Medical insurance for immigrant parents

[caradoc]

My parents currently live outside of the US but are planning to live in the US after retiring (in ~3 years).

I was wondering what the options are for their medical insurance?

Both were not born in the US but obtained citizenship/green card several years ago.

My mother: US citizen. Never worked in the US. Age at retirement will be 65.

My father: US permanent resident.  Worked in the US for 2 years. Age at retirement will be 65.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Slav4ikMD]

I assume they should be eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare (?)  I don't see why they wouldn't be.

[justlearning]

Slav4ikMD wrote:

I assume they should be eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare (?)  I don’t see why they wouldn’t be.

Click to expand...

i think to be eligible medicare you need to pay medicare taxes in the last 10 years and must be a resident at least 5 years.

https://www.medicare.gov/eligibilitypremiumcalc/#eligibility

 

 

[jfoxcpacfp]

Slav4ikMD wrote:

I assume they should be eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare (?)  I don’t see why they wouldn’t be.

Unfortunately, a person must have 40 quarters of work on which they have paid FICA taxes to qualify for Medicare. Their best option will be medicaid or private insurance. Federal welfare reform requires immigrants to have 5 years of legal benefits to be eligible for federal benefits such as Medicaid, but 15 states (Google tells me) have decided not to follow that rule. I would recommend they start at the state level to find out if they are eligible. Of course, income limitations may kick them out of Medicaid and I think they'll then need to go the private route. (This is not my area of expertise, but I know more about Medicare than Medicaid.)

[Slav4ikMD]

You can definitely get Medicare without ever paying any Medicare taxes, but you may be right about the requirement to have lived in the country for 5 years, I wasn't aware of that.

[pistolpete]

I think you can get Medicare at age 65 if you haven't paid into it for 40 quarters, but it is not free. Something around 600 per month, so probably cheaper than commercial insurance. I think remember reading that somewhere on Reddit. Google and maybe you'll find that thread.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Slav4ikMD wrote:

You can definitely get Medicare without ever paying any Medicare taxes, but you may be right about the requirement to have lived in the country for 5 years, I wasn’t aware of that.

Click to expand...

You're right, they can buy their insurance through Medicare.

• Part A - can pay premiums and must enroll in Part B


• Part B - can pay premiums and d/n/h to enroll in Part A


• Part D - can pay premiums if enrolled in either Part A or Part B

However, the 5-year rule is still applicable before qualifying to do any of the above.

Another option is to work until they have 40 quarterly credits (about 10 years) which is not practical for most retirees.

[Hank]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

 

Another option is to work until they have 40 quarterly credits (about 10 years) which is not practical for most retirees.

Click to expand...

You only need $1320 for a qualifying quarter.  I'm not sure that's so impractical.

If the original poster has 1099 income, they probably could find something for mom or dad to do that's beneficial to the business and worth $440 per month.  People pay that much and more for virtual assistants.

[Dreamgiver]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

Slav4ikMD wrote:

I assume they should be eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare (?)  I don’t see why they wouldn’t be.

Unfortunately, a person must have 40 quarters of work on which they have paid FICA taxes to qualify for Medicare. Their best option will be medicaid or private insurance. Federal welfare reform requires immigrants to have 5 years of legal benefits to be eligible for federal benefits such as Medicaid, but 15 states (Google tells me) have decided not to follow that rule. I would recommend they start at the state level to find out if they are eligible. Of course, income limitations may kick them out of Medicaid and I think they’ll then need to go the private route. (This is not my area of expertise, but I know more about Medicare than Medicaid.)

Click to expand...

Johanna, another thing to keep in mind, and you might know the answer to this, is when they need to apply for Medicare. In other words, people who are eligible receive a penalty if they do not apply within a specific age window. How does it work in this case? Does the window become "open" only once they are actually eligible because of SS credits without accounting for their age?

[jfoxcpacfp]

Dreamgiver wrote:

Johanna, another thing to keep in mind, and you might know the answer to this, is when they need to apply for Medicare. In other words, people who are eligible receive a penalty if they do not apply within a specific age window. How does it work in this case? Does the window become “open” only once they are actually eligible because of SS credits without accounting for their age?

Click to expand...

You guessed right - I don't know the answer to this one (i.e. for those who don't have the work history required). I would guess it's the same as for people who are getting Part A for free, but just don't know.