Pulaski

IIRC they have to wait until they get US citizenship before they are eligible, which means if they are sponsored by anyone other than their spouse they are "on their own" wrt health insurance for the first five years.

doconthemove

but then even then after 5 yrs of non-contribution they can instantly get medicare benefits without ever contributing a penny? seems a bit strange if that is the case!

Giantaxe

No, they are eligible to pay for Medicare after five years:

Can recent immigrants to the United States get health coverage if they’re over 65?

Pulaski

Emigrating to the US as a retiree is "a bit strange" (given the cost of healthcare), if you ask me!

Maybe Robin1234 will chip in, he is knowledgeable about the ins and outs of medicare.

nun

Citizenship or residency doesn't impact your eligibility for Medicare. You can sign up for it as long as you have at least 10 years of Medicare tax payments and meet the age criteria. You will have to pay the premiums and travel to the US to get treatment. I imagine you'll find it almost impossible to get a Medigap or Advantage policy so you'd have to stick with straight traditional Medicare and the associated premiums and deductibles.

doconthemove

I seen quite a few families bring elderly relatives to live long term in the US. Trust me they seem to know a way to 'wing it' and manipulate the system. cost is not an issue. also plenty turning up to the ER with sore throats etc so the potential bill/co-pay or whatever is not deterring anyone from attending thats my impression!

nun

Non-medicare premiums will be high for those over 65, but there could well be subsidies at the state level to offset the cost. However, deductibles will still be expensive. Once eligible for Medicare and Medigap plans the cost of insurance will come down, but there will still be premiums of maybe $150 to $200 per month plus deductibles depending on the supplemental insurance you buy to cover the holes in Medicare. The biggest problem is the number of bills and amount of paperwork that an illness will generate. US health care is good, but it's administration is ridiculously complex and expensive.

robin1234

"Cost is not an issue."

Really?

There's a big difference between having proper healthcare coverage and being forced to use services such as ER when in an emergency.

robin1234

Higher than that, I think.

Part A monthly premium; $407
Part B monthly premium; $104.90

This "bare bones" coverage would leave an out of pocket expenditure estimated to be about $6,000 per year. Or, go for a comprehensive medigap policy costing maybe $600 per month, with Part D to pay for in addition.

So, for someone such as an aged parent who has to pay for their Part A, possible costs of up to approx $12,000 per annum...

Or just wing it and go to ER for free as doconthemove authoritatively suggests.

Pulaski

Someone would pay $600/ mth to avoid an out of pocket expense of $6,000 year?

robin1234

It looks like I was wildly exaggerating. Apparently, Plan F medigap runs somewhere in the range of $200 to $5,700 per annum. The lower end is the high deductible plan F, the high end would be the comprehensive.

In view of this, and as I now live abroad part time, I opted for a $0 premium Medicare Advantage plan that has an annual out of pocket limit of $6,700 IIRC. So all I pay for Medicare is $105 per month.

nun

Part A is free in most cases. So you are left with the Part B and Part D premium and then buying some sort of extra insurance to cover what is not covered by Medicare or to reduce your deductibles. Medigap policies have a range of costs. I picked $100 as a mid range.....so you end up with maybe $200/month in health care premiums. That does not include the costs of co-pays and deductibles which could be in the thousands of dollars per year depending on the type of supplemental plan you buy.

robin1234

Yes, but we were talking in this case about someone who would have to pay for Part A because they didn't qualify by having ten + years of contributions.

nun

The OP has 10 years of payments and if they are over 65 will qualify for Medicare and only have to pay Part B.....being a non-resident might make getting supplemental Medicare insurance difficult and returning to the US for treatment under Medicare covered by just Parts A and B could be very expensive.

If people go to the US after age 65 they will qualify for Medicare after 5 years of US residence, but then they will have to pay for Part A as well as the regular Medicare/Medigap premiums. Prior to that they can get an ACA policy. Depending on their income and state policy they might get state subsidies/tax credits to help pay for the coverage or they might qualify for a Medicaid type plan.

scrubbedexpat099

ACA does not finish at 65 and could be a better option.