Expats and maintaining US health insurance

[Florida]

I have been told that one of the US health insurers will consider foreign coverage as credible insurance and not create the 63 day lapse when returning to the US for insurance.

The out of country insurance must be socialized medicine not a private company.

This may work for some in Europe, Canada or Costa Rica.

Anyone know about this?

[FinanceGeek]

When I lived overseas a few years back we maintained our domestic health insurance for our time abroad exactly because we were told the opposite of what you are stating, namely we were told that coverage overseas does NOT count as "prior coverage" for HIPAA eligibility.

Guess I'd suggest reading the fine print of HIPAA to find out for sure.

[Florida]

Originally Posted by FinanceGeek

When I lived overseas a few years back we maintained our domestic health insurance for our time abroad exactly because we were told the opposite of what you are stating, namely we were told that coverage overseas does NOT count as "prior coverage" for HIPAA eligibility.

Guess I'd suggest reading the fine print of HIPAA to find out for sure.

I received the information from BCBS NY which is a guarantee issue state.
If there was a 63 day lapse from previous insurance, BCBS would not cover a pre existing illness.

But if you are out of the country and covered by socialized medicine it will count as credible coverage and there would be no lapse.
This is not using Hippa eligibility.