Does affordable care act insurance cover you in another state? (medical, plan)

[beezle1]

I am retired (early) and my husband will likely retire early too. We are both currently covered under his employer's health plan. Once he retires, I expect we will be purchasing health insurance for 4 or 5 years from our state's ACA health exchange as we will not be eligible for Medicare yet. We have homes in 2 states, with one being our main home, and the other being a vacation home. Since we will have purchased our health insurance from the state with our main home, if we need medical care (like going to urgent care or emergency room) while in the other state, would we be covered?

[Flamingo13]

You need to check the plans that MAY be available for you both and check coverage - they are all different!

[Archaic]

I bought my insurance from Blue Cross/Blue Shield here in Arizona through the exchange. It doesn't have an out-of-state network, and I don't remember any of the ones offered here doing so this year or in the past.



But, as Flamingo says, you need to check the plans available to you. I suppose it's possible.

[Rabrrita]

All ACA plans must cover emergency medical care, both in state and out of state. It's important to fully understand exactly what is considered emergency care and unto what point. Some plans may require you to be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for it to count as emergency care, while others use the "reasonable" person rule. Some cheap plans only cover out of network ER care until you are stabilized while a more robust plan may cover all care related to that ER visit. So, you need to read the details and ask question if it's not clear what they cover, when and under what terms.