Success getting healthcare coverage for immigrant parents over 65

[missads 59]

On 7/16/2018 at 2:20 PM, Smitha said:

Thank you  so much for the extra ordinary information. My parents just arrived here to US and even they got social security and still waiting for green card arrival. Green card was approved in India. Looks like they will receive it from 90-120 days.

 

so we have been searching for health insurance plans and every one saying it is so complicated to live here. My question is, do we need to wait for green card arrival or can I call healthcare.gov to secure health insurance for my parents as it’s been approved in their home country?

Smitha, you don't need to wait for the physical GC to arrive. If they have received SSNs, the entry stamp in their passport is as good as the actual GC.

 

What state are you in? If your state doesn't have its own health exchange, you will need to go through healthcare.gov  There is a 30 day window after your parents moved to the US to sign up for health plans, outside of the regular open enrollment period that is usually around November/December each year. DON'T DELAY otherwise they will have to wait until the end of  the year to sign up. Plenty of info on this thread on how to look up health plans and get help through navigators.

Edited July 24, 2018 by missads

[deborabr 16]

I plan to bring my parents (66/69 years old) to live in the US and my biggest concern is the aspect of health insurance. This post was extremely helpful but my question is if my dad move to the US and receive his retirement from Brazil can he claim he has no income in the US on his tax return and be eligible for one of the more affordable health insurance plans or he will have to file tax in the US showing the retirement he receive from Brazil? Thanks!

[Dee elle 1,368]

5 minutes ago, deborabr said:

I plan to bring my parents (66/69 years old) to live in the US and my biggest concern is the aspect of health insurance. This post was extremely helpful but my question is if my dad move to the US and receive his retirement from Brazil can he claim he has no income in the US on his tax return and be eligible for one of the more affordable health insurance plans or he will have to file tax in the US showing the retirement he receive from Brazil? Thanks!

His income from anywhere in the world must be reported to the IRS as income 

[deborabr 16]

10 minutes ago, Dee elle said:

His income from anywhere in the world must be reported to the IRS as income 

Thank you for clarifying that!!!!

[Umka36 781]

Yes he must report his worldwide income. Getting ACA health care coverage is not the problem, but rather will he qualify for the PTC (premium tax credit) which is used to offset the healthcare premiums.

 

https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/the-premium-tax-credit-the-basics-0

 

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Umka36

[Chk312 0]

Hello,

 

It is heartening to read stories of many new green card recipients over 65 getting medical coverage. 

 

My USC sister sponsored my mom's GC application (mom living with our family in US since last 2 years)

The green card application was approved few days ago and USCIS online status is "we ordered your new card for Receipt Number XXX".

We are awaiting formal letter and the green card itself. Plan on applying SSN as and when formal documentation is received in the mail.

 

For the last 2 years I have been paying visitors insurance for my mom (which is useless and perhaps could be used only in real emergency) and hoping that my mom wont need medical assistance.

My mom is diabetic and has BP, arthritis. I have been purchasing her regular prescription meds in pharmacy, mercifully which are affordable.

Last few days she has been complaining of acute pain in her leg. We already have a physician appointment and we want her to get proper medical care.

 

We are residents of California and perhaps Medi-cal is appropriate choice as she is 67 years old.

My mom is retired and draws pension in India which is less than $6000/annum. One apartment in India which is not rented.

She has no income in US and my sister isn't claiming her as dependent.

Sister is checking with her employer if mom could be added to family insurance. We will hear yes/no soon. 

I'm not eligible to add mom to family insurance provided by my employer.

 

My questions are.

- If she receives medical care as an in/out patient and we incur bills, could those bills be covered by Medi-cal or by my sister's family insurance.

- As we don't have SSN and GC at hand, could Medi-cal or other providers enroll her immediately ? I'm going to call and find out anyway.

- We got visitors insurance which does not cover pre-existing conditions. Documentation says it covers only acute on set of pre-existing conditions.  I'm not sure if that really helps.

 

Any other alternatives or suggestions much appreciated.

 

/chk

Edited August 2, 2018 by Chk312

[databit 328]

Mom should have filed taxes on the $6k income from India. Suggest filing back taxes. She should be able to get Medi-Cal, but they will look at sister's income if mom doesn't file taxes---they are not stupid and will know that mom is being supported by someone, even if she was not listed on the sister's taxes.  That's why mom filing taxes is important to establish herself as a "separate household." 

[missads 59]

1 hour ago, databit said:

Mom should have filed taxes on the $6k income from India. Suggest filing back taxes. She should be able to get Medi-Cal, but they will look at sister's income if mom doesn't file taxes---they are not stupid and will know that mom is being supported by someone, even if she was not listed on the sister's taxes.  That's why mom filing taxes is important to establish herself as a "separate household." 

I agree that her mom should file taxes separately *going forward*. I don't see any reason to back file taxes. Her foreign income is too small to have required filing a separate tax return. Plus she has no US income.

 

Also, I'm curious to know on what basis you say "Medi-Cal *WILL* look at sister's income if mom doesn't file taxes" 

Is this just opinion/speculation, or do you have some information (a link perhaps) to back up your assertion?

 

[Boiler 44,986]

1 minute ago, missads said:

I agree that her mom should file taxes separately *going forward*. I don't see any reason to back file taxes. Her foreign income is too small to have required filing a separate tax return. Plus she has no US income.

 

Also, I'm curious to know on what basis you say "Medi-Cal *WILL* look at sister's income if mom doesn't file taxes" 

Is this just opinion/speculation, or do you have some information (a link perhaps) to back up your assertion?

 

US taxes on world wide income.

[missads 59]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

US taxes on world wide income.

Sure, but why back file taxes? She only recently became an LPR. She should only need to file taxes for this year, by April next year.

[Smitha 0]

Hi,

 

we live in dallas, tx. I went to healthcare.gov to get my green card senior parents health insurance. Do I need to contact agents/brokers in the website? How does it work? Please help me how to get help regarding that website.

 

thank you 

[databit 328]

9 hours ago, missads said:

I agree that her mom should file taxes separately *going forward*. I don't see any reason to back file taxes. Her foreign income is too small to have required filing a separate tax return. Plus she has no US income.

 

Also, I'm curious to know on what basis you say "Medi-Cal *WILL* look at sister's income if mom doesn't file taxes" 

Is this just opinion/speculation, or do you have some information (a link perhaps) to back up your assertion?

 

I worked for a CA County hospital and dealt with Medi-Cal rules for treatment eligibility. I am unaware of any changes to the process. If mom was an LPR anytime in 2017 it is best if she backfiled this year for 2017 taxes on her worldwide income (as the IRS requires), although $6k is below the filing minimum and she would not have to pay anything. This establishes her as a separate household from her daughter's. She is either her own household or part of her daughter's---there is no "middle ground." If she was deducted from the daughter's taxes,  she is part of that household for 2018 (unless daughter wants to wait until after 2019 filing to apply for Medi-Cal!) and that household income would be the income threshold used to determine eligibility. Daughter could always amend her own taxes if this was the case. The official Medi-Cal site does not spell this out. Here is a site that may help illustrate the process: https://medi-cal.healthreformquotes.com/redetermination/household-definition/

[missads 59]

On 8/3/2018 at 1:48 AM, databit said:

I worked for a CA County hospital and dealt with Medi-Cal rules for treatment eligibility. I am unaware of any changes to the process. If mom was an LPR anytime in 2017 it is best if she backfiled this year for 2017 taxes on her worldwide income (as the IRS requires), although $6k is below the filing minimum and she would not have to pay anything. This establishes her as a separate household from her daughter's. She is either her own household or part of her daughter's---there is no "middle ground." If she was deducted from the daughter's taxes,  she is part of that household for 2018 (unless daughter wants to wait until after 2019 filing to apply for Medi-Cal!) and that household income would be the income threshold used to determine eligibility. Daughter could always amend her own taxes if this was the case. The official Medi-Cal site does not spell this out. Here is a site that may help illustrate the process: https://medi-cal.healthreformquotes.com/redetermination/household-definition/

Thanks for sharing, it's great to have someone who's been part of the Medi-cal system providing some inside perspective.

 

I agree OP's mom should establish herself as a separate tax household and file a separate tax return. I have said that is so important over and over in this thread The question is starting when.

 

OP's mom was NOT an LPR in 2017. She was approved a few weeks ago, hasn't even received her GC yet. I don't know what her prior status was and whether she was required to file a tax return back then, or was previously claimed by someone else on their tax return as a dependent. *IF* (and only if) the answer is NO to all of the above, I would suggest file starting the year she became an LPR, and every year there onward. A sworn affidavit regarding income might suffice for 2018, because she can't file this year's tax return until next April anyway.  If Medi-cal says they will consider mom part of the sponsor's tax household (OP needs to discuss with Covered CA), then backfile 2017 taxes. Any thoughts?

 

Again, thanks for adding to the wealth of info on this thread, it's very useful!

[missads 59]

On 6/9/2018 at 1:06 PM, Bruin85 said:

Thank you for all  your help missads. If I had not found your thread, I may never have known this was possible.

Anyway, my 75 yr old father in law arrived here in Dallas,TX on May 6, 2018 from the Philippines on a IR5 visa. Last week I successfully signed him up for a silver plan thru the healthcare.gov website. He qualified for a $975 ptc, so his monthly premium is  $11.91. Only 2 silver plans were available, Molina and Ambetter, and when I googled reviews for them they were bad for both, but I figured some coverage is better than no coverage. Ambetter would have been $143 a month after the ptc, so I figured since the reviews were bad for both, I chose the cheaper one, which was Molina. 

My question is that he is required to submit documentation of his income by Sept 1. His income is 0. Since he will not be filing a tax return until January, and he does not work, what can  I use to show that his income is 0. Somewhere in your thread I think you mentioned doing an affidavit. Is that my only option as far as you know? Does anyone have experience with proving income in this situation?

 

On 8/2/2018 at 8:26 PM, Smitha said:

Hi,

 

we live in dallas, tx. I went to healthcare.gov to get my green card senior parents health insurance. Do I need to contact agents/brokers in the website? How does it work? Please help me how to get help regarding that website.

 

thank you 

Try reaching out to Bruin85, he is also in Dallas and got coverage for his dad recently. He might be able to help you with local info better than anyone else on here

Edited August 4, 2018 by missads

[Smitha 0]

59 minutes ago, missads said:

 

Try reaching out to Bruin85, he is also in Dallas and got coverage for his dad recently. He might be able to help you with local info better than anyone else on here

Thank you missads for all your help. I just talked to one of market place agents and they mentioned that to qualify for Obama care, we need to show $16,240 as I am looking for my parents insurance. So, I am looking for options to raise their income. They get monthly pension from India around $800 a month. So, I need to come up with options for around $700 a month . If I pay to my parents for any service, how that does work? Also, my mom is a yoga teacher, probably she can teach some classes. If she teach class, do we need to register as a small business before filing taxes? If anyone has info, please shared with me. Bruin85, can you please let me know your email address pls.

thank you all especially missads for sharing your experience.