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10 years ago

Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Info for Expats

10 years ago
I couldn’t get webpages on HealthCare.gov to respond during the day yesterday (10/1) but when I woke up at 3 am, I tried and was able to get access. I talked to a representative on “Live Chat” to ask questions about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects expats. Here is what I was told:

1. US Citizens that do not reside in the USA (expats) are not required to purchase health coverage in the USA and will not be fined for being uninsured.
2. One must reside in the USA in order to apply for health coverage through the “Health Insurance Marketplace”. This is where one can research the state healthcare exchanges and where tax credit subsidies for healthcare premiums can be obtained for healthcare policies. Thus it appears that expats are not eligible for the subsidies.
3. I was told that the only option for expats is to apply for US health insurance through private insurance companies. US based policies will be required to cover pre-existing conditions without excess charges. (Nevertheless, my guess that is that the premiums will be quite high.)
4. Another option is to purchase an International Healthcare policy that could include coverage in the USA - but I was told by an international insurer that they are not required to cover pre-existing conditions per the ACA. (The HealthCare.org rep could not verify that.)

I was hoping that the ACA would allow me to purchase healthcare coverage that covers pre-existing conditions at a reasonable rate, but this does not appear to be the case.

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