If I purchase health insurance from an American insurance company, (a) chances are they wouldn't cover any doctor or hospital that I or my wife visit here in the jungle, and more importantly (b) the cost of that insurance for a month would be more than the cost of an appendectomy here. Will living outside of America relieve me of the burden of purchasing American health insurance?
If I purchase PhilHealth, the national insurance program of The Philippines (about $100 per year or so), will the IRS consider that an acceptable insurance policy?
Inquiring minds want to know.
UPDATE:
Chetumaire in the comments section directs us to a blog entry at the expat blog Knife Tricks:
4. Expats exempt. As with the House bill, people who reside outside of the United States for at least 330 days in a 12-month period "shall be treated as having minimum essential coverage" for each of those 12 months. H.R. 3590, Section 1501(b) (proposing new Internal Revenue Code section 5000A(f)(4)).Thanks to Chetumaire for doing the legwork on this!
I have the same concerns you do, but can find no mention of expats.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression Philhealth was not available to expats. Is it?
Jil,
ReplyDeleteIt must be a US policy which PhilHealth is not and the odds of US policy covering you in Philippines is slim unless you buy a specialized policy which is very expensive to point of being unaffordable to most expats in Philippines.
The odds expats will be considered is also slim as you do not make a big enough population , ie voter block, to be considered during policy design.
Looks like you're in luck with the CURRENT SENATE version. Don't worry, Nancy & Harry will figure out a way to bleed you as well... ; )
ReplyDeletehttp://knifetricks.blogspot.com/2009/11/senate-health-care-bill-expats-exempt.html
All of the above being said, I would send both your senator and congressmember an email. Sometimes they just have not thought of it.
ReplyDelete