PetW

Hi everyone. Can anyone tell me if the new healthcare provision is available to Brits currently here with permanent residency status ?
Also, if you are over the age of 65 and a permanent resident can you qualify for same, or do you just wait until you get citizenship and try to get Medicare ? Appreciate any information, thank you.

Michael

It appears that you can but can't get the Medicaid option if your income is below 133% of the poverty level.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1480037

Derrygal

I don't believe you have to be a citizen to receive Medicare benefits. As far as I know, it is available to permanent residents provided they have paid into it for a number of years (I think 10, but I may be wrong about that).

Michael

I think you are correct but if a person becomes as citizen or is a legal permanent resident for 5 years, they can buy into Medicare at about 1/3rd the government cost without any work credits or be covered on your spouses work credits for the minimal cost. I believe that is what the OP was referring to.

Michael

In your last thread, you stated "although I thought it slightly insensitive of Bob to boot me out". Bob didn't boot you out but moved the thread to the "USA" forum since the "Trailer Park" forum is normally used for gibberish and he wanted you to have exposure to a more rational discussion. So if the thread is moved again, don't take it personally since he is trying to help.

scrubbedexpat099

I covered this in a thread you subscribed to.

Actually that link does not say that, the answer is in relation to the specifics of the question.

Which may, or more likely are not the same as the OP's.

Michael

He was asking about over 65 (since his previous thread states he is 67) and and whether he would be eligible for insurance through ACA? The article claims that new immigrants over 65 that are not eligible for Medicare are eligible to purchase insurance through ACA. Therefore it is assumed that if new immigrants over 65 are eligible to purchase ACA, then all immigrants would be eligible but I didn't mention that since it didn't relate to his primary concern.

However I did mention Medicaid eligibility under the new ACA rules since that possibly might affect him if his income is too low and is answered in Question 6 in the following link.

http://www.mdhealthcarereform.org/st...ACA4.19.13.pdf

Federal Medicaid and CHIP are still restricted to a narrower group of legal immigrants (“qualified” immigrants) with a five-year waiting period. Please be aware that the five-year waiting period does not apply to pregnant women or children in Maryland.

I'm not sure where you answered those questions so can you point me to your post?

PetW

Thank you. I very much appreciate all the information offered.
Regarding qualifying income - I receive UK government retirement pension and also a private pension from the UK too. I also teach privately here in the US part time averaging around 15 hours per week. Will my UK pensions be considered as an income under the rules when applying for the new Healthcare ?
Thank you for clarifying the situation "booted out" I fully understand this now although a tiny explanation at the time would have been helpful.
Again, thank you all for your response.

scrubbedexpat099

US taxes on world wide income, so it sounds like you probably will make too much for Medicaid which is a means tested benefit anyway, not good if you still have a sponsor.

My assumption is that eventually they will sort out the web site, one thing trying to do it by phone but phone not so good for comparison shopping and what if scenarios.

Bob

This

christmasoompa

I'm a mod for the Canada forums and move numerous threads a day because people have put them in the wrong place. If I had to explain why I was moving each one it would take 5 times as long! We're all unpaid volunteers that give up our time to try and help, so that's just not realistic I'm afraid.

HTH.

Edit: actually, I just looked at your thread that was moved, and Bob did explain it? Perhaps you missed his post.

Michael

Your situation is a little complicated since you'll be eligible for Medicare in March of 2014 whether by using your ex wife's earnings as a basis for acquiring Medicare or by buying into Medicare due to being a LPR for 5 years.

Medicare is basically equivalent to the Platinum plan but structured slightly different ($1,000 deductible for hospitalization and 0% co-pay for your stay in the hospital and 20% co-pay for out patient care). Therefore if you are eligible to use your ex-wife's earnings to acquire Medicare, you'll only be paying about $100 per month for premiums. If you have to buy in, the cost will be more but since the government averages about $1,300 medical bills per month per Medicare patient, the buy in would probably be less than 40% of the total cost.

If you are eligible for Medicare, you are probably not eligible for health insurance through ACA. Subsidies for ACA are based on worldwide income and once your income exceeds 400% of the poverty level (about $46,000 per year for a single person), there isn't any subsidies and premiums through ACA are expensive for a person at age 67. In order to get the subsidy, ACA will verify your last years income (suspect through your tax filing for 2012), possibly this years income, and the subsidy will increase or decrease when you file future tax returns so you may owed more taxes or get a refund depending upon change in income.

Since you case is complicated, you should probably call a healthcare.gov representative at 1-800-318-2596 to explain your situation and determine the best course of action. That is the number to call since you reside in Florida which is administered by healthcare.gov which is the federal government.

Since traditional Medicare doesn't cover drugs and has some co-pays, you can also purchase governments subsidized Part D (prescription drug plans), "Medicare Supplemental" (also known as MediGap) to cover costs that traditional Medicare doesn't cover, or "Medicare Advantage" which is a private insurance program which may include prescription drug plans and possibly better coverage depending on the costs. You'll still pay the Medicare premiums and the plans may have extra costs on top of that. The Medicare web site has all the different plans for your area.

https://www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan...ions/home.aspx

There are advantages and disadvantages with going with different plans. Traditional Medicare allows you to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare without referrals and there isn't any in or out of network. "Medicare Advantage" is either a PPO or HMO which means you must use in network doctors to get the best co-pays and for HMOs, usually you can only use out of network doctors or hospitals in an emergency. "Medicare Supplemental" which supplements traditional Medicare may have plans that covers you in foreign countries.

PetW

Thank you so much Michael. You have provided a very detailed answer giving me exactly the information I require at this time.
Also thank you to everyone who contributed and helped in answering my question.