Temporary medical insurance for new California resident

[Redstevio 0]

Hi Everyone

 

I would be grateful if someone could help with my situation as I am struggling to get any reliable information online. 
 

I will be travelling to San Francisco from London on 31st of August 2020 on an IR-1 visa. I will be living with my wife who started a new job a few months back. My wife has confirmed that both me and her will be eligible to be covered by her employment medical plan beginning in October. 
 

This leaves me 1 month where I will need medical insurance. From my research I understand that I cannot be covered by travel insurance as I will be a LPR. So I looked into plans for new immigrants, none of which cover my situation as they seem to all be for green card holders who are travelling abroad, or don’t cover LPRs in general (the wording is very misleading and I don’t want to take the risk). 
 

I then decided to look for short term medical cover in California and found that it was outlawed in 2018. Another problem given the circumstances is that most insurance plans won’t cover Covid-19 which is obviously an important factor. 

 

Has anyone here experienced a similar issue? 
 

I would grateful for any advice in this area because it is proving to be very stressful. 

 

 

 

[SalishSea 18,064]

5 minutes ago, Redstevio said:

Hi Everyone

 

I would be grateful if someone could help with my situation as I am struggling to get any reliable information online. 
 

I will be travelling to San Francisco from London on 31st of August 2020 on an IR-1 visa. I will be living with my wife who started a new job a few months back. My wife has confirmed that both me and her will be eligible to be covered by her employment medical plan beginning in October. 
 

This leaves me 1 month where I will need medical insurance. From my research I understand that I cannot be covered by travel insurance as I will be a LPR. So I looked into plans for new immigrants, none of which cover my situation as they seem to all be for green card holders who are travelling abroad, or don’t cover LPRs in general (the wording is very misleading and I don’t want to take the risk). 
 

I then decided to look for short term medical cover in California and found that it was outlawed in 2018. Another problem given the circumstances is that most insurance plans won’t cover Covid-19 which is obviously an important factor. 

 

Has anyone here experienced a similar issue? 
 

I would grateful for any advice in this area because it is proving to be very stressful. 

 

 

 

My husband and I were in this exact situation, although he travelled on a K-1, which is technically a nonimmigrant visa.  

 

He had a prior travel insurance plan, purchased at home in NZ.  It was for the duration of a year, and covered all trips abroad during that timeframe.  POE was Oct 16, we got married 5 days later, and by Nov 1 his coverage on my employer based plan had kicked in.  

 

Had something come up in that two week window, he would have called on the travel plan for coverage; luckily, it was not needed.

 

One idea - can you possible delay travel until later in September, to minimize the non-covered time?  The ACA still contains the caveat that insurance plans may not discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions (although Trump wants to axe that), so even if you got sick immediately, you would soon be able to use the plan.

 

Best of luck.  Maybe others here will have additional ideas.

[igoyougoduke 1,674]

have you checked https://www.coveredca.com/

[Boiler 45,898]

1 hour ago, Redstevio said:

Hi Everyone

 

I would be grateful if someone could help with my situation as I am struggling to get any reliable information online. 
 

I will be travelling to San Francisco from London on 31st of August 2020 on an IR-1 visa. I will be living with my wife who started a new job a few months back. My wife has confirmed that both me and her will be eligible to be covered by her employment medical plan beginning in October. 
 

This leaves me 1 month where I will need medical insurance. From my research I understand that I cannot be covered by travel insurance as I will be a LPR. So I looked into plans for new immigrants, none of which cover my situation as they seem to all be for green card holders who are travelling abroad, or don’t cover LPRs in general (the wording is very misleading and I don’t want to take the risk). 
 

I then decided to look for short term medical cover in California and found that it was outlawed in 2018. Another problem given the circumstances is that most insurance plans won’t cover Covid-19 which is obviously an important factor. 

 

Has anyone here experienced a similar issue? 
 

I would grateful for any advice in this area because it is proving to be very stressful. 

There is temporary cover, now quite what its value is, you are correct the Travel Insurance is inappropriate.

 

What cover does your wife currently have? Can you be added?

[yuna628 9,697]

20 hours ago, Redstevio said:

Hi Everyone

 

I would be grateful if someone could help with my situation as I am struggling to get any reliable information online. 
 

I will be travelling to San Francisco from London on 31st of August 2020 on an IR-1 visa. I will be living with my wife who started a new job a few months back. My wife has confirmed that both me and her will be eligible to be covered by her employment medical plan beginning in October. 
 

This leaves me 1 month where I will need medical insurance. From my research I understand that I cannot be covered by travel insurance as I will be a LPR. So I looked into plans for new immigrants, none of which cover my situation as they seem to all be for green card holders who are travelling abroad, or don’t cover LPRs in general (the wording is very misleading and I don’t want to take the risk). 
 

I then decided to look for short term medical cover in California and found that it was outlawed in 2018. Another problem given the circumstances is that most insurance plans won’t cover Covid-19 which is obviously an important factor. 

 

Has anyone here experienced a similar issue? 
 

I would grateful for any advice in this area because it is proving to be very stressful. 

 

 

 

There are many insurances that are called 'new immigrant insurance in the US' or temporary visitor insurance that may work. Some use them for that month or two gap. However if it certainly won't cover for COVID, and the coverage these plans offer are dubious at best because they are exempt from ACA regulation. The health exchange via Covered California might be an ACA-regulated option. Some also choose to just be careful and go without for the gap.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

I'm guessing this is a "her benefits start after x days/months on the job" thing? Because if it were waiting for open enrollment, it wouldn't be until November (and that's setting things up for the next calendar year). If that's the case, I'd agree the best solution for avoiding a gap in coverage is probably to just delay coming until you can be covered.

 

Pre-ACA I had a relatively inexpensive but decent (albeit with a fairly high deductible) plan via Kaiser while working as an independent contractor (that I canceled once I started working as an employee again), but that was ~10 years ago. Not sure what things are like now.

[Boiler 45,898]

Did not think you could get ACA immediately.