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Posted
43 minutes ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

Well, yes, complications can require hospitalization. Fact is if you use a non-profit hospital, they will reduce or fully forgive your bill based on income (but you have to apply directly to the hospital for this) but if your income is too high for that then you need to negotiate with the hospital. They don't expect you to pay what's on the bill. It's hugely inflated. If you tell them you're ready to pay, they'll take 50-75% off at least. A hospital sued me for $2k for two ER visits, I went there and spoke to the CFO who immediately agreed to take $300 and forgive the rest. Lawsuit averted.

Well this was just our basic local dump of a hospital for me.. and it wasn't on account of my income being too high that's for sure. They came in at some point while I was basically in a doped up haze, mumbled at me to sign some paperwork. I paid every last dime of that bill slowly, they weren't going to negotiate anything. They threatened collections at some point when the bill was paid off because of an ''error''.. that was a mess to sort out.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's hard for a patient to know if something is super serious or not and sometimes as I've experience with Urgent Care they don't always get the diagnosis right or want to take responsibility for a diagnosis. With my husband I was thinking it was his appendix or kidneys. UC didn't have one clue. Thankfully wasn't the case, but it is something that can recur. Treatment is easy and something a UC could give, but they won't give treatment without an ER signing off on that. I've also seen some cases where someone goes to UC with a broken bone or severe sprain which they are supposed to treat, only to be later scolded by an ER doc that the treatment they gave actually made it worse. UC has it's uses, and I use it, but sometimes an ER can be more helpful.. just a shame the extreme cost.

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Posted (edited)

I understand what you are saying. Our local UC is pretty good, it's usually a Physician's Assistant there, not an MD (but they can call a doctor on the phone).

When my MIL had chest pains, though the UC sent her to the ER, they would not touch her at all. Thankfully it turned out to be her gallbladder not her heart.

You are right, if they will not negotiate then paying it little by little is the only way. I was charged separately for the doctor's services at the ER (what a scam, I understand they're there as contractors but still) and that went on my credit report as collections. Luckily I could pay it later & I made a deal with the collection agency to delete it completely off my credit record in exchange of paying it in full.

Our local hospital is the 50th on the list of the hospitals who overcharge most for their services in the whole of the US so I feel your pain. Unless someone is dying we are going to the next little town over to the ER (their hospital is great, even provides free services to county residents under a certain income but we live in the neighboring county, unfortunately) or up to DFW.

 

Luckily I have BCBS now (heavily subsidised) but the co-pay for an ER visit is still $500.

Edited by EM_Vandaveer

Entry on VWP to visit then-boyfriend 06/13/2011

Married 06/24/2011

Our first son was born 10/31/2012, our daughter was born 06/30/2014, our second son was born 06/20/2017

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Posted
44 minutes ago, LizM said:

Just wanted to chime in on this - I had done so much research on this and was originally able to get on a marketplace plan in June 2018. But they kicked me off the plan in August 2018 because my AOS NOA1 was "not sufficient proof of my status". Which is of course total bs. I asked what type of evidence they normally required for people adjusting status - they didn't know, they couldn't specify beyond the NOA1. I told them a NOA1 is ALL you get as someone who's adjusting status, and also, it was one of the eligible documents as per their own website. I spoke with several people including supervisors, I really did try. In the end I chose to just jump to a private plan, because we weren't really getting much of a tax credit anyway, and I didn't want to talk to the marketplace people anymore. But I was uncovered for about two months because of their incompetence and I'm still trying to figure out how or if that will affect me tax wise. Just saying, you can be super prepared and still get unlucky with them.

Yep. I understand, it can be difficult dealing with idiots. There was actually a provision in the law that if you went without coverage because of an error or false info provided that resulted in denial of coverage the penalty wouldn't apply if you fought them on it. There's a lot that's said about the 'ease of use' of signing up to the marketplace or that some great savings is had... the reality is, for some it can be tough and the savings isn't that much in most cases. The less government bureaucracy the better.. and that's one of the reasons why I went private too.

 

I think that for your case, the penalty will not apply. They do give you a window without penalty if you are booted from coverage for whatever reason and that's about right.

Our Journey Timeline  - Immigration and the Health Exchange Price of Love in the UK Thinking of Returning to UK?

 

First met: 12/31/04 - Engaged: 9/24/09
Filed I-129F: 10/4/14 - Packet received: 10/7/14
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Touched on website (fixed?): 12/9/14 - Poked USCIS: 4/1/15
NOA 2 email: 5/4/15 (hard copy 5/11/15)
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RFE for USCIS inability to read vax instructions: 5/21/16 (no e-notification & not sent from local office!)

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Green Card received: 6/18/16

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: United Kingdom
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Posted

This is exactly the situation my wife and I have found ourselves in (I am the beneficiary, we got married in March). She has to get her insurance through marketplace and it seemed that it was not possible to add me to it. I could not get health insurance due to not being a permanent resident. I got work with my EADA in October but insurance did not start until December 30th. So it looks like we have to pay the full penalty for me not having had any insurance?!

  • 3 weeks later...
Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Mexico
Timeline
Posted
On 2/11/2019 at 3:53 PM, jasonatlantica said:

Hello all, 

 

I am new to your site and thought I would post a question that I can't seem to find an answer for.

My finance came in 2018 and we married on a K1 Visa.  She received her work and travel permit in mid-December. 

Now that she has a social security number I will have to do our taxes as Married filing Jointly, I believe. 

 

As I work through the process, I come to the Obamacare questionnaire about how many months I or she had health coverage.

Im self-employed and had marketplace coverage for most of the year last year. I was not able to get qualifying coverage for her yet

because she wasnt a citizen and had no SSN for most of the year. 

Here's the rub: It appears to be penalizing us for her not having coverage for the whole year,

yet because of her status, she didnt qualify to get coverage to begin with.  Catch 22?

 

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Thank you

 

Jason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure if you still need help, but here is what we did.

 

Future husband entered in August 2018. Married mid-December 2018. Filed a paper return as Married Filing Joint with worldwide income of +-$55,000. Included form 8965 Health Coverage Exemption. On the form, I put my spouses name. For the months of Jan18-Aug18 I put exemption C - Citizen living abroad and certain non-citizens. For the months of Sept18-Dec18, I put exemption A - Coverage considered unaffordable. I didn't include any backup as to why I felt it was unaffordable. My return was approved and I have received the refund. Not sure how much you make, but I was told by two tax professionals to just put that it was unaffordable, the IRS doesn't check.

c9 AOS Concurrently filed I-130 & I-130A, I-485, I-131, I-765

 

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I-751 Removal of Conditions

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2021-11-16 New card is being produced

Filed: AOS (apr) Country: Mexico
Timeline
Posted
On 3/10/2019 at 4:04 PM, CGH said:

This is exactly the situation my wife and I have found ourselves in (I am the beneficiary, we got married in March). She has to get her insurance through marketplace and it seemed that it was not possible to add me to it. I could not get health insurance due to not being a permanent resident. I got work with my EADA in October but insurance did not start until December 30th. So it looks like we have to pay the full penalty for me not having had any insurance?!

Consider submitting form 8965 Health Coverage Exemption with your tax return. You can use exemption C for the months prior to arriving in the US, and maybe exemption A Coverage Considered Unaffordable for the months she was in the US.

 

We made $55K worldwide, used exception A, and was approved. I didn't need to provide any backup for why coverage was unaffordable.

c9 AOS Concurrently filed I-130 & I-130A, I-485, I-131, I-765

 

2019-02-21 Package sent to Chicago Lockbox via FedEx

2019-03-09 Notice received via USPS

2019-03-15 Biometrics Appointment Notice received

2019-03-26 Attended Biometrics Appointment

2019-04-01 Case is ready to to be scheduled for an interview

2019-04-22 Interview Notice received via USPS

2019-05-20 Interview: Approved after 82 days.

2019-05-21 Card in production

2019-05-22 Card was mailed to you (no tracking)

2019-05-29 Green Card in hand.

 

I-751 Removal of Conditions

2021-03-23 Package Sent via FedEx

2021-04-01 Package Received Texas Service Center

2021-04-21 I-797C Notice Date

2021-04-26 Notice Received via USPS

2021-05-04 Biometrics were reused

2021-11-16 New card is being produced

Posted
On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:57 AM, EM_Vandaveer said:

Who does that??? For the flu go to Urgent Care & pay $85 cash. ER is for life & death stuff not the flu. Or when the Urgent Care is closed but you are in a lot of pain.

I work in a hospital, and I can assure you lots of people do that and ER visits for even lesser complaints, like sore throats.

 

We all pay for it.

Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Hungary
Timeline
Posted
1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

I work in a hospital, and I can assure you lots of people do that and ER visits for even lesser complaints, like sore throats.

 

We all pay for it.

I totally understand that that's the case. I'm just trying to say it's idiotic... One goes to the ER if 1) it's actually life-threatening or could be (chest pains, difficulty breathing etc) 2) they have to seen by a doctor right then & urgent care is closed (like horrible pain in the middle of the night even if the source of the pain is known).

Entry on VWP to visit then-boyfriend 06/13/2011

Married 06/24/2011

Our first son was born 10/31/2012, our daughter was born 06/30/2014, our second son was born 06/20/2017

AOS Timeline

AOS package mailed 09/06/2011 (Chicago Lockbox)

AOS package signed for by R Mercado 09/07/2011

Priority date for I-485&I-130 09/08/2011

Biometrics done 10/03/2011

Interview letter received 11/18/2011

INTERVIEW DATE!!!! 12/20/2011

Approval e-mail 12/21/2011

Card production e-mail 12/27/2011

GREEN CARD ARRIVED 12/31/2011

Resident since 12/21/2011

ROC Timeline

ROC package mailed to VSC 11/22/2013

NOA1 date 11/26/2013

Biometrics date 12/26/2013

Transfer notice to CSC 03/14/2014

Change of address 03/27/2014

Card production ordered 04/30/2014

10-YEAR GREEN CARD ARRIVED 05/06/2014

N-400 Timeline

N-400 package mailed 09/30/2014

N-400 package delivered 10/01/2014

NOA1 date 10/20/2014

Biometrics date 11/14/2014

Early walk-in biometrics 11/12/2014

In-line for interview 11/23/2014

Interview letter 03/18/2015

Interview date 04/17/2015 ("Decision cannot yet be made.")

In-line for oath scheduling 05/04/2015

Oath ceremony letter dated 05/11/2015

Oath ceremony 06/02/2015

I am a United States citizen!

 
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