Hi! Welcome to California! Been living in California all my life and also had Covered CA before while I was between jobs. Also helped and volunteered getting immigrants in Los Angeles signed up for Covered CA.
It is similar. Once you sign up, you can choose which plan and price is feasible for you. I chose Blue Cross for $89/ month. The plan I chose was an HMO so I had to stay within the network. If you would like to choose doctors outside of the network, just like in any other state, please select a PPO. Obviously, you need to expect a higher monthly premium.
once you have selected a package, they will give you a breakdown of how your benefits work. Call their customer service if you need more information on how this works. They are pretty helpful and now many people who migrate to the states need people to walk them through the process.
Their customer service can give you a better breakdown of this, but I have been told the income is based on who will be claimed on the persons income taxes. I would assume the income will be based on just you and your wife’s income. Please check with customer service
It’s in your best interest to have any kind of medical insurance until you get one through an employer or your wife’s employer.
Open enrollment is open now until January 31st. As long as you have a physical address in CA, get enrolled now so you can make any necessary changes later!
If her income is feasible enough for her to survive paying for the both of you on her premium, her best bet is to add you to her insurance
I would strongly advise her to stay from Kaiser, but if she wants to enroll with them, you should be able to visit any Kaiser location in CA. I used to have United and it was great! As long as it is a PPO there shouldn’t be any issues. If it is HMO check with the insurer to see if there will be any issues.
Pretty sure you can remove someone from your plan at any time. My mom removed my dad from her health insurance when his business was able to start offering insurance to employees and it wasn’t during open enrollment time.
I hope this was of some use to you!