Health Insurance

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Finding good, affordable, health insurance can be a serious problem. In the Netherlands, we are used to having mandatory health insurance our entire lives. In the United States, such a thing does not exist; everybody is free to decide whether or not they feel that having a health insurance coverage is worth the cost.

When moving to the United States, we encountered two main problems:

  1. To enroll in health care plans, a  social security number is required, and it may take several weeks after you are admitted into the country to get one. Not having insurance during that time may be acceptable to some people, but I personally felt that the risk was too high.
  2. When health insurance is not a job benefit, it is incredibly expensive; to the point that it is no longer affordable.
Since an immigrant is not considered a traveler, a regular traveler's insurance does not help. Fortunately, the are companies that cater to just this eventuality in the expat market. We have found two: OOM verzekeringen, based out of the Netherlands and expatriate insurance services, who are based out of the United Kingdom.

Both companies seem to understand what they are doing, and who they are catering to. We have requested quotes from both and we will compare them to find out exactly what they have to offer, for which prices.

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About Going West

Going West is a blog authored by Kees Leune. It revolves around relocating from the Netherlands to the United States. I can be reached by email at going-west@leune.org.
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This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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