the same for Georgia. Less competition, more people to cover, and higher costs depending on the state are all contributing factors. The biggest problem is though the lower tier plans have a pretty high premium anyway, but the deductibles is where it really hurts - meaning if you have a plan... you likely can't use it.

Edited April 21, 2017 by yuna628

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

47 minutes ago, Diane and Chris said:

Thanks for all the responses. That is great that the VA allows immigrant spouses to use the insurance. Unfortunately, that doesn't apply in my case because my percentage is not that high. We have been looking around and figure to spend around $300-350 per month. I did check out "Obama" care. $1700/month. What a joke. Nothing affordable about that!  

Yeah I am at 90% right now and trying to get 100% as we speak. The main reason for that is that I can cut back on the private insurance I get for the family to a less expensive plan because the VA would then pick up a vast majority of what the cheaper plan does not. But yes it is great that the VA does allow the immigrant spouse to use their healthcare, as long as they have a SSN. 

 

But on another note, if you ever want to look into a forum for us vets dealing any sort of issues with the VA just go to vets.yuku.com, they are a good forum I go to for questions and help with my VA issues. Also you might learn something which could up your % as well, it certainly did help me in that regard.

 

What % are you if you don't mind me asking? Make sure that when your fiance/spouse comes here, get a ssn and y'all get married that you add them as a dependent on ebenefits. Once you add them as a dependent(which is really easy anyway) you will start receiving a little extra a month for them as well. 

Edited April 21, 2017 by cyberfx1024

[geowrian 22,338]

9 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

How many providers does PA have active and did the friend qualify for a subsidy? Being able to qualify for one unfortunately is not typical for a lot of people. Georgia's prices seem to be fairly around the same as MD.. if not a little cheaper, considering the cost of the highest tier plan is extremely cheaper than it would be in MD. If I'd want the highest tier plan in MD I'd probably be paying around $1700 per month, and the cheapest tier for around $500. They hit me with a $200 increase (mind-boggling) last year, and we almost lost our insurance. MD has an exchange, but Georgia doesn't I think.. but it makes little difference because at this point there's only one or two providers on the exchange. My sister had just signed up with a provider a few months ago, but then they pulled out with little warning and she lost it all over again.

 

The average cost for single plans without subsidy in MD is around $430 or so, but in states without exchanges that must use the federal exchange, it's around $480. If qualifying for a subsidy, it cuts the cost down to around half. We have about four carriers on the exchange - with two of them being nearly junk. That leaves BCBS with the top two and a near chokehold on competition. I imagine this is roughly the same for Georgia. Less competition, more people to cover, and higher costs depending on the state are all contributing factors. The biggest problem is though the lower tier plans have a pretty high premium anyway, but the deductibles is where it really hurts - meaning if you have a plan... you likely can't use it.

There's currently 6 insurers in PA AFAIK. My roommate did qualify for a subsidy. Without the subsidy, the cost is about $500/month. Again, this is for the "silver" plan, which is at least reasonable in coverage and the deductible isn't insane (albeit higher than I would want). The $1700/month was just surprising for a reasonable-coverage + deductible plan.

[jostermacedo 54]

4 hours ago, geowrian said:

There's currently 6 insurers in PA AFAIK. My roommate did qualify for a subsidy. Without the subsidy, the cost is about $500/month. Again, this is for the "silver" plan, which is at least reasonable in coverage and the deductible isn't insane (albeit higher than I would want). The $1700/month was just surprising for a reasonable-coverage + deductible plan.

 

When we moved to the US I also found the prices for health insurance on the high side. At the time, my wife decided to take English courses at the University at Buffalo (in Buffalo/NY) and by taking at least one credit at the University she qualified to purchase the health plan offered by them. We pay $650/month for a family of 4. It's a BCBS Gold plan with no deductible.

 

Is there any Universities/Colleges were you live? Could be cheaper even considering the cost to register for one class.

 

[TBoneTX 46,124]

*** Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the "Moving to the US" forum -- topic involves that phase. ***