Moving to USA

[TheTaupePoster]

We are thinking of moving to the US. We will be self employed. Worried a little about health care costs. We are in our 50’s. Is it very expensive? Anyone have some experience?

Where in the US?

How do you plan on qualifying for a visa as a self employed person?

erm, how are you intending to fulfil the requirements? Have you got visa? Dual citizenship?

What kind of visa are you hoping to get?

You can't just choose to move without having a valid and legal route to do so. Have you got one?

Investment visa

Very expensive - American friends dad had insurance at vast expense - had to have a heart operation and had to remortgage house to pay for it. The insurance did not cover it.

Depending on where in the US and any health conditions, your health insurance could be $15k per annum

If you’re self funding the insurance it’s quite expensive. As someone said 15k. Excess is usually high (ours was 4k for the family of three).

Hmmm…. That doesn’t pass the sniff test.

@TheTaupePoster you can see for yourself what an insurance plan will cost. On healthcare.gov. This is an area that is easy to be penny wise and pound foolish.

An E2 visa is temporary as far as I'm aware, you have to leave at the expiration of your visa or when you finish working at the company, whichever is sooner. And an EB-5 has conditions attached about creating or preservation of 10 US workers jobs. If the latter is an option you should have plenty of cash to afford good health insurance.

Many states offer healthcare exchanges through which you can buy health insurance. You’ll want a comprehensive plan that covers everything as you really don’t want be caught in a situation not covered by your plan . You’ll likely have a high deductible, ours is $6,000 per calendar year for a family plan. It would be lower for a couple, probably $3-4K.

As @saltinesandcoffeecups says, beware of being penny wise and pound foolish.

I think before even thinking about the health insurance side of things, the most important thing is researching and learning the immigration process.

It isn't quick and it isn't easy.

Would you be able to meet the requirements to satisfy eligibility for the investor visa?
Do you have enough alongside that to finance the immigration costs?

Do you or your partner have any health issues that could make you inadmissible?

https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/eb-5-investor-visa-explained/#:~:text=Current%20EB%2D5%20Processing%20Times&text=The%20processing%20time%20for%20the,the%20investment%20is%20legitimate%E2%80%8B.

This link has some good info on it.

And that 70.8 months average is just for USCIS approval. Add on an extra 5-6 months or more after that to complete the NVC part of the stage, dependant on the wait times at the London Embassy.

70.8 months? Is that right? That’s over 5 years!

Yep, immigration processing is at some of its slowest speeds due to the Biden Administration.

Yea compared to the UK. Around £10k per year plus 5k deductible. However, factor in very high prescription and medicine costs. Costs increasing with pre existing conditions and more as you get older.

This is due to patents and insurance companies etc.

A dental check up can be 200
a visit.

Also car insurance is very high comparably. Like around 2500
per year and mobile phones are expensive tools. Not to mention internal flights…..but I digress.

There are things that are cheaper but your question is exceptionally broad You are basically asking what each country in Europe charges. The US is immense and a lot varies state to state.

You may want to give an idea of which state you are thinking of moving to.

Thank you @BigDecisionWorthIt. That’s crazy.

What is an investment visa?

Do remember that US health insurance does not actually cover the cost of your treatment. There are co-payments that you have to make every time that you need medication or treatment. And if one of you gets something serious and dies, the other one will inherit the medical bills. The bills don't die with you.

So much misinformation here!

I've lived in the US for over one year now (from another country). We have top tier insurance. I've never once used it. The US healthcare system seems complicated to me, although I'm sure in reality it's not... sorry. Not helpful.

@SandrenaIsMyBloodType It depends on your type of insurance. A high deductible insurance may not have copays (ours doesn’t).

Generally, insurance with a copay has a lower monthly premium.

The positive for us with a high deductible plan is that once you hit the deductible, everything is covered -so when I had an accident and soon maxed out the deductible, I could continue having treatment, scans, X-rays, etc. without paying anything extra.

The US, like many other coutries, will offer visas to people who can prove they have a certain amount to invest in the country. When I was working in Asia and there was some local disquiet, a lot of my clients left and moved to the US in this way. I was teaching english at the time and had fallen in to working with some very very wealthy people, so spent a lot of time looking at house details with them for mansions. It was great fun. I also taught a lot of vocab to do with luxury goods.

It’s really not 😁

You go onto your insurance website and find a doctor, make an appointment, show up with your insurance card, pay a copay if you have one, and that’s usually it for normal visits.

If you need a specialist you do the above and ask for a referral. Then you do the same thing as above with the specialist. (If it’s gynecological you don’t need a referral just make an appointment direct).

If you get a prescription from your doctor have them call it in to your pharmacy, show up to collect, give them your insurance information, pay a copay.

it can get a bit more complicated if you have surgeries, advanced procedures, or hospital stays but usually it comes down to seeing what was covered and pay a small portion after.

Quick correction… plans with copays are typically a higher premium/higher coverage.

@SandrenaIsMyBloodType if you have any questions your insurance website and customer care are really helpful and can give you specific to your plan information. I had to call mine today and was connected to a rep in under 5 minutes who answered my question.