Saturday, July 10, 2010

Health Care and Moving Back to the US

OK, OK, I've been hinting a lot lately about how I'm going to cancel my health insurance policy here in NZ.  Now that I'm a resident, I really don't need it, but I was afraid that I would suffer for that when I moved back to the States.  I did a little more research recently, though, and I discovered this link and also this link, the most important part of which is this excerpt (bold mine):




"Most health coverage is HIPAA creditable coverage, including prior coverage under a group health plan (including a governmental, church plan or a group health plan in a foreign country), health insurance coverage (either group or individual), Medicare, Medicaid, a military-sponsored health care program for members or certain former members of the uniformed services, and for their dependents, a program of the Indian Health Service, a State high risk pool, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, a public health plan (including any plan established or maintained by a State, the US Government, a foreign country or any political subdivision of a State, the US Government or a foreign country), a health benefit plan provided for Peace Corps members and title XXI of the Social Security Act (State Children's Health Insurance Program)."



So guess what?!  I'm totally covered even without the fancy schmancy health care plan.  I've paid out $450 in premiums thus far, but have been reimbursed $695 for my dental and optical visits and glasses, etc.  Not bad!   If ever there were a time to cancel, it's now, when all of my pricier medical visits are over.  There is no need for me to keep paying for it while I'm on vacation in the US for two months, anyway--it isn't valid there.

I also have a genius plan for my time in the US.  I bought catastrophic health insurance for $86 USD for two months instead of paying the INSANE amount for travel insurance in NZ.   Travel insurance for the US from NZ for the same amount of time costs $300 NZD!


1 comment:

Tasha said...

Oh man, I have to deal with this health insurance thing when we move to the US! Living in NZ has made life easy and I get anxious to move to a country where I have to think about these things. :(