Success getting healthcare coverage for immigrant parents over 65

[Boiler 45,481]

They do not qualify to buy into Medicare it seems for another year.Does sound like they are over 65.

 

Somebody I know went through this and it sounded horribly complicated signing up, selection what top up to buy etc etc. He ended up making a trip to the office.

 

Seems that not having anything up to 65 is not an issue, delaying getting it at 65 is.

 

I would suggest the Parents investigate now what they need to do, what they should sign up for, not an easy process.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2019 by Boiler

[Umka36 781]

On ‎3‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 4:10 PM, hmeeks said:

I just want to let people know regarding my situation with my mother since this post has helped me so much (huge shout out especially to Missads!)

 

1. My mother just got her green card this January

2. We enrolled her in Obamacare. She had no income here and only $200/month pension from her home country. I had to call a ACA agent (I found my agent through this website https://localhelp.healthcare.gov/). Even though her income did not meet the poverty level, the agent said that I can write a letter saying that I supported her to the tune of $12000/year and thus push her income to match the ACA income criteria. 

3. The windows for special enrollment is 60 days, not 90 days like I read in some websites.

 

She will need to file her own taxes. I can not claim her as dependents. I suspect next year, I will need to get in contact with some tax accountants to figure out how to show that she had an income of $14400 this year. Anyone gone through that yet?

 

I hope this helps some people.

 

Very odd why an ACA agent would tell you that your support = their income to meet the ACA income threshold for the PTC . This would more be in line with her being your dependent. I'd be curious how you would document this as income in their tax filing.

[hmeeks 0]

23 hours ago, Umka36 said:

Very odd why an ACA agent would tell you that your support = their income to meet the ACA income threshold for the PTC . This would more be in line with her being your dependent. I'd be curious how you would document this as income in their tax filing.

I talked to an accountant and they said that she don't have to file taxes. From the point of IRS, they don't care since she doesn't earn enough to pay taxes. I will check with other accountants to see. It's frustrating because it's so hard to find someone who truly understands our position.

[Boiler 45,481]

Well you do not need to file taxes to buy Insurance, so from that perspective I would agree.

[hmeeks 0]

Just now, Boiler said:

Well you do not need to file taxes to buy Insurance, so from that perspective I would agree.

The ACA agent told my mom to file this letter to ACA:

 

"I am a new tax filer. I received my Green card January 2019 and have no previous income . I project my
income, based on a pension and support from my family, will be $13,400 for the tax year of 2019.
I understand that if I obtain employment or my income is higher than expected, I will need to report
that change to the Market Place because it may affect my subsidy."

 

What do you guys think? I talked to a tax accountant and she said that I still don't need to file taxes with that income.

 

 

[Boiler 45,481]

In your earlier post you said her income was $2,400pa so you will be giving her $11,000.

 

I thought ACA was income dependent and did not take into account, gifts, savings etc. Begs the question is you have a tax obligation on gifts over a certain amount.

[hmeeks 0]

20 minutes ago, Boiler said:

In your earlier post you said her income was $2,400pa so you will be giving her $11,000.

 

I thought ACA was income dependent and did not take into account, gifts, savings etc. Begs the question is you have a tax obligation on gifts over a certain amount.

That's why I talked to the tax accountant and she said that the $11,000 would be in form of rent, food, and such (i.e. support). 

[Boiler 45,481]

I assumed it was related to income that appeared on your tax return, I had a quick search and found nothing to suggest otherwise.

 

Please do come back and let us know what you find.

[Umka36 781]

On ‎3‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 8:55 AM, hmeeks said:

That's why I talked to the tax accountant and she said that the $11,000 would be in form of rent, food, and such (i.e. support). 

Providing support in general is not income. The other party needs to provide something in return, and it needs to be documented. For example, if you had a live in nanny, part of their income would be room and board. You would also need to report this to the IRS.

 

As this is really about being able to claim premium tax credit, have you looked it up OP?

 

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

 

https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/premium-tax-credit-flow-chart-are-you-eligible

Edited March 22, 2019 by Umka36

[databit 328]

^^^ This is correct. Thank you, Umka36. 

 

For the ACA you DO need documented, IRS-reportable income. My sister lived with me when she lost her job. I provided food, free rent, utilities. She had zero income, but the ACA would not let her on its plans until she provided income. So she took out about $16,000 from her 401k that she had hoped to save. Yes, she could have gotten onto MedicAID, but the services were not so good in our area. She filed her own taxes.

[Villanelle 4,122]

I think I can offer some advice about the above situation...  What the ACA rep did above was a very clever work around for the income requirements. So while it is clever like I said I really do see it back firing. ..... Basically at enrollment Marketplace will ask for your income, its a projection of your income for the year since you actually did not earn it yet. They do this to determine how much in tax credits you are eligible for. IF you make more or less actual income then your tax credits will go up or down accordingly. The poster above sent a letter stating what their projected income was going to be- cleverly worded as 'pension and support' 13K. Marketplace accepted it it seems. But at the end of the year when you have to reconcile your taxes you need a tax return showing income of 13K- OR ELSE they will recalculate your actual earning with how much you projected and in this case you will OWE all the tax credits back... Probably that ACA rep wont be there anymore next year and the new rep will just apologize and say how they dont know anything about that.... Also accountants are correct -if you are providing food/shelter stuff its not considered you giving income to someone but handled under dependents for tax purposes...Where medicaid wasnt expanded the only way to get someone covered by Obamacare is for them to have a tax return of their own with the appropriate income OR be covered as a dependent on someones taxes and that person gets the Obamacare for themselves and their respective dependents.

[databit 328]

^^^

username_taken is correct.

 

My friend just had to pay back the ACA credits on his taxes because he overstated his projected income. It was a huge OUCH for him!

[hmeeks 0]

Hm,

 

I talked to a healthcare assistor and he confirmed that my mom does qualify for health insurance through the Marketplace, due to not qualifying for Medicaid due to not being a resident for more than five years. Even if she had $0 income she qualifies for the Marketplace insurance. 

 

If you look at the flow chart Figure A of publication 974 for premium tax credit: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p974.pdf, it confirmed this.

 

I still am going to hire a tax accountant next year for piece of mind though.

 

 

[Boiler 45,481]

From memory only a few categories are excluded from the Exchange, for example if you are illegally present.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Boiler

[Lil bear 4,199]

Once we got connected with a marketplace consultant who actually understood, we purchased ACA insurance while we were waiting for my husbands work to start .. we both came on IR5... and, like one other poster, we had to repay the tax credits that ACA gave us.. thankfully it was only 1 months worth otherwise it would have been BIG ouch !!