guitarmaan

Can anyone advise me on the area of bringing over old age parents to the States? I aim to be naturalised, and my wife is American.

My parents are retired and draw pension in addition to their own funds. If the need arose, could I bring them/one of them over to live with us? Or would it not be possible?

thanks

Manc

it's possible, obviously.......... healthwise and costs..... hardly practical.

Bob

Yeah, as a USC, you could petition to bring them over....they'll struggle to get health insurance though, some states might offer help, but it won't be cheap, they won't be eligible for the free options and as a financial sponsor you could be on the hook for any costs they rack up.

There are quite a few threads on bringing parents over with more details that are worth looking over, some have been successful, depends on the state, health of the parents and age, but for most it's not been a feasible exercise.

meauxna

When you have completed your naturalization and are a US citizen, you will be eligible to petition your parents to immigrate to the US.

Steps are outlined here: http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/A1en.pdf It takes about one year from start to move (or a little less if you get on it).

Most of the arguments here will be because of health insurance; it will be expensive.

SanDiegogirl

Are you prepared to fund all their health care costs, since they won't be eligible for Medicare and won't be able to get private health insurance.

Manc

they will. so long as they can afford the premium.

Englishman43

As a matter of interest I called around looking for insurance for a 60 year old male with no current or previous medical history - a specimen of physical health and vitality if you will.

$600.00 +/- a month was the going rate back end of last year.

Giantaxe

The source of this isn't exactly neutral, but I've seen little to refute their claims. Even something like slightly elevated blood pressure in this age range can cause you to have insurance declined or become punitively expensive.

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pr...20110118a.html

Bob

But what's the damage with the co-pays, max cover, deductibles etc?

It's no use if you've got a $15K per incident deductible for instance.

Englishman43

To be honest I didn't go in to it that deeply but I did mention I'd prefer a LOWER premium and higher deductables and that is what the lower premium came out to. It was enough to answer my question.

penguinsix

It's extremely difficult to get private insurance for the elderly, primarily because the vast majority of the population is on the public system (Medicare). This reduces the overall pool of individuals who are seeking private care to those who cannot get Medicare, or have some other problems, thus making the elderly private insurance pool essentially "a small pond with a lot of sick fish" rather than a "very large ocean with sick or healthy fish". Chances are their medical care will be rather expensive and it's just not a profitable endeavor for the insurance companies to take in a relatively limited number of premiums (say over the next 20 years) to pay for what is more than likely going to be a relatively high expense in the last 18 months of life.

As a sponsor, you are on the hook for paying for their medical care. Should they go into ICU and run up bills of $500,000 (not at all unheard of) than they'll come back to bite you. It's a pretty scary proposition.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of options. Medicare is only available to those who have paid in 40 quarters (10 years of work). There is a program to 'buy in' for missed quarters, but that is only open to people who have been here 5 years AFTER receiving their green card. In some states the state government allows some medical treatment for foreigners (though this is quite limited and growing smaller as states deal with their budget problems).

If your parents have a slight issue and cannot get private insurance, they may be eligible, again depending on the state, for the "high risk medical pool" which is a state-administered program to provide insurance for those who cannot get it. It varies from state to state from being essentially the same as private insurance to being somewhat subsidized. I recently checked for a friend and their 75-year-old mother was around $1,300 a month in the private system and $700 a month under the state high risk pool (they ended up staying overseas).

You may also check your own health insurance and see if adding a "dependent parent" is an option. Some of the more gold-plated plans, along with the US military insurance plan (I think), have this as an option.

Duncan Roberts

As said, the coverage you get for that is the key. However, a quote on the phone is just that, a quote on the phone. You don't know the actual cost until you fill out all the forms and apply. That $600 could be spot on or it could be way off.

To the OP, how soon can you naturalize? If it's not going to be in the next 18 months or so then by the time you do naturalize and finish sponsoring your parents, assuming no changes to the planned healthcare reform, the way insurance can be bought will have changed enough (Jan 1st, 2014) that your parents will be guaranteed a policy. The cost and coverage options remains to be seen though.