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USA Health Insurance

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bradley568

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I was wondering if anyone had any advice on getting health insurance in the USA. I am in the process of moving to America and my company are able to pay for my insurance but because they don't have a company health insurance plan I need to find my own individual policy. This has led to lots of dead ends since very few companies are willing to consider me even though my company is paying for it.

Does anyone have any recommended companies that I can contact in the USA regarding this?

Bradley
 
Hi Bradley,
I don't know any US companies well enough to recommend any, but this link might help you.
It is the industry "trade directory" of all the companies in the States that offer private health insurance.
http://www.ahip.org/

I have several contacts in the US and I will ask them if they have any recommendations of who is good or who to steer clear of if you don't mind waiting a day or two for answers.
 
Hi Bradley,
I have some information for you from my American friends. Firstly all companies with 15 or more employees in the US must provide health insurance for their workers. Unfortunately the bad news is that you have to pay for the cover (by deduction from salary) and that the insurer may choose not to cover any pre-existing conditions. So that is pretty much the same as the UK private health companies. In some cases the deal the employer has with the insurer will mean that the insurer must cover pre-existing conditions, but this will be at a cost - and that cost is always met by the employee not the employer. All the employer has to do is have a scheme in place, not to pay for it as well!

If you do wish to (or need to) arrange your own cover then the biggest insurer is Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Others that have been recommended are United Healthcare, Health Net, Aetna, PCHS, Amerihealth, Oxford, CIGNA, and Qual Care.

Hope this is of some help.
 
Thanks for the info. I have contacted a number of the companies you mentioned already but most are not willing to accept diabetics within their individual plans. As you said, it is normally covered by company's plans but unfortunately our company does not have any insurance policy in place due to its size.

I have found United Healthcare are willing to accept me but they don't seem to provide any decent plans that will provide Novorapid and Lantus on their plans. Looking further into it I have found that their is a California Major Medical Insurance Programme which is a state funded program that guarantees acceptance if you have been rejected already. By applying and getting rejected for a standard plan with any company you can then apply for the MMIP program.

I haven't accepted it yet but at least it looks reasonable.

I'll post any updates in case anyone else has the same problems.

Bradley
 
Thanks Bradley, that would be helpful.
Good luck for your American job. I worked over there a number of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Fortunately I didn't have your problem because the company I worked for paid absolutely everything.
 
I'll keep you posted. Thankfully the cost isn't an issue since the company I work for will be paying it. It is just unfortunate that they don't have enough employees in a single state to allow them to qualify for a health program. I'm sure they will eventually.
 
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