Quote Originally Posted by deryk hayward View Post
Hi Everyone,

I am married to an American citizen, and we moved to Monterey, California in February 2008. I have just had my final green card interview this week, and hope to receive it soon. The place is fantastic, as are the people and weather. The only fly in the ointment is health care, with a policy for 2 over 50`s costing $1,000 per month. Even this amount does not cover existing conditions, and does not guarantee full settlement of medical bills.
We are semi-retired,and it is impossible for us to pay this much. When we left the UK we had 1 year of travel insurance,which expires soon, but to qualify for this again, we have to return to the UK for 6 months. This is fine, but I have since heard that I risk having my green card confiscated if I come backwards and forwards to the USA. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Hi Deryk,

You're not that far down the coast from me - I'm in Marin County on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge. We got here in October 2007 and yep the place, people and weather are fantastic!! We come down to Monterey a fair bit as we both ride motorbikes and you know what the coast roads are like!

Have you done the whale watching in Monterey Bay yet? Awesome but you do have to get the right time of year!!

As to the medical costs - it is initially scary compared to the UK but I do think it's your age and I'm guessing your policy is not through your employer?

There are two types of medical insurance HMO and PPO. We chose PPO as it's more like the NHS we're used to but it is the more expensive option. Even so we pay around $200 - $250 a month for the two of us and the employer pays as well. Preventative treatment is free and then we pay a deductible (a certain percentage of the cost) on other treatment and any medications. And you start over at the beginning of each year. It took us a while to get our heads round it and definitley having insurance through your employer is the way to go.

I did a lot of research before we got here about medical insurance because there's all sorts of family history on both sides but even though we declared everything up front we haven't been refused for any medical conditions or treatment through the PPO policy.

Anyway good luck on the green card - we've got our applications in - the employer did it in the first month 'cos they knew we would like it here!