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United States boarders: i need help with health insurance


Goddess Dictator

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Ok I've tried researching and I've tried figuring out what to do but all I get is an endless stream of links to more websites that are going to give me a health insurance quote and I never get one. I just get my phone and email spammed. ugh.



so please, i'm asking very nicely, does anyone have a handle on the new healthcare? it's still completely indecipherable to me.



Here's the situation: My fiancé needs health insurance. We are not married yet or i'd add her to mine, but she insists on waiting until we can have a proper wedding. She is not eligible for obamacare for 2015. She is not eligible for medicare or Medicaid for 2015. She hasn't had insurance in five months and it's a problem. Not only do I worry that something will happen and we'll need it but she is trying to start school for a two year program and it requires that she has it. However, I can't find anything under $400 a month and we just can't swing that.



I've been looking the whole stupid five months and nothing. I'm desperate.



so anybody? bueller? help?



if you don't feel like answering my question, just stare at my avatar. ok, now you want to, right?



:dunno:


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The school doesn't offer insurance? Every uni I attended (ok 3) had a requirement for health insurance, but they all also sold me health insurance since I didn't have any otherwise.

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Yup, it should be supplied by the school.



But honestly, if y'all are planning on marrying anyway, it might be most cost effective to get the legal paperwork done now and put her on your insurance so more money can be put into this wedding that she wants.


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Medicare: Unless she is age 65 or older, or has end-stage renal disease, she wouldn't be eligible.



Medicaid: Are you sure she isn't eligible? It wouldn't surprise me if she's not, even in the states that expanded Medicaid its still a pretty low income threshold. But some states do have not-as-comprehensive versions of Medicaid for higher income levels, for instance in Minnesota you can get coverage with an individual income up to $23,540. If you haven't yet, look at your state's own eligibility requirements, and ignore anything that claims to be talking about national standards.



Obamacare: By not being eligible, do you mean her income is too high, there's an immigration issue, its outside the enrollment period, or something else? For most reasons, yeah, there's not much that can be done, but if its a matter of being outside the enrollment period, have you looked into the the Special Enrollment periods, to see if she qualifies to enroll anyway? Here's healthcare.gov's screener to find out, but if you live in state that set up its own state exchange, use that instead, since some states added their own additional qualifiers.



COBRA: Have you looked into whether she qualifies for COBRA coverage? If she's been uninsured for five months, I suspect its too late to apply, if she was even eligible to begin with (COBRA is continuation coverage for people who lost their coverage due to losing their job), but I don't know a ton about COBRA.



School-based insurance: Yeah, that's a good idea to look into.



Other individual market plans: Have you looked into 'Catastrophic Health Insurance Plans'? They might only be available through Obamacare marketplaces, I'm not sure, but they are generally in the $90/month range; significantly less than the $400/month you mention. Of course, even if you can find it, the reason catastrophic insurance is so cheap is because it really only covers major medical procedures (not routine things like doctor appointments) and has a high deductible. So it might not meet the school's insurance requirements.



That's all I can think of off the top of my head.


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Goddess,



Are you insured through an employer? If so a lot of employers will allow you to add a partner to insurance. The rules are tricky but i know we let people add domestic partners to insurance and all that is required is for the employee to declare they live together.

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Have you checked out getting a limited risk health policy? That could satisfy her school requirements and float her the coverage until you get married and she can be added to your policy. The limited risk policies are, generally, less expensive than a comprehensive plan, but, as the name would suggest, they only cover specific losses. It's not necessarily the best option for your situation, but it sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.


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ok thanks for the answers:

here are my answers:

1. she doesn't qualify for special enrollment in obamacare

2. I know she's not old enough for Medicare I was just trying to be thorough lol in my explanation

3. cobra was 400 a month which we can't do

4. Arkansas actually cut Medicaid instead of expanding so yeah not eligible

5. we aren't married yet so can't add her to mine

I told her to ask the schools. I think that's our best bet so far.

also, HI FEZ!!!!

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Hey GD.



Regarding Medicaid, Arkansas did sort of cover the expansion population, setting up a premium assistance 'private option' for individuals with incomes up to $15,856. I think that's below a full-time minimum wage, so its only an option if she's unemployed or working part-time and only prior to the marriage. However, I'm pretty sure Arkansas also enacted some cost-sharing stuff, which may or may not be cheaper than whatever student health plan is available; and Arkansas may have rules against enrolling in Medicaid if there's an available student health plan.



If you want to look into it more, the official name is the Arkansas Health Care Independence Program.

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thanks Fez!



and yes I know about the marriage paperwork. I keep pushing it. But I want to have a wedding (it's me really that wants a proper wedding) and she knows that and keeps saying "insurance is not a good reason to get married. we need to wait until we are doing it for real" and I'm like INSURANCEEEEEEEEEEEE but it's my fault for going on about a wedding all this time I think lol.


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Fez, people who have been on SSDI for two years get Medicare. I'm pointing this out because your reply was quite thorough, yet somehow missed that millions of people under 65 without end stage renal disease qualify for Medicare. I don't think this will make a difference in terms of the OP, but it might in other situations.

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Fez, people who have been on SSDI for two years get Medicare. I'm pointing this out because your reply was quite thorough, yet somehow missed that millions of people under 65 without end stage renal disease qualify for Medicare. I don't think this will make a difference in terms of the OP, but it might in other situations.

D'oh. Yes, you are right. And a lot of those people also qualify for Medicaid, and get to be those 'dual eligibles' who have Medicaid paying their Medicare premiums and co-pays.

Medicaid/ACA coverage is my area of expertise, and I often forget or gloss over Medicare info.

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