Does an employee in Texas, under a TN visa (1 year ), with a private international health insurance, have to purchase health insurance through the insurance marketplace? Or does international medical insurance cover Obamacare requirement.

If the international insurance cover there any tax or penalty that must be paid ?

In your case , what requirement must meet an employee (TN visa for 1 year ) in Texas to meet Obamacare.


Certain foreign insurance counts as minimum essential coverage if it meets certain criteria, but generally most international plans do not meet that ACA standards.

That criteria isn't simple, but we do cover it on this page: Does Foreign insurance Count as Minimum Essential Coverage?

Generally though:

  • Coverage under a group health plan provided through insurance regulated by a foreign government will be recognized as minimum essential coverage.
  • Travelers insurance doesn't count.
  • And otherwise there are only a few countries who have coverage that counts.

Rate and Comment on the Answer


1 2 3 4 5


mike on

my wife an i would like to live in the Phillipines and have insurance there. Would that be considered min. essential coverage?

J on

This answer is useless. The question was about private health insurance, not group health insurance. on

I agree with you, I don’t know how it ended up with such a short answer. Perhaps because we answer the question in detail here:

Thanks for the heads up, I added the necessary information to the page!