Need Help/Advice for having our baby in the States without Medicaid or Insurance

Hi All!

I'm new to UK YANKEE, but am so glad I've found it!

My husband and I are looking to start our family soon.  

He is British and I'm American and because of current/certain citizenship laws we'd like to try to have our children in America.  I feel I've done as much research as possible, but still feel I have come up with nothing that helpful.

 I don't think we will qualify for Medicaid and I don't have insurance, however I will still apply and was wondering if anyone has any advice on what to say and do during the application process.  Most importantly because I don't think I will qualify, does anyone else know of any other organizations, government or state insurance plans, low cost assistance programs or programs that might help or worked for you?

I'm unemployed as I lost my job before moving over here and have not had much luck finding one in the UK thus far.  I'm looking for info, links, and help for the states of AZ, KS, MASS, and CA.  

Thanks for any help you can give me!  

Heather

He is British and I'm American and because of current citizenship laws we'd like to try to have our children in America.  I feel I've done as much research as possible, but still feel I have come up with nothing that helpful.

Can you explain a bit more what you mean here?  Having your children in America versus the UK won't affect their ability to claim citizenship.

Thanks for responding!

My understanding of the current law is that if our baby is not born in the USA, and we aren't planning to move back to the states before the child is 16-18 year of age, and the child has not lived there for at least 2 consecutive years before that age...then it will affect their citizenship status.  They have the right to citizenship if not born in the states because I am US born, but are not granted it automatically (unless we move thereat some point)...at least what everything we've read lately says.  Maybe this is wrong, but I think it’s still the case as of lately.  Anyone know for sure? 

Plenty of people here have had their kids in the UK and then got US passports at the Embassy in London.  You need to be a citizen to get a passport. 


They might not be able to pass on citizenship to their own kids if they don't live in the US, but if they never move there would they really want to anyway. 

My son was born here in the UK and he has a US passport and a social security number, and as far as I believe, US citizenship. I think you might be misinformed. Good luck!

You need to register their birth before they turn 18 but they don't have to live there.  My adult children are US citizens.

As long as you (or your partner) meet the requirements to pass US Citizenhip on to your child, any child born outside of the USA will have US Citizenship.   ETA: The effective date of the Child Citizenship Act is February 27, 2001:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html

However, if your child does not reside in the USA for at least 5 years before they turn 14 (at the moment) they will not be able to pass on their US Citizenship to any child they have.  There is a similar citizenship law for British Citizens born abroad as well.  

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitizenship/eligibility/children/britishcitizen/bornabroad/

Yes, your children can be born in the UK and hold US citizenship...many of our members have US citizen children who have never lived in the US before.  I wouldn't let that be the reason why you try to have children in the US!  You will have a lot easier time of it without having to worry about getting insurance in the US.

Thanks everyone.  This is all more encouraging than my phone call and recent visit to the Embassy.   

Since we think we will be here for a long time, I'd like to look at all the options of pregnancy in England and America.  I've been able to find loads of help for having the baby in England but I've been finding it hard to find info on aid for people having a baby in America who don't have insurance and don't qualify for Medicaid. 

 I know people have had great success having their children in both countries and getting dual citizenship, but I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge or info regarding my original question on having their children in the states? 

If anyone could give me any advice, info, and what their experiences were like that would be really helpful.  Thanks.

I would imagine (someone feel free to correct me), but seeing as you don't qualify for Medicaid any grant support would probably be state-dependent.  Where you would most likely have to have a legal address in that state and meet a residency requirement to obtain financial help - otherwise you would most likely have to pay it all out of pocket.

I would imagine (someone feel free to correct me), but seeing as you don't qualify for Medicaid any grant support would probably be state-dependent.  Where you would most likely have to have a legal address in that state and meet a residency requirement to obtain financial help - otherwise you would most likely have to pay it all out of pocket.

We still might qualify for Medicaid and do have residency however we also might just miss being able to qualify so I'm looking into all additional options before making any decisions.

If you aren't living in the US and you just fly over to have your baby then I don't see how you could qualify for Medicaid. As well you can not get insurance when you are already pregnant and have it cover your delivery. You will likely have to work out a payment plan with the hospital and pay out of pocket, which could be incredibly expensive.

I think your concerns are somewhat unwarranted, my son was born in the UK and has dual citizenship. If you are flying over because you think you will get better care you will not, especially if you are on medicaid.

If you return to the US as a resident, you may well qualify for Emergency Medicaid.

I presume if you are returning as a resident, your husband would be accompanying you?

If such is the case, your time would best be spent researching his immigration to the US.

As someone who has been involved for the last five years with immigration to that side of the pond, I'm thinking once you discover the costs and hassles involved you may re-consider the notion of births on US soil for any of your children.

And in case you've been over there too long - we still don't have an equivalent of the NHS in the US - if you get what I'm saying.

PS - I think the only problem your children might have with their US citizenship (aside from passing it on to their children) would be potentially running for elected office in the US.  Namely the office of President.  And you should also be aware that US citizenship bears another unique status - that of a US taxpayer for life. 

Medicaid also has a special program for pregnant individuals that provides care while they wait for the approval of your application.  See the following Link.
http://www.nls.org/medicaid/pregnant.htm

Most states offer another form of assistance for pregnant women through a federal grant system called TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy families) The program can cover anyone who's pregnant including immigrants (technically they are serving the fetus if it is a non-citizen).  The support is available generally during pregnancy and the year after and helps with a lot of the costs related to childbearing and provides money for things like formula post-birth as well as checkups for hte baby.

 You'll have to go state by state for these things as they vary considerably depending on which one you live in.
This link should help you identify the TANF program in the states you're interested in
You mentioned the following states:
AZ, KS, MASS, and CA.
I would go ahead and visit the Health Department website for those states to look at what benefits they offer.  You can also find additional information about each state here:
http://www.nccp.org/profiles/AZ_profile_36.html

keeping in mind that you really need to make your decision based on a lot of variables, not just pregnancy care.

I would also suggest that the support in the UK is going to outstrip that available in the US, as you won't find child benefit or in home nurses here. 

http://www.workworld.org/wwwebhelp/names_of_state_tanf_programs.htm
Good Luck!

Setting aside your concerns regarding dual citizenship (though I'm very curious how you could have spoken to the US Embassy and got what appears to be very erroneous information) I will echo what has been said above.

Most if not all states will offer some kind of prenatal and maternity care through government funded programs. Requirements for eligibility will vary from state to state. If you and your husband move to the US and are working but uninsured, I don't know how that will affect your application.

What I can tell you is that when I arrived in the US last year, I was unemployed with 2 children under the age of 3. My primary concern was getting them insured. The state of Maryland has a very good children's health program and they were immediately approved. Much to my surprise, I was also approved. In Maryland, you may get free care, or you may have to pay a low monthly fee or you may not be eligible. It just depends upon you current circumstances.

The care was excellent. My older son has a rare intestinal condition and we've seen some of the top doctors in the country for it (it helps they happen to be based in Maryland, but still!).

Therefore, I would not necessarily assume that your care would be inferior to anything else. By the same token, it's a state by state matter and as I said, my application details were very different from what yours may be.