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Comment by clueless123 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what is going to happen to all those US citizens living abroad with the new health insurance requirements.. Will they be forced to pay even they can't benefit from the services ?

( Specially if they are already covered by their host country healthcare system. )

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"U.S. citizens living in a foreign country are not required to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If you're uninsured and living abroad, you don't have to pay the fee that other uninsured U.S. citizens may have to pay."

https://www.healthcare.gov/am-i-eligible-for-coverage-in-the...

US citizens who live abroad for 330 days in a calendar year are exempt: see question 12 at http://www.irs.gov/uac/Questions-and-Answers-on-the-Individu...

That's really harsh. Someone living abroad could easily spend > 35 days/year in the US on business or visiting family.

Not really. The point of the requirement is to subsidize the health care you will get if they find you unconscious, naked in a ditch without ID and can't tell if you are wealthy enough to pay or not.

Absent insurance, that privilege is paid for by the higher prices charged to people unlucky enough to need healthcare.

Now, if you can't get plans that consider the fact that you are only in the US for < 100 days a year, then yes it's harsh.

As an American that lives abroad, whenever I visit the US I make sure I always have traveler's insurance for myself and all my dependents that are traveling with me. Last year I was in the US for a over 100 days, and my traveler's insurance was valid for every second.

It shouldn't matter how many days you are in the US or not, it should matter where you declare your tax home.

Or the travelers insurance should count as health insurance in terms of that mandate. Does it?

Just a guess, but I don't think it will. The policy and all documents are not in English, and no reason for them to be either.

So if they make an exemption for travelers insurance, it will be hard for them to verify that it meets the criteria of the exemption.

Given that the answer links to a document on tax status for expat citizens, I wouldn't be surprised if it has more conditions that work out about the same as tax status. (i didnt read the linked doc to find out).

As I understand it, if you ar a resident of the another country as defined for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (330 days a year outside the US _or_ have permanently settled with no evidence of intention to return to the US), you are exempted from the insurance requirements.

This really sucks for people who leave the US long durations (8 months in my case) at a time, but return occasionally. Have to either get insurance for the 8 months that isn't usable, or pay the fine.

Overseas Americans who eventually return to the US do receive one benefit from the ACA: the ban on excluding coverage of preexisting conditions.

That means the most for those whose coverage in their host country wouldn't have met the HIPAA requirements for creditable coverage, of course. However, even those whose coverage would have satisfied the HIPAA requirements do get to avoid at least one round of confusing paperwork.

I'm very curious about this as well. Are there any provisions in ACA for those living abroad?

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