Medical Assiatance, Medicare, Medicaid...
jenimmi said:
What a detailed post, gtvsc! Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain what you know in such depth. I appreciate your efforts on this, very much. It made a few thing clear for me.
I have a few questions, although hypothetical..
When you said even after 5 years of being a legal resident, the parents will be subject to “sponsor deeming” - will the same thing be applicable to them if after 5 years they are USCs? In other words if they are USCs and if they are still under 65, will the sponsor's or sponsor's spouse income be taken into account for “sponsor deeming”? In my understanding they should not, as the sponsor's responsibility ends when a PR files for CZ.
On the same line, this is a copy paste from what I found on a search for NJ benefits. Don't know if this info is the latest..
From this, it seems like "Sponsor deeming" is not applicable for NJ residents, after the 5 years bar whether or not they become USC.
I don't know a lot about this I've to admit, but medicaid also seem to cover hospitalization, medical exp, doctor visits, prescription. Is there something I'm missing - why is medicare preferred over medicaid. If you have some links that can give some more info on these two, that would be helpful.
Anyway, with medicare not available, the best we can hope for is state funded/aided policy or plan. When I googled various search terms, I am unable to find much info on NJ state's medical assistance for non-citizen immigrants. Thanks for mentioning the Princeton hospital and also for checking with your friends. I asked a few friends myself and they couldn't help. Will check around..
Once again, please share any new info that you come across --
also others who are reading this, please share what you know about this.
Hi, Jen,
Here is my understanding to your question.
a. If the legal immigrant becomes a US citizen, sponsor's responsibility ends, and the “sponsor deeming” rule no longer applies. By all means, a sponsored immigrant should always become a US citizen ASAP, so he/she can apply for all possible benefits such as Medicaid, Food Stamp, etc. The major hurdle to become a US citizen might be the language test (This should not be a problem for most Indians, but it is a problem for most old immigrants from China and other countries).
b. As far as I know, “sponsor deeming” is practically used only in the federal level. Even though the federal government encouraged all States to do the same, currently, most states do not adopt this rule (I have heard that Colorado had tried to do this). Even though the State may not use the deeming rule now, the State has the right to go after the sponsor in the future (I know the chance of the State doing that is slim, but…).
c. The quote in your post looks like pretty old, since the same article also mentioned New Jersey Governor Whiteman, who was a governor before McGreevey. New Jersey is much worse compared to PA as far as benefits are concerned. I have friends coming from NJ to PA mainly for their parents’ health coverage. As far as I know, new immigrants are not eligible for NJ Medicaid, however, qualified immigrant children and parents (65 years old or above?) can receive NJ FamilyCare. Check
http://www.accessproject.org/adobe/healthcare_access_nj.pdf,
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmahs/dhsmed.html and
http://www.nilc.org/pubs/guideupdates/tbl10_state-med-asst_2006-01.pdf
for some information regarding Medicaid and FamilyCare in NJ.
d. Medicaid covers almost everything with very low co-pay (much lower than the co-pay we are paying with HMO or PPO). I don’t think Medicare is really better than Medicaid. These are just two different animals. Medicaid was created for the nation’s poor people, citizens as well as legal immigrants, in 1965. It has changed A LOT. It is now mainly for the aged (65 and above), or disabled, and for kids and pregnant woman with low family income/asset. Most Americans use Medicare because their income (even though they are retired) is higher than the limit for Medicaid, I guess. By the way, there is a pretty high premium for Medicare recipients. As a matter of fact, some low income Medicare recipients did apply for Medicaid also.
BTW, if you don’t have any other option. You always have Emergency Medicaid. Don’t delay, hesitate and wait. Send your parents to a hospital if your parents really need medical services. Check
http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmahs/emergencypayment.html. Note that, at least in PA, emergency does not necessarily mean that you have to go to the Emergency Room of a hospital. Any medical condition which might potentially damage the function of a part of your body is an emergency medical condition.
