In recent years, there have been notable changes in health insurance policies for international students, with many educational institutions now mandating the purchase of Affordable Care Act (ACA)-compliant insurance. While these plans offer enhanced coverage, they also come with the drawback of increased costs. To keep our members informed about these developments, we provide an updated overview of ACA requirements and their impact on international students.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, became U.S. law in 2010. It stipulates that individuals must maintain "minimum essential healthcare coverage," and failure to do so may result in fines imposed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during tax payments. The primary goal of the ACA is to make healthcare more affordable by reducing costs for those who may struggle to afford it.
The individual mandate, which previously required individuals without employer or public insurance coverage to obtain an ACA-compliant policy or face tax penalties, has evolved. Since January 2019, most states no longer penalize individuals for being uninsured. However, specific states such as New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., have retained individual mandates with penalties for non-compliance.
International students, typically exempt from the ACA as non-residents, may still be required to purchase an ACA plan due to their school’s health insurance requirements.
The IRS stipulates that international students must be considered Resident Aliens for tax purposes to enforce a health insurance mandate. This tax status is distinct from immigration status.
Uncertain about your tax status? The IRS provides resources to help determine your tax status:
International students temporarily in the U.S. on F, J, M, or Q visas, studying at qualifying institutions, are exempt from the Individual Mandate. However, if their school's insurance waiver requirements align with ACA standards, they must purchase an ACA plan.
For the first five years with an F, J, M, or Q visa, individuals are considered non-resident aliens and are exempt from the mandate. After residing in the U.S. for five years, this exemption no longer applies.
If you are no longer an Exempt Individual, you may visit HealthCare.gov to select a plan that is most appropriate for you. Or you may consult with a tax advisor, in order to avoid being penalized when filing taxes.
Even though you are not required to purchase an ACA-Compliant plan, we highly recommend to still purchase health insurance!
As health care costs in the U.S. continue to increase, an illness, injury, or other major medical need can result in a major financial burden if you do not have health insurance. Over 112 million individuals in the U.S. struggle with medical bills, having health insurance protects your financial future, immigration status, and most importantly your health. Even if your school doesn’t require it, it’s important to be covered.
As a non-U.S. citizen, you are eligible to our plans. Full time international students are able to purchase an affordable alternative plan that meets their school’s waiver requirements. Once you graduate and your visa status changes to OPT, you will still be eligible to our insurance plans for OPT. For J1 visa holders, we offer the J1 Exchange plans and for F2/J2 visa holders, we offer the Voyager plan that meet all the U.S. Department of State regulations. Visit our website for more plan options and detailed plan benefits.
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Founded in 1958, ISO prides itself on being the leader in providing international students with affordable insurance plans. Administered by former and current international students, we are able to assist our member with multilingual customer service in Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and more. ISO serves over 3,200 schools/colleges and more than 150,000 insured students every year.
For more information, please visit www.isoa.org and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn.
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ISO Insurance is the manager and sole provider of ISO international student health insurance plans. ISO offers student health insurance for many visa types. For those seeking insurance for F1 international students, we offer our renowned Silver, Gold, Compass PPO, ISO Secure and Platinum plans. ISO offers the J1 Exchange plans for J1 scholars or J1 exchange students or J1 trainees looking for J1 insurance plans and the OPTima plans for those who need health insurance for OPT students. ISO also offers ACA comparable plans tailored for many schools (including our ISO Share and ISO Care plans) to meet the waiver requirements. ISO offers the Voyager plan for those seeking H1B/H4, J2/F2 dependent health insurance plans as well as B1/B2 visitor insurance plans. ISO insurance plans are the leading international student insurance plans in US universities and colleges, with many students enrolled in our ISO insurance plans at schools such as UPenn, NYU, Virginia Tech, FIU and UVA. International students who need to purchase our plans can do so at isoa.org. Beyond F1 visa students and J1 visa holders, ISO insurance for international students is suitable for students on OPT and Stem OPT, international students after graduation and ESL students. Those with problems can use isoa.org to help find a doctor from one of our PPO networks, FirstHealth, Multiplan or Cigna PPO. Claims for ISO plans are handled by Sisco Benefits. International students can also contact ISO if they are looking to waive health insurance for their schools. Members should also check the benefits of the International Student Organization, such as newsletters, information about scholarships and grants and more attractive services and savings available for international students at www.intlstudent.org.
ISO留学生医疗保险致力于为美国留学生提供不同种类的短期保险计划以满足美国留学生特殊保险需求。美国政府要求留学生在美期间必须持有医疗保险，尽管现在许多美国大学提供留学生保险，其费用仍然成为了许多美国留学生的经济负担，所以不少留学生都会选择购买校外保险来替换（waive）学校保险。自成立以来，ISO一直秉承着为留学生提供最经济实惠的保险方案的理念，为在美留学生提供健康与安全保障。ISO提供不同计划如Platinum，Gold，Compass PPO, ISO Secure和Silver计划可以满足大多数美国学校对F1美国留学生的保险要求。ISO专为有特殊要求的学校定制的ACA Comparable计划还被NYU, UC, UPenn, Stanford等300多所学校官方推荐，不仅可以顺利waive掉学校的保险，还能为留学生节省近几千刀的支出。需要购买我们计划的留学生可以在 isoa.org 上直接购买。如果对waiver流程有任何疑问 ，欢迎关注ISO微信公众号查看留学生保险waiver攻略，或者通过学校国际留学生办公室的官方网站了解学校的国际学生保险豁免政策。除了F1和J1签证持有者外，ISO还为已经毕业并处于OPT期间的留学生，持有H1B工作签证，B1/ B2旅游签证，F2/ J2的学生家属签证，或ESL在读学生提供医疗保障。
