Confusing About Medicare (Free care)

[Umka36 781]

Does anyone know if the Massachusetts "Commonwealth Care" program counts as a means-tested benefit for immigration purposes? (i.e. will the sponsoring spouse have to reimburse the state for medical services the state pays for under this program?)

Thank you!

Hope this helps, and if it does not you can check out the complete booklet for additional information:

Qualified aliens

People who are qualified aliens and meet one of the

following statuses may be eligible for MassHealth

Standard, CommonHealth, Family Assistance, Basic,

Essential, Prenatal, or CMSP. They may also be eligible for

Commonwealth Care or the Health Safety Net.

*1. People admitted for legal permanent residence (LPR)

under the INA. But see starred (*) paragraph below.

*2. People granted parole for at least one year under section

212(d)(5) of the INA. But see starred (*) paragraph below.

*3. Conditional entrants under section 203(a)(7) of the

INA as in effect before April 1, 1980. But see starred (*)

paragraph below.

*People described in immigration statuses 1, 2, and 3

above must:

• have entered the United States on or after August 22,

1996, and five years must have passed since attaining any

of these three statuses (completed the “five-year bar”);

or must have attained any of these three statuses before

August 22, 1996; or must have been continually present

since before August 22, 1996. “Continually present”

applies only if the following three conditions are met: a)

the date of entry into the United States is before August

22, 1996; b) the person attains any of these three statuses

on or after August 22, 1996; and c) the person has not

had a single absence of greater than 30 days or a total

of combined absences of greater than 90 days from the

last date of entry into the United States to the date of

attaining any of these statuses; or

• also be described in any of the above immigration

statuses 4 through 14.

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/masshealth/appforms/member-booklet.pdf

[-Ker- 0]

I read an article recently from a Boston immigration advocate firm which stated that you can get masshealth limited which is emergency medicaid to cover hospital visits and combine it with Health Safety Network, which covers regular doctors appointments and lab work.

The emergency medicaid isn't supposed to count against you for immigration purposes and as far as HSN they don't require a SSN , have no time limit on residency requirement and aren't supposed to report to immigration.

I'll try to find the article when I have more time.

http://www.massresources.org/hsn-eligibility.html

Edited September 6, 2013 by -Ker-

[newacct 688]

Does anyone know if the Massachusetts "Commonwealth Care" program counts as a means-tested benefit for immigration purposes? (i.e. will the sponsoring spouse have to reimburse the state for medical services the state pays for under this program?)

Thank you!

Please start a new thread. The thread is old and your situation is not the same as the OP's. The OP is not yet a permanent resident, so the I-864 does not appy.