Health Insurance for my future wife(We are in K1 visa process)

[CeboMap 0]

Hello all,  My fiancée and I are in the middle of going through the K1 visa process.  I work for a company and want to include my fiancée into the company's health insurance plan after we get married.  But after doing some research, it looks like she won't be able to be in my insurance plan until after she gets her green card.

 

What is everyone's experience with this?  How did your fiancé or fiancée purchase health insurance while waiting for his/her green card?  What potential issues could my fiancée face with having a separate health insurance while she waits for her green card?

[yuna628 9,671]

1 minute ago, CeboMap said:

Hello all,  My fiancée and I are in the middle of going through the K1 visa process.  I work for a company and want to include my fiancée into the company's health insurance plan after we get married.  But after doing some research, it looks like she won't be able to be in my insurance plan until after she gets her green card.

 

What is everyone's experience with this?  How did your fiancé or fiancée purchase health insurance while waiting for his/her green card?  What potential issues could my fiancée face with having a separate health insurance while she waits for her green card?

You will be able to add your fiance to your insurance, once you marry. No waiting for the green card is required. She is eligible upon the marriage. Do not wait on this, as you have a limited timeframe, and you do not want to be stuck without. Green cards are taking an extremely long time now, absolutely don't wait.

 

Your other options would be to use the health exchange (federal or state if you have one), or buy a plan privately. Temporary insurances and 'new immigrant' coverage are not ACA compliant and offer very little in the way of pre-existing coverage.

 

You may be told that your wife requires an SSN to obtain health insurance. Commonly many HR reps and even phone reps for companies will erroneously or maliciously state such falsehoods. By law it is not required to have an SSN for insurance, however it will make obtaining it a lot less fuss. Typically once the K1 has been issued and the fiance enters the US, they can go to the SSA and file for an SSN before they marry (you can find threads on this on VJ).

 

So what did we do?

 

Got K1 and entered US.

Waited 2 weeks (this no longer applies anymore and you can apply asap as long as the fiance is in the system - check the I94).

Applied for SSN (remember the fiance IS eligible to apply, if the SSA employee gives you a problem ask for supervisor or apply at another branch).

Got married. SSN had arrived by that time.

Added husband to my insurance plan. They did not ask for an SSN. The law states that they can and may ask several times to provide it (they did ask eventually), but you do not have to give it out if you do not want to. This really is for IRS identifying purposes, and the only person who is truly authorized to obtain the number is the IRS directly.

Applied for AOS with EAD.

Got EAD. Applied for first driver's license. 

By this point the spouse may start working, so they may be able to obtain insurance from their own employer. 

Once you have the green card, return to the SSA and update (remove restrictions) from the SSN. Update driver's license if applicable. 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

14 minutes ago, CeboMap said:

Hello all,  My fiancée and I are in the middle of going through the K1 visa process.  I work for a company and want to include my fiancée into the company's health insurance plan after we get married.  But after doing some research, it looks like she won't be able to be in my insurance plan until after she gets her green card.

 

What is everyone's experience with this?  How did your fiancé or fiancée purchase health insurance while waiting for his/her green card?  What potential issues could my fiancée face with having a separate health insurance while she waits for her green card?

That should be false. You can put your wife on your insurance and you probably only have a 30 day time period after marriage to do it. Speak to HR management if you get push back. After your spouse gets her green card she would be so completely out of a qualifying life event that she would have to wait for open enrollment.
 

There are no immigration related issues with her being on a separate plan. If you chose to not do your own plan you can purchase her insurance on your states health exchange site within 30 days of immigrating- as that would be the qualifying life event for the health exchange.

[Adventine 3,196]

I have no SSN and my husband added me to his health insurance the day after we got married.

 

Some employers make it easy, others make it hard. As others have said, if you encounter resistance, you just need to push back until you find a supervisor who understands an SSN is not required.

[Crazy Cat 41,836]

42 minutes ago, CeboMap said:

But after doing some research, it looks like she won't be able to be in my insurance plan until after she gets her green card.

I agree with the others.  Once you are married, you should be able to add your spouse.