# Healthcare in the USA



## acestarlad (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi,

My partner is deeply intent on emigrating to the USA at some point in the future, but no date has been set yet. He is currently working towards his degree in meteorology and environmental science and wants to work within the Disaster Planning sector. That or continue his ministerial role in the USA.

I have been told that if he is granted his visa that I will also be granted a visa to live in the USA, even though I am medically retired.

I have a few medical conditions which are: Relapsing Polychondritis (RP), Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) and Type 1 Diabetes. There are a few other much more milder complaints which are all complications of these three main conditions.

So obviously the first thing on my mind is being able to receive adequate healthcare for these conditions. As it so happens the USA is leading the world in research into both the RP and TBM, so in that respect this move could be good.

However my understanding of the health system in the USA is that it is based on medical insurance. From previous experience of health insurance here in the UK, I can already hear these companies laughing, especially for the RP as it is an extremely rare disease and no one really knows the outcome or the long term medical needs.

So I would like to know if there is any advice that I can be given to help this situation. Bearing in mind that the most likely outcome will be that I won't be working on either medical or visa grounds. 

I seriously don't want to leach of the goodwill of the US, but the situation is what the situation is and I believe the US to be a civilised country and therefore I cannot imagine that it would leave people such as myself, high and dry.

I have also been told that Barrack O'Bama is bringing in new medical reforms. I have tried to get my head around these reforms but I have to admit that I remain a little confused as to what is or is going to happen. If someone could tell me in plain English what these reforms are and what they, that would be very much appreciated.

I apologise for any offence that I may have inadvertently caused in writing this post. I do intend to cause any offence.

Thank you.

Jason


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## American_Woman (Mar 31, 2010)

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I had excellent insurance as long as I was working but when I stopped working to go back to school I was completely uninsured and couldn't afford to purchase my own insurance. That was fine until I needed serious medical attention. I had to fight to get Medicaid. That's the insurance provided by the state/federal government to low income individuals. It's my understanding that it's only available to citizens and legal residents.

Obviously, i'm no expert but it would seem to me that your best bet would be to find an experimental program looking for individuals such as yourself. If you apply and get in, they may be able to help you but otherwise, I'm not sure. Here in Canada, when I applied for residency status, they made me take a medical exam. They don't want people with serious medical issues to come in and drain their medical resources. Not sure how the US does it but they probably do something similar.

As far as Obama is concerned, I can't understand it myself. I don't think his idea's have a snowballs chance in hell anyway. Everyone seems to be fighting him at every turn. I wouldn't hold my breath on immigrants receiving anything good out of the deal anyway.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The main thing to understand about the American health care system is that it is PRIVATE - privately organized and privately funded. All the new health care plan seems to have done is to make health care insurance mandatory for most people (starting in 2014), which means that if your partner's employer offers coverage, you may be able to buy coverage through that plan. At what cost is anyone's guess at this point, but by the time coverage becomes mandatory, the private insurers are not supposed to be able to deny coverage or discriminate in terms of rates due to "pre-existing conditions." (Some of that may have already come into effect.)

Things may have changed recently, but last I knew, it wasn't possible to get a "dependent visa" for a "partner" for living in the US. Dependents are spouses and/or children. Beyond that, it may depend on the employer, the insurer and the state you're living in whether or not employer insurance is available to a "partner" unless the partners are married (and only a few states these days recognize same sex marriages).

When and if your partner gets a job offer in the US, you need to get any and all promises about visas and health insurance from the potential employer in writing, especially where these things concern you. The legislation has only just been passed to set up the new system and already there are attempts to dismantle it (legislatively). It's going to be a confused mess until 2014 when the main provisions go into effect (if they don't get dismantled first). You'll need to take it one step at a time, and make sure your partner includes you and your situation in any and all job negotiations.
Cheers,
Bev


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## queenster (Aug 2, 2012)

I agree with admin,
Most of health care programs are institutionalized and most private companies are offering them. if you are asking for access to public programs, then you must be really poor to qualify for medicare and medicaid


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

queenster said:


> I agree with admin,
> Most of health care programs are institutionalized and most private companies are offering them. if you are asking for access to public programs, then you must be really poor to qualify for medicare and medicaid


You may want to read up on Medicare.


Medicare Benefits provide details on Cost, Coverage, Plans, Enrollment, Prescriptions, and Eligibility


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## stednick (Oct 16, 2011)

*Questions you need to answer*

Jason: Time for a wet blanket or more simply a gut check. 

Reading your post you have a couple of "issues" that must be addressed. First is the ability of your partner to find an employer willing to sponsor him for a visa, second is for you to get a visa, and, third, is the US health-care system as it applies to you. 

As pointed out, medicine in the US is best described as private. ObamaCare has been enacted, however, it is the great unknown at this point in time. It consists of a great many "individual" line items that have not been explored as of yet. It is expected that a great many court challenges to individual items will occur in the future. Perhaps, the biggest of the items is "who pays for all of this?". Will it be the US taxpayers or will it be the US medical insurance carriers who will pass the cost on to their subscribers?, nobody knows for certain. So, at this point in time, we do not know what we have, nor do we know what it will evolve into.

Concerning you specifically. The United States of America (read this to be the US taxpayers) do NOT want to pay for your medical care. This does not mean that if you are in the US and a medical emergency occurs you will be thrown under the bus. Your immediate life threatening emergency will be taken care. However, you bear the burden of responsibility for your future care. So a medical insurance plan is imperative.

You have three "preexisting" medical conditions. You need to address your ongoing maintenance medical care for those three pre-existing conditions. What you need to do now is investigate what it will cost you for the medical insurance that you are going to need. More than likely the cost of medical care for your preexisting conditions will be excluded from your coverage, or, possibly, if included, then the costs will be factored into your premiums. 

So, right now you have serious questions that must be answered as you and your partner decide your future plans, goals, path and direction. 

At this point in time you should be investigating the cost of private medical insurance in the USA for yourself. You need to know this important piece of the puzzle before your partner begins negotiating his potential employment contract and benefits. Realize, that your medical insurance requirements may well be a deal-breaker. 

I hope this helps. Good luck.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

stednick said:


> Jason: Time for a wet blanket or more simply a gut check.
> 
> Reading your post you have a couple of "issues" that must be addressed. First is the ability of your partner to find an employer willing to sponsor him for a visa, second is for you to get a visa, and, third, is the US health-care system as it applies to you.
> 
> ...


This thread is over 18 months old. I don't know why Queenster replied to it but he has done that on a number of old threads today !


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## stednick (Oct 16, 2011)

*Thanks*



Crawford said:


> This thread is over 18 months old. I don't know why Queenster replied to it but he has done that on a number of old threads today !


Crawford:

Thanks, good catch. Never dawned on me to check the dates going into threads. Well, I'll chalk it up to lessons learned. Learn something new every day, you filled my quota for the day.

Thanks, Tom


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