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DV 2016 OC Selectees

Hey guys! So, we're by the pool at our hotel in Honolulu, after activating our green cards. Apologies if this is rambling - we're two celebratory mimosas in and it's only 9 am. Aaaanyway... The activation went really smoothly. They took our documents, asked a couple of questions about our contact details in New York, stamped our passports and welcomed us to America as official residents. Hooray! Now, about those mimosas...
 
gemka said:
Hey guys! So, we're by the pool at our hotel in Honolulu, after activating our green cards. Apologies if this is rambling - we're two celebratory mimosas in and it's only 9 am. Aaaanyway... The activation went really smoothly. They took our documents, asked a couple of questions about our contact details in New York, stamped our passports and welcomed us to America as official residents. Hooray! Now, about those mimosas...
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Whoorayyy All the best in your new life :)
 
Britsimon said:
OK - quick off topic before Mom tells me off.

USA already spends more per capita on healthcare, without covering everone and without better health outcomes. So - UK for example is spending 3.5k per head, and covering everyone with high quality healthcare, while USA is spending 8.5k per head but only covering 90% of the population. Why does the USA spend so much per head? Lots of people taking profits from a privatized wild west system. Bernie's point was that a single payer system could cover everyone at less than the current spend, and, according to data from every other similar first world country, he is correct.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jun/30/healthcare-spending-world-country
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Yep. I just hope that Bernie has planted the seed of something bigger. I intend immigrate with full knowledge of the healthcare situation, but that doesn't mean I can't do my bit to change it. :)

Back on topic, though, healthcare should be a sobering factor for any starry-eyed immigrant to the US. It's easy to think that Australia's universal healthcare, and its pharmaceutical benefits scheme, is 'everywhere'. Not so. Americans -- even middle-class, hard-working people -- regularly become impoverished due to healthcare bills. Cancer treatment can run into the high six figures. Even with expensive health insurance, the 'co-insurance/deductible' tab can run very high indeed. The level of cost-inflation, middleman-ism and inefficiency in American medicine is staggering.

I imagine many of us are fortunate enough to absorb the financial blow of a medical problem, but if someone's moving over with 10K and a few dreams, they need to be very careful about health issues in the US.
 
Britsimon said:
Excellent - that seems like a sensible deal - and no worries about a foreign policy that gets concerned you emigrated. My wife had a minor medical thing recently (vertigo) that needed a trip to the ER. We have a good PPO insurance plan through my work (it's a family plan and the policy cost is $22,000 per year, of which I pay about one third). Even with that insurance the few hours in the ER resulted in a bill of about $7k of which I will pay nearly $1000. You just don't want to be here without medical cover.
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The bill came in higher than I thought - $25K - my end about $1500.

http://britsimonsays.com/cautionary-tale-healthcare-costs-usa/
 
Still, I'd debate statements like middle class Americans "regularly become impoverished" through medical costs, even while absolutely accepting how high they are globally. If it was that common, I ought to have met a bunch of them by now. I haven't met any. There is actually a surprisingly wide safety net for many - including (as I found out through other posts on this forum) even to new green card holders. And...you can bargain fees down too. Nobody pays sticker price for anything in the US, and that goes for hospital bills too!!
 
SusieQQQ said:
Still, I'd debate statements like middle class Americans "regularly become impoverished" through medical costs, even while absolutely accepting how high they are globally. If it was that common, I ought to have met a bunch of them by now. I haven't met any. There is actually a surprisingly wide safety net for many - including (as I found out through other posts on this forum) even to new green card holders. And...you can bargain fees down too. Nobody pays sticker price for anything in the US, and that goes for hospital bills too!!
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It is undoubtedly cheaper for those with less money. If you are poor, they can't get blood out of a stone, BUT in a place like California the costs are at an annoying level - but not so high that I could claim I couldn't pay. So yeah - if you are uninsured, you don't pay the silly "list price" for services (and you haggle), but with the amounts after the insurance has paid - there isn't much choice but to pay.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Still, I'd debate statements like middle class Americans "regularly become impoverished" through medical costs, even while absolutely accepting how high they are globally. If it was that common, I ought to have met a bunch of them by now. I haven't met any. There is actually a surprisingly wide safety net for many - including (as I found out through other posts on this forum) even to new green card holders. And...you can bargain fees down too. Nobody pays sticker price for anything in the US, and that goes for hospital bills too!!
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I personally know two people who were bankrupted by the medical system -- one guy had a kind of lymphoma while the other had MS. They both wound up hitting the lifetime cap on their insurance (this was pre-obamacare) and the guy with MS was dying because he couldn't afford his medications and was out of options.

You're right that there are schemes like Medicade but it's a maze to navigate and necessitates finding doctors and pharmacists who will take it. In some states there are lots of gaps to fall through, rendering someone ineligible. Of course, millions (a large majority) of people get by, as you've pointed out.
 
connectedspace said:
I personally know two people who were bankrupted by the medical system -- one guy had a kind of lymphoma while the other had MS. They both wound up hitting the lifetime cap on their insurance (this was pre-obamacare) and the guy with MS was dying because he couldn't afford his medications and was out of options.

You're right that there are schemes like Medicade but it's a maze to navigate and necessitates finding doctors and pharmacists who will take it. In some states there are lots of gaps to fall through, rendering someone ineligible. Of course, millions (a large majority) of people get by, as you've pointed out.
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And as you correctly point out, that was pre-Obamacare, which has many problems but has achieved an important protective/safety net aim.

I've known people on private healthcare bankrupted by cancer or dying because the company insisted on the cheaper treatment where I come from too, where the private health system is supposedly first class. Then again, a quick Google search will find you stories of people dying waiting for public healthcare ...even in Australia and Canada. Nowhere's perfect. The US definitely less perfect than much of the west. Then again if people were "regularly" being bankrupted, we would all know about it. Not quite the same as just paying more than you need to, which is definitely the case. Your private scheme will require you to find the right doctors too by the way, that's not just Medicaid.
 
Just wondering, did anyone take their medical record over if they have had no major health problems or anything? I never go to the doctor, nothing major going on there at all.
 
mlily1224 said:
Are you planning to move to Dallas?
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No not planning to move to Dallas (did consider Texas but bit worried about the heat and tornados!) :) but the activation trip flight we are looking at lands in USA in Dallas, so wondering what it is like as an activation entry point if anyone has been through there recently.

Where abouts are you going to in Texas @ mlily1224? :)
 
eskimokisses said:
No not planning to move to Dallas (did consider Texas but bit worried about the heat and tornados!) :) but the activation trip flight we are looking at lands in USA in Dallas, so wondering what it is like as an activation entry point if anyone has been through there recently.

Where abouts are you going to in Texas @ mlily1224? :)
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Yeah, it sounds really scary. I'm moving to Dallas, but I can't activate there flying from NZ. But yeah, I'm really scared of the whole weather thing. It's always really windy. But yeah. I'm leaving in 4 days. :D
 
mlily1224 said:
Yeah, it sounds really scary. I'm moving to Dallas, but I can't activate there flying from NZ. But yeah, I'm really scared of the whole weather thing. It's always really windy. But yeah. I'm leaving in 4 days. :D
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How exciting mlily1224!! Wishing you lots of good weather :) Have you been there before? Where are you flying to? Is this your permanent move or just an activation trip? The flight we have been looking about goes Sydney to Dallas so we would activate there.
 
eskimokisses said:
How exciting mlily1224!! Wishing you lots of good weather :) Have you been there before? Where are you flying to? Is this your permanent move or just an activation trip? The flight we have been looking about goes Sydney to Dallas so we would activate there.
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Thanks! Good luck for you too. I haven't activated yet, so that's what this trip is for, but it's also the permanent move as well. Just gonna do it all in once. I'm flying into LAX...my only option really with Air NZ. But Dallas looks fun, and hopefully it's a good place to be. Do you have any idea where you plan to move?
 
mlily1224 said:
Thanks! Good luck for you too. I haven't activated yet, so that's what this trip is for, but it's also the permanent move as well. Just gonna do it all in once. I'm flying into LAX...my only option really with Air NZ. But Dallas looks fun, and hopefully it's a good place to be. Do you have any idea where you plan to move?
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We are hoping to settle in North Carolina, but not sure exactly where yet. With kids, we want to go check out apartments and schools and areas before we make the big final move.

I hope your move goes well. Are you sending anything over or just taking a few suitcases when you go?
 
eskimokisses said:
We are hoping to settle in North Carolina, but not sure exactly where yet. With kids, we want to go check out apartments and schools and areas before we make the big final move.

I hope your move goes well. Are you sending anything over or just taking a few suitcases when you go?
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Hopefully that goes well too. I'm pretty much just taking a few suitcases. Cleared out most of my stuff so I can just start fresh :)
 
Hi all I was wondering how some of you are transferring money to the States.

I was going to use Citibank global transfers (free instant transfers to overseas Citibank accounts) from a Australian USD account but I learned yesterday this is not possible. So will most likely just swift it. Citi has great rates so might use them anyway but was interested in what others are doing. Thanks.

https://www.citibank.com.au/aus/investments/forex-rates/AUD.htm
 
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