Health insurance in the US?

Thinking of coming over to your fab country for a while. However, I hear you have to pay for your health via insurance and 1. wonder as a long term semi resident can I buy insurance on a monthly basis the same as the residents and 2. approx how much would it cost Thanks J

In some states it is as 'horrid' as the first answer. Most aren't actually that bad. What state were you looking at coming to? How old are you? Who do you want to cover (yourself, obviously, spouse... kids...)?

You can get decent coverage for as low as $80 a month, if you're a health 20 year old by yourself. You can choose to pay thousands of dollars a month for crappy coverage, if your agent doesn't know what he or she is doing.

You can check out insurance rates online, just google Blue Shield (and or) Blue Cross and the state you're thinking about moving to, and most sites will have a quoting option available. There are a plethora of insurance providers here, but the Blues are nationwide, and they are better at most claim issues that United Health Care...

You can get your own insurance, however it is extremely expensive and most people cannot afford it. My work offers insurance, but it would take my entire months wages to pay for it every month. The insurance situation here is horrid. No one can afford the high rates and they keep getting higher. to insure a family of 4 people you would be looking at $2000 per month

If you are going on an employers policy you won't have any problem.
If you are going on an individual policy most companies including BCBS have a stipulation that if you are not a US citizen then you have to have resided in the US for at least 6 months and have had a complete physical by a physician in the US within the past two years to be considered for insurance. The price would depend on your age and where you reside.

You can go on a month to month plan for a short term. Also, in Virginia for myslef was quoted $270 from Bc/Bs which is a good company.

Yes, our "fab" country where you have to pay for healthcare! Insane huh? I wish we were like most other countries and did not have to pay for healthcare - then we would be really fab!

Well, it's harder for a non-citizen to buy health insurance, and really, REALLY hard if you're new to the country and impossible if you don't have a social security number.

Generally, if you're 30 and healthy, it's going to cost you about $300 a month for insurance - BUT, you'll have to prove your health. Coming from another country, they won't have access to medical records, and they don't want to "buy" six figures of medical bills when you come over, so they'll underwrite it pretty strictly.