Health Insurance Options for parents who are on Green Card or are US citizen

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usimmig

New Member
This is a big issue for many of us. It can easily take more than 10 years before one can become a US Citizen. Then after that if you sponsor your parents for Green Card how to get them a resonable health insurance is a big puzzle.

Recently Obama passed a health care bill ,which will hopefully become applicable sometime in 2014. This bill is supposed to take care of people like my parents with pre-existing conditions, who can get some reasonable insurance coverage after a certain premium.

There are lot of queries regarding how to proceed from here after my parents have become a green card holder:

1) How can I make sure that they can successfully become US Citizens after 5 years. They have to travel to their home country every year for atleast 5 months to take care of bills and also get their complete medical check-up and treatment done.

For citizenship purposes what paperwork should I be collecting for them from here on.. they currently to not have any bills in their name, no tax returns, no work history etc..

2) The more worrysome question is what are my options for getting them a resonable health insurance. Both my parents are over 65 with pre-existing conditions of diabetes and BP. For the next 5 years they will be coming to US for a period of 7 months every year and staying with me.

I know they will not be eligible for medicare or social security unless they work.. but are there any other options for health insurance where by they can be regulary get checked and treated for diabetes and BP.

One last questions - Once they become citizens after 5 years will they be eligible for medicaid? My parents are not in a condition that they can work.. How can they become eligible for medicaid.

Please suggest how should I approach this considering all the constraints -- so that parents can get their citizenship after 5 years without any issues and so that atleast they can become eligible for medicaid after they become citizen?
 
usimmig said:
This is a big issue for many of us. It can easily take more than 10 years before one can become a US Citizen. Then after that if you sponsor your parents for Green Card how to get them a resonable health insurance is a big puzzle.

Recently Obama passed a health care bill ,which will hopefully become applicable sometime in 2014. This bill is supposed to take care of people like my parents with pre-existing conditions, who can get some reasonable insurance coverage after a certain premium.

There are lot of queries regarding how to proceed from here after my parents have become a green card holder:

1) How can I make sure that they can successfully become US Citizens after 5 years. They have to travel to their home country every year for atleast 5 months to take care of bills and also get their complete medical check-up and treatment done.

For citizenship purposes what paperwork should I be collecting for them from here on.. they currently to not have any bills in their name, no tax returns, no work history etc..

2) The more worrysome question is what are my options for getting them a resonable health insurance. Both my parents are over 65 with pre-existing conditions of diabetes and BP. For the next 5 years they will be coming to US for a period of 7 months every year and staying with me.

I know they will not be eligible for medicare or social security unless they work.. but are there any other options for health insurance where by they can be regulary get checked and treated for diabetes and BP.

One last questions - Once they become citizens after 5 years will they be eligible for medicaid? My parents are not in a condition that they can work.. How can they become eligible for medicaid.

Please suggest how should I approach this considering all the constraints -- so that parents can get their citizenship after 5 years without any issues and so that atleast they can become eligible for medicaid after they become citizen?
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1. get them SSN/ state ID/ DL with your address. As they are going to stay with you more than 6 months and have no other income here, include them in your Tax return. This will be required at the time of filing N-400.
2. They can get travel insurance every time they visit USA. Or you should take some insurance for them. Do not neglect. I have seen families ruined when their parent without insurance fall sick here.
3. After becoming US citizens they will be eligible for Medicaid if their Global income is below some threshold - varies between states.
 
From your description, it seems like bringing them to the US to immigrate is not the best choice for their health. My grandparents could have moved to the US if my US citizen uncle sponsored them, but they concluded it didn't make sense, with the various ailments they had.

Health insurance will be expensive even if they can get it, and they're going to be regularly spending nearly half of every year or more outside the US, jeopardizing both their green card status and citizenship eligibility. After 5 years with permanent resident status they can buy into Medicare, but it will be expensive.

A better option may be to have them use a tourist visa to visit the US for 5 months a year, with some travel insurance obtained in their home country to cover them if they have a sudden unexpected health problem when in the US. Then if they need extended treatment they'd go back to the home country.
 
Thanks madh4 and Jackolantern. Greatly appreciate your input.

Jackolantern, you are right that bringing them to US to immigrate is not the best of choice. But our situation is not presenting us with any other choices. There is no one in our home country we can rely to look upon my parents. My father's health is not reliable and I will not wan't my mom to end up in a situation where she will be all alone in the home country.

It took me 12 years for me to get my us citizenship after coming to this country. My parents have been visiting me, like you suggested, on a multiple entry tourist visa for the past 12 years after getting travel insurance. But now as they are growing older things are getting harder for them. My parents have now got their GCs. I am hoping that if they manage another 5 years on GCs somehow, with 7 months here and 5 months outside, then after 5 years they might become eligible for medicaid after they become citizens, like madh4 suggested. Both my parents currently are over 70. For me going back to my home country is not an option.

I just want to pave out a clear path for them to become citizen and later become eligible for medicaid if possible with all their health issues. Also, I am hoping that after obama health care becomes active in 2014 my parents might be able to get good health coverage until they become citizens.

So, my parents have never worked in US and they never will be able to. They are over 70 with pre-existing conditions. They recently got their GCs. They have been coming here for the past 12 years after taking travel insurance. Continue to live in home country is no longer an option for them. They will keep going back to home country as long as their health permits so that they can get their medical check-up and treatment done.

Will it be OK to do as per what madh4 is suggesting. Show them as dependents in my tax return and let them continue to come here on traveler insurance (which is maximum for 6 months). At the end of 5 years will there be any bottlenecks when we apply for their citizenship? Also at that time will they be eligible for medicaid? Is there any web site where we can look at the statewise eligibilty requirements for medicaid?
 
usimmig said:
Thanks madh4 and Jackolantern. Greatly appreciate your input.

Jackolantern, you are right that bringing them to US to immigrate is not the best of choice. But our situation is not presenting us with any other choices. There is no one in our home country we can rely to look upon my parents. My father's health is not reliable and I will not wan't my mom to end up in a situation where she will be all alone in the home country.

It took me 12 years for me to get my us citizenship after coming to this country. My parents have been visiting me, like you suggested, on a multiple entry tourist visa for the past 12 years after getting travel insurance. But now as they are growing older things are getting harder for them. My parents have now got their GCs. I am hoping that if they manage another 5 years on GCs somehow, with 7 months here and 5 months outside, then after 5 years they might become eligible for medicaid after they become citizens, like madh4 suggested. Both my parents currently are over 70. For me going back to my home country is not an option.

I just want to pave out a clear path for them to become citizen and later become eligible for medicaid if possible with all their health issues. Also, I am hoping that after obama health care becomes active in 2014 my parents might be able to get good health coverage until they become citizens.

So, my parents have never worked in US and they never will be able to. They are over 70 with pre-existing conditions. They recently got their GCs. They have been coming here for the past 12 years after taking travel insurance. Continue to live in home country is no longer an option for them. They will keep going back to home country as long as their health permits so that they can get their medical check-up and treatment done.

Will it be OK to do as per what madh4 is suggesting. Show them as dependents in my tax return and let them continue to come here on traveler insurance (which is maximum for 6 months). At the end of 5 years will there be any bottlenecks when we apply for their citizenship? Also at that time will they be eligible for medicaid? Is there any web site where we can look at the statewise eligibilty requirements for medicaid?
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Hi,
Just wondering if you were able to get your parents medical insurance. Because we are on the same boat. We are US citizens and want to bring our parents on green card. Both are 75 + and can't live alone in India. They can't keep travelling back and forth also. So, travel insurance is also not going to work. We are totally confused about medical insurance. It looks like private insurance is the only option since they are not eligible for medicare or Medicaid. If we go for private insurance then

A) how much would it cost /month/person
B) how will the coverage be in case of emergency and hospitalisation
C) which private health insurance company is reliable

It would be of great help if someone can provide reliable answers. Really appreciate your time.

Thank you
 
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