Medical Insurance for Parents - a nightmare?
- Thread starter Mamoo
- Start date
Suzy977 said:
Consider age of parents. Some private insurance companies will not cover for specific age groups. Next what about preexisting conditions?
I checked with blue cross blue shield. I believe for preexisting condition to be covered they will have to pay premium for one year and then it will be covered.
Mamoo
What happens after age 65 when private insurance companies will not cover the individual? At the same time Medicare will not cover the individual because the person has not been a LPR for at least 5 years. What are the solutions to cover for the gap in coverage?
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ip_everywhere
Registered Users (C)
Suzy977 said:
Yes! that's ture, A LPR is eiligible for medicaid/medicare after 5 yrs of residence.
needurhelp
Registered Users (C)
www.ssa.gov, It's a Social Security Administration website. It has lot of useful information about who's eligible and why and for long. All the questions are answered, very useful website.Suzy977 said:
greencardmaze
Registered Users (C)
ok, according to my experience, parents are eligible for emergency medicaid, they are also eligible for vaccinations and treatment of communicable diseases. When in doubt, ask if the services they will recieve are a " means tested public benefit" if it isn't they should be fine.
Now about health insurance..... i have been searching for months... they will NOT cover preexisting conditions, it realy depends on which condition they have. eg. someone who had a heart attack previously, will be denied insurance all together, and i am speaking from experience as this is what happened in my case. however, there are some preexisting conditions they may agree to cover after a waiting period of 1 year, sometimes more... however, you will have to be paying the insurance monthly during that year.
Several insurance companies i contacted,said they can only cover people after residing in the US for at least 2 years..... so this is another peroblem.... there are however discount programs that provide discounted services if you go to a participating provider, but again, not all doctors work with these programs , so before you enroll, call your doctor and see if they accept these programs.
Regarding prescriptions.... i have seen several prescription plans available online, but they dont realy decrease the cost much, the one i would recommend is free ... it is called prescription rx, and it gives the same discounts as a paid prescription plan, provided you qualify. if you don't...try to buy your medications from sam's club, they give you prices similar tot he ones you find in other pharmacies using the discount cards.
One more thing... If you have a condition that prevents you from being insured by regular health insurance, some states have programs where they can provide health insurance.... it can be quite expensive up to maybe 700 or 800 dollars a month, but you will have health insurance, and they dont cover preexisting conditions for the first 6 months... not all states have this, so each person should check to see whether your state offers this insurance or not... also you will not be eligible to enroll untill you have the actual green card... for all the previous insurance and prescription coverages, you can enroll while you wait for your green card.
I hope this info helps, i spent weeks trying to figure out what i can or cannot do, so i hope this helps someone who is looking, if anyone has any additions please post so we may all benefit.Have a great day.
Now about health insurance..... i have been searching for months... they will NOT cover preexisting conditions, it realy depends on which condition they have. eg. someone who had a heart attack previously, will be denied insurance all together, and i am speaking from experience as this is what happened in my case. however, there are some preexisting conditions they may agree to cover after a waiting period of 1 year, sometimes more... however, you will have to be paying the insurance monthly during that year.
Several insurance companies i contacted,said they can only cover people after residing in the US for at least 2 years..... so this is another peroblem.... there are however discount programs that provide discounted services if you go to a participating provider, but again, not all doctors work with these programs , so before you enroll, call your doctor and see if they accept these programs.
Regarding prescriptions.... i have seen several prescription plans available online, but they dont realy decrease the cost much, the one i would recommend is free ... it is called prescription rx, and it gives the same discounts as a paid prescription plan, provided you qualify. if you don't...try to buy your medications from sam's club, they give you prices similar tot he ones you find in other pharmacies using the discount cards.
One more thing... If you have a condition that prevents you from being insured by regular health insurance, some states have programs where they can provide health insurance.... it can be quite expensive up to maybe 700 or 800 dollars a month, but you will have health insurance, and they dont cover preexisting conditions for the first 6 months... not all states have this, so each person should check to see whether your state offers this insurance or not... also you will not be eligible to enroll untill you have the actual green card... for all the previous insurance and prescription coverages, you can enroll while you wait for your green card.
I hope this info helps, i spent weeks trying to figure out what i can or cannot do, so i hope this helps someone who is looking, if anyone has any additions please post so we may all benefit.Have a great day.
greencardmaze
Registered Users (C)
i had just one question.... can someone add his/her parents to their health insurance (they have from work) as they are considered his dependants??? has anyone one done this before???please share!!
Cannt add parents in most work insurance
I have checked with my current employer and with my previous employer before and was told by both companies that I could not add my parents to my insurance. Can only cover spouse and kids even though I can claim my parents in my tax return as dependants. There may be other companies & their insurance companies let you do that, I havent found one yet.
I have checked with my current employer and with my previous employer before and was told by both companies that I could not add my parents to my insurance. Can only cover spouse and kids even though I can claim my parents in my tax return as dependants. There may be other companies & their insurance companies let you do that, I havent found one yet.
greencardmaze -
Thanks for the info.
I did check with my employer and the definition of dependants for medical/dental is what 'pinto' has specified. The only option left for us is to buy insurance on our own, for parents.
The info you have posted is definitely beneficial, it would also help if you provide the Insurance company's names and plans if possible.
Can you also please elaborate on what options are left after they get their CZ? If they never worked in the US, what kind of govt. sponsored medical plan can they qualify for?
Thanks for the info.
I did check with my employer and the definition of dependants for medical/dental is what 'pinto' has specified. The only option left for us is to buy insurance on our own, for parents.
The info you have posted is definitely beneficial, it would also help if you provide the Insurance company's names and plans if possible.
Can you also please elaborate on what options are left after they get their CZ? If they never worked in the US, what kind of govt. sponsored medical plan can they qualify for?
sometime2006
Registered Users (C)
Start your own business... In some States, you can get group coverage for your business with as few as 2 employees. Then "hire" your parents and put them on your companies group policy. Your company can even pay their premium as a job benefit then you can write it off on your taxes.
Not easy, but doable.
Not easy, but doable.
greencardmaze
Registered Users (C)
jenimmi, the companies i asked where blueshield blue cross, and unicare... i also contacted as many as 20 agents( maybe more) mainly i searched online and placed my info there, and they all just kept calling me back.agents are very helpfull because they all want to make a sale, so they do their best to find something that will fit your individual needs.... they all agreed, there is no coverage for people with previous heart attacks... i found the state insurance coverage by searching on google, and i contacted them... they said they cannot enroll us untill we have the actual green card.
i dont recall the names of the companies that give group discounts, but i was offered several of these programs by the agents that i contacted... there are a lot of them out there... unfortunatly for me, none of them worked with our physician, so even these didnt help.so for now, we applied for emergency medicaid, and were approved only for the emergency condition that we had... i.e. it was valid for only 3 days, and we pay our doctors bills ourselves... usually it isnt too bad, it is about 100 dollars per visit, which is once every 2 months, and we pay for our own meds.... the problem is that we need surgery, and no one will cover that, and it is not someting anyone can afford.. i think it will cost over 100 thousand dollars. emergency medicaid will not cover it, neither will any insurance, even if we do enroll... the insurance system here isnt very efficient... i dont know if you apply for aid from the hospital for a much needed surgery that isnt an emergency if it would be cosidered a public charge or not.....so far i havent found a solution, i was hoping someone who has gone through a similar situation would know... but i dont think that this sill happen any time soon... as everyone seems to be having just as difficult a time as we are.
i dont recall the names of the companies that give group discounts, but i was offered several of these programs by the agents that i contacted... there are a lot of them out there... unfortunatly for me, none of them worked with our physician, so even these didnt help.so for now, we applied for emergency medicaid, and were approved only for the emergency condition that we had... i.e. it was valid for only 3 days, and we pay our doctors bills ourselves... usually it isnt too bad, it is about 100 dollars per visit, which is once every 2 months, and we pay for our own meds.... the problem is that we need surgery, and no one will cover that, and it is not someting anyone can afford.. i think it will cost over 100 thousand dollars. emergency medicaid will not cover it, neither will any insurance, even if we do enroll... the insurance system here isnt very efficient... i dont know if you apply for aid from the hospital for a much needed surgery that isnt an emergency if it would be cosidered a public charge or not.....so far i havent found a solution, i was hoping someone who has gone through a similar situation would know... but i dont think that this sill happen any time soon... as everyone seems to be having just as difficult a time as we are.
emergency medicaid
Hello,
so how do you apply for emergency medicaid for someone who is here and ther GC application is pending. My mother is here, and I dont have any insurace fro her. A few weeks back, she had an episode which require emergency service. She is a deabetic and a heart patient. It turned out be Pnumunia. They made her stay in the hospital for 1 night. The bill for the hospital alone is 9000 dollars. I told them I can not pay all that. So they tolde me to pay as much as I can on a monthly basis. I agreed with 30 dollars a month.
Maybe emergency medicaid would have been beneficial in this case. Doctors bills are extra.
Please get back.
Thanks!
Hello,
so how do you apply for emergency medicaid for someone who is here and ther GC application is pending. My mother is here, and I dont have any insurace fro her. A few weeks back, she had an episode which require emergency service. She is a deabetic and a heart patient. It turned out be Pnumunia. They made her stay in the hospital for 1 night. The bill for the hospital alone is 9000 dollars. I told them I can not pay all that. So they tolde me to pay as much as I can on a monthly basis. I agreed with 30 dollars a month.
Maybe emergency medicaid would have been beneficial in this case. Doctors bills are extra.
Please get back.
Thanks!
I'm sorry to hear about your mother's illness and that huge hospital bill! American hospitals and doctors are crazy.
I can't be insured with my husband either, because his insurance told me that I needed a SSN for that, but I just filed my applications and can't get one yet. I still have my insurance from back home though, which is still valid for 2 more months.
If your mom can't apply for a SSN yet, I would try to find out how much it would cost if you insure your mother with an insurance company from your home country. You know, like a temporary vacation insurance, or something like that.
I can't be insured with my husband either, because his insurance told me that I needed a SSN for that, but I just filed my applications and can't get one yet. I still have my insurance from back home though, which is still valid for 2 more months.
If your mom can't apply for a SSN yet, I would try to find out how much it would cost if you insure your mother with an insurance company from your home country. You know, like a temporary vacation insurance, or something like that.
greencardmaze said:
Thanks, greencardMaze.
I'm sorry to hear about your (parents) situation. Yes.. if we all can agree on one thing, it would be how inefficient/ unhelpful the current medical /health care is.
I don't have a very severe situation like yours, but last year had run into an emergency and finally was able to find health care under a couple of hundred bucks. The prescription medicine was another story.
But anyway, I realized back then that I would not like to take a risk and when my parents are here after GC, I would like to get a decent health care plan that covers everything, like the one that's given to us by employers.
So, what's the emergency medicaid you're talking about? How do we enroll in such a plan?
Re: your other question, I remember that a friend of mine was still a student about 7 or 8 years ago, when his father visited him in the US. His father had a heart attack and somehow managed to dial 911 at that time. Emergency services took his father to the medical center in their area. My friend was literally broke at that time, being a student and had no money to pay his father's medical bill. His father was in the hospital for nearly 4 or 5 days. The hospital undertook the medical cost and my friend didn't have to pay anything. When I asked him later about this, I remember vaguely that he said "my father got admitted in the hospital himself in his own responsibility. When he recovered, they knew he didn't have a job and he was only visiting the US, so they didn't ask him to pay". So, I guess if this were the case, then the hospital cannot ask the children to pay?
I'm not sure how it worked in my friend's father's case, but I do know for a fact at that time, my friend was relieved from the total responsibility. He also told me had they asked him to pay the bill, it was so huge that it would've taken him a lifetime to pay that bill.
The problem with most international insurance companies is that they will cover the amount of money that the operation/treatmet/etc would have cost in that country. Meaning that if an operation here was $9000 and it could be performed at the other country for $1000, it will consider the cost of the operation as $1000.