Emergency Medicaid for pregnant women

[What Happened? 4]

Most hospitals are not-for-profit. Even with catholic healthcare they will have to pay. There's no way around paying the bill. They can however get around having to pay anything upfront, if they pay for prenatal care and then go to the emergency room when it is time to have the baby. When the bill comes in the mail, you just call the hospital and arrange a payment plan.

[What Happened? 4]

You can simply pay for your prenatal visits and when it is time to have the baby go directly to the emergency room. The emergency room cannot turn you away it doesn't matter that you have no insurance and your status will not matter either. This way you get the care you need.

You will however, get the bill in the mail later. But you won't have to pay anything upfront and the hospital will work out a payment plan with you later.

Wait I have a question here - when you adjusted status you submitted an affidavit of support stating that you should not seek for government help or your support could be prosecuted - how are you eligible to Medicaid? I am confused? Is there anything I don't understand?

You should not seek any government aid..that is what the Affidavit of support signed by the petitioner is for. The petitioner signs the affidavit assuring that his/her benefeciary would not be a public burden.I think that is the reason we did not qualify for the medicaid too .

Nope, you didn't qualify for medicaid, because simply you are not a citizen. It doesn't matter about I-864. The I-864 gives the gov't the option to bill the petitioner, but not very many people know if they ever follow through on that option.

wrong......

she doesn't qualify because she is not a citizen AND because she is not illegal. She will be billed for services and if the services are not paid for collection processes will follow.............so the affidavit of support does matter in a legal sense. It is a legl document designed especially for circumstances like this.

[Kinito_2k3 5]

You can simply pay for your prenatal visits and when it is time to have the baby go directly to the emergency room. The emergency room cannot turn you away it doesn't matter that you have no insurance and your status will not matter either. This way you get the care you need.

You will however, get the bill in the mail later. But you won't have to pay anything upfront and the hospital will work out a payment plan with you later.

Wait I have a question here - when you adjusted status you submitted an affidavit of support stating that you should not seek for government help or your support could be prosecuted - how are you eligible to Medicaid? I am confused? Is there anything I don't understand?

You should not seek any government aid..that is what the Affidavit of support signed by the petitioner is for. The petitioner signs the affidavit assuring that his/her benefeciary would not be a public burden.I think that is the reason we did not qualify for the medicaid too .

Nope, you didn't qualify for medicaid, because simply you are not a citizen. It doesn't matter about I-864. The I-864 gives the gov't the option to bill the petitioner, but not very many people know if they ever follow through on that option.

wrong......

she doesn't qualify because she is not a citizen AND because she is not illegal. She will be billed for services and if the services are not paid for collection processes will follow.............so the affidavit of support does matter in a legal sense. It is a legl document designed especially for circumstances like this.

So are you saying that the US is providing care to illegal individuals for free? I am getting more and more confused? Can anyone actually elaborate on Medicaid and Emergency Medicaid? Thanks in advance!

[What Happened? 4]

You can simply pay for your prenatal visits and when it is time to have the baby go directly to the emergency room. The emergency room cannot turn you away it doesn't matter that you have no insurance and your status will not matter either. This way you get the care you need.

You will however, get the bill in the mail later. But you won't have to pay anything upfront and the hospital will work out a payment plan with you later.

Wait I have a question here - when you adjusted status you submitted an affidavit of support stating that you should not seek for government help or your support could be prosecuted - how are you eligible to Medicaid? I am confused? Is there anything I don't understand?

You should not seek any government aid..that is what the Affidavit of support signed by the petitioner is for. The petitioner signs the affidavit assuring that his/her benefeciary would not be a public burden.I think that is the reason we did not qualify for the medicaid too .

Nope, you didn't qualify for medicaid, because simply you are not a citizen. It doesn't matter about I-864. The I-864 gives the gov't the option to bill the petitioner, but not very many people know if they ever follow through on that option.

wrong......

she doesn't qualify because she is not a citizen AND because she is not illegal. She will be billed for services and if the services are not paid for collection processes will follow.............so the affidavit of support does matter in a legal sense. It is a legl document designed especially for circumstances like this.

So are you saying that the US is providing care to illegal individuals for free? I am getting more and more confused? Can anyone actually elaborate on Medicaid and Emergency Medicaid? Thanks in advance!

Yes....illegals receive care and qualify for emergency medicaid. In fact here in California pregnant women about to give birth are driven to the border from Mexico and they ask for a mercy entrance. They are allowed to enter the US AND they receive free medical care.....Visit any emergency room or work in any hospital and you will soon realize that emergency rooms are used like free clinics. That is why you can go to the emergency room and have to wait 12 hours for care.

So yes, illegals receive free care. impoverished citizens and LPRs receive free care....but anyone in the middle or on the outside of that will have to pay.

Edited August 28, 2009 by cornbread

[STEPHnRIA 2]

So maybe I was wrong to think that there is such thing as "emergency medicaid"...

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3183.html

Means Tested Public Benefits

Federal means tested public benefits are the following:

Food stamps

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Medicaid

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

State Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Frequently asked questions about Means Tested Public Benefits

Can the applicant use government assistance or public benefits?

What assistance programs are not considered means tested public benefit programs?

Can the applicant use government assistance or public benefits?

If the sponsored immigrant uses federal means tested public benefits, the sponsor is responsible for repaying the cost of the benefits.

What assistance programs are not considered means tested public benefit programs?

The following types of assistance are not considered means tested public benefits and do not have to be repaid.

Emergency Medicaid

School lunches

Immunizations and treatment for communicable diseases

Student assistance to attend colleges and institutions of higher learning

Some kinds of foster care or adoption assistance

Job training programs

Head start

Short-term, non-cash emergency relief

This is from the I-864 frequently asked questions.

So I really dont understand why illegals get emergency medicaid and we legals do not.

[Thai family 0]

You can simply pay for your prenatal visits and when it is time to have the baby go directly to the emergency room. The emergency room cannot turn you away it doesn't matter that you have no insurance and your status will not matter either. This way you get the care you need.

You will however, get the bill in the mail later. But you won't have to pay anything upfront and the hospital will work out a payment plan with you later.

Wait I have a question here - when you adjusted status you submitted an affidavit of support stating that you should not seek for government help or your support could be prosecuted - how are you eligible to Medicaid? I am confused? Is there anything I don't understand?

You should not seek any government aid..that is what the Affidavit of support signed by the petitioner is for. The petitioner signs the affidavit assuring that his/her benefeciary would not be a public burden.I think that is the reason we did not qualify for the medicaid too .

Nope, you didn't qualify for medicaid, because simply you are not a citizen. It doesn't matter about I-864. The I-864 gives the gov't the option to bill the petitioner, but not very many people know if they ever follow through on that option.

Here's a link that might explain at lot of states/locales administration of medicaid programs for pregnant women. There is usually care available regardless of immigration status, and receiving such care is not considered legally that one is a public charge.

http://www.westchestergov.com/hispanicaffa...5%20english.pdf

It sounds like the OP has done an extensive search. If you haven't already done so, call the local health department, listed under the county government pages, and ask for family planning. If they can't answer your question helpfully, ask them to refer you to someone who can. If I can help you search for the info, PM with the name of your county. Take care of yourself and your precious little one.

-Thai Mom

Edited August 28, 2009 by Thai family

[STEPHnRIA 2]

You can simply pay for your prenatal visits and when it is time to have the baby go directly to the emergency room. The emergency room cannot turn you away it doesn't matter that you have no insurance and your status will not matter either. This way you get the care you need.

You will however, get the bill in the mail later. But you won't have to pay anything upfront and the hospital will work out a payment plan with you later.

Wait I have a question here - when you adjusted status you submitted an affidavit of support stating that you should not seek for government help or your support could be prosecuted - how are you eligible to Medicaid? I am confused? Is there anything I don't understand?

You should not seek any government aid..that is what the Affidavit of support signed by the petitioner is for. The petitioner signs the affidavit assuring that his/her benefeciary would not be a public burden.I think that is the reason we did not qualify for the medicaid too .

Nope, you didn't qualify for medicaid, because simply you are not a citizen. It doesn't matter about I-864. The I-864 gives the gov't the option to bill the petitioner, but not very many people know if they ever follow through on that option.

Here's a link that might explain at lot of states/locales administration of medicaid programs for pregnant women. There is usually care available regardless of immigration status, and receiving such care is not considered legally that one is a public charge.

http://www.westchestergov.com/hispanicaffa...5%20english.pdf

It sounds like the OP has done an extensive search. If you haven't already done so, call the local health department, listed under the county government pages, and ask for family planning. If they can't answer your question helpfully, ask them to refer you to someone who can. If I can help you search for the info, PM with the name of your county. Take care of yourself and your precious little one.

-Thai Mom

Thanks Thai Mom! I went to the health department here in our county. They gave me phone numbers to call. But what do you do if you call and put you on hold for 30 mins then someone would pick up and say "Im sorry. I cant give you the answer. Let me connect you to someone who can help you."

then put you on hold for another 30 minutes then that "someone" would pick up and say "I will give you the phone number of the right person to call" then blah, blah, blah. It would happen like five more times until in the end, you end up talking to the person whom you first called. It's driving me crazy and it doesnt help that Im also dealing with this pregnancy hormones. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[What Happened? 4]

Due to welfare reform:

Issues of Access

Recent immigrants not eligible for regular Medicaid coverage may obtain care in emergency situations, which according to the State Medicaid Manual developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), includes labor and delivery. Although the emergency exception allows women to obtain critical reproductive health care when urgently needed, it does not begin to meet these women's full reproductive health needs.

First, emergency coverage does not include prenatal care, even though prenatal care is widely acknowledged to improve birth outcomes for both mother and child. As the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) concluded in its 2000 report Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth, "Increasing the percentage of women who receive prenatal care, and who do so early in their pregnancies, can improve birth outcomes and lower health care costs by reducing the likelihood of complications during pregnancy and childbirth." In fact, one of the key goals of DHHS's Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health is to "increase the proportion of pregnant women who receive early and adequate prenatal care."

Second, postpartum care is not covered, despite the fact that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Academy of Pediatrics consider it an integral part of pregnancy-related care. According to the two medical organizations, failure to obtain adequate postpartum care can jeopardize a woman's health as well as the outcomes of subsequent pregnancies. (This exclusion of postpartum care raises issues similar to those raised by new federal rules that define a fetus as a child for purpose of coverage under the SCHIP program—see "New SCHIP Prenatal Care Rule Advances Fetal Rights At Low-Income Women's Expense," TGR, December 2002, page 3).

Third, recent immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid-covered family planning services and supplies—one of the few benefits that federal law explicitly requires all state Medicaid programs to cover. Improving access to family planning and reducing unintended pregnancy are also prominent goals of Healthy People 2010, and research shows that every public dollar invested in family planning saves three Medicaid dollars in pregnancy-related and newborn care.

In addition, treatment for breast and cervical cancer is available only in emergency situations. Although a letter from CMS to state health officials indicates that some treatment for breast and cervical cancer may qualify as an emergency, it fails to provide any specific guidance beyond an admonition to rely on medical judgment and the facts of a specific case. Moreover, vital screening and diagnosis services would not be covered at all. This omission is most unfortunate in light of new data showing that Hispanic women have a higher incidence of cervical cancer and a greater likelihood of having the disease in its advanced stages than do non-Hispanic women, a development that researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say may be the result of the low use of screening services among the Hispanic population.

The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy

May 2003, Volume 6, Number 2

[o0pink0o 3]

I just wanna share this information I found in USCIS website:

Q7: Are there public benefits that aliens can legally receive without worrying that the INS and State will consider them a public charge?

A7: Yes. Not all publicly funded benefits will be considered by the INS or the State Department in deciding whether someone is or is likely to become a public charge. The focus of public charge is on cash benefits for income maintenance and institutionalization for long-term care at government expense. Examples of benefits that will not be considered for public charge purposes include:

• Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases; use of health clinics, prenatal care, etc.) other than support for institutionalization for long-term care

• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

• Nutrition programs, including Food Stamps, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, and other supplementary and emergency food assistance programs

• Housing assistance

• Child care services

• Energy assistance, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

• Emergency disaster relief

• Foster care and adoption assistance

• Educational assistance, including benefits under the Head Start Act and aid for elementary, secondary, or higher education

• Job training programs

• In-kind, community-based programs, services, or assistance (such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter).

Note that not all categories of aliens are eligible to receive all of the types of benefits described above.

Source: http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/public_cqa.pdf

[Carlawarla 1]

Here's another option. You could pay for your pre-natal visits now, individually when you go to an appointment. You could also perhaps GET some health insurance. Pregnancy is NOT a pre-exisiting condition. You mentioned a c-section, is that because they were telling you the worst case scenerio? What makes you think you need a c-section? If you don't know, you could contract for the services of a mid-wife, and if SHE believes you need a c-section or you're having problems delivering, you'd have to go to an Emergency room, however millions of women give birth everyday and don't have a c-section. Actually, unless there is something "unique" about your pregnancy, I'd suggest that you get a second opinion if someone who's not an obstetrician is telling you that you'll "probably" have a c-section. There are far too many (like over 70%) of women who get a c-section that don't need it.

You mentioned going back home to have the baby. If you say you've got air miles, and the cost of having your baby back home is only $2000.00, perhaps that's what you're going to have to do. You could get an Emergency AP to go home to have the baby and come back after.

Just some suggestions of things to look into. All the best.

Edited August 28, 2009 by Carlawarla

[Caladan 19]

Pregnancy is definitely a pre-existing condition on the individual market (as a 30-year-old non-pregnant woman, I can't find a plan that will *cover* pregnancy), and emergency plans that have pregnancy riders often don't cover much. Worth looking into, but might not be the best option given the timeframe.

This may be a very dumb question, but have you talked to anyone from the Medicaid office in your specific state? The I-864 only excludes means-tested benefits of a certain kind (it depends on the income requirements among other things), and the laws and programs available do vary by the state. I'm sure the woman at the hospital means well, but I'd be willing to bet that she doesn't understand the I-864 in its entirety, nor the position that someone in the middle of AOS is in. Best of luck.

[Donna A 4]

Maybe Catholic hospital has a good plan or some non-profit has a program. I think I'd check out the Catholic hospital, if they can't help, maybe they can refer you to a non-profit.

It really sux when you want to be a responsible citizen. And you are right, emergency room will bill you and it will be a ridiculous amount.

Responsible citizens plan before they stop using birth control.

OP - better get on that plane to PI before you are too far along to travel.

[Old Dominion 26]

I hope your husband is running interference for you....not leaving it up to you to go through all the hoops and such, absorbing some of the stress himself. If he is a student, does his university have a hospital? A staff of doctors/nurses? They are resources in this search.

[DIARD 1]

I would talk to the Health and Human Services department in your city. Years ago when my ex lost his job I went down and we were above the guidelines for no cost medicaid. We had a $800/month share of the cost (they subtract $1200 from what you make a month and the remaining is your share of the cost). Of course when your living on hardly anything, an $800 deductible a month is crazy. They had a ton of program information for other resources, cheap or free prescriptions, AIM prenatal ande delivery care for pregnant women that don't qualify for Medicaid, Federally qualified medical centers that charge a sliding scale (including dental care) etc. Also regardless of what people tell you here, Emergency Medicaid is NOT a means tested benefits and if you fall within the guides, they will pick up the tab for emergency care after the fact if you file within 3 months of the birth. You will have to go to the ER when you are in labor though.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Judgmental post with OT type comment removed and post quoting same removed.

Message from removed post for OP copied and returned to thread here:

Len:

To the OP: I am pretty sure you can apply for Emergency Medicaid due to pregnancy, and it is NOT a means tested benefit. Congratulations on the baby and best of luck to you.