Hi all, this is a bit of a niche question but I’ll ask anyways:
My elderly parents (mom is 60 and dad is 71) have just moved to the USA and are not eligible for medicare (you’re only eligible if you’ve worked over 40 trimesters in the USA) so I’m wondering what their options are as far as health insurance is concerned. They are not employed at present so employer insurance is not an option.
I live in Florida and my brother lives in California, so these are the two states where they would could sign up, in case that makes any difference.
If you have any non-insurance related advice for them, I’d love to hear it as well. This is not a situation I ever expected to be in but I guess they’re more adventurous than I thought…
And from the Medicare website:
“If you paid Medicare taxes for less than 30 quarters, the standard Part A premium will be $411.00.”
You might be able to find a company who would be willing to offer health insurance to a 71-year-old, but the cost would almost certainly be prohibitive.
They are not citizens. They are newly arrived immigrants with green cards that I applied for years ago. They are not eligible for medicare at all. I’m going to clarify that in the OP.
As noted, private insurance for those near to or past 65 is going to be quite expensive. Since most of retiree age are covered by Medicare, I think you will find the US healthcare system very poor for those not able to qualify.
MediCal (Medicaid in California) will probably be your best hope.
Probably not - we actually looked into this sort of thing a few years back for my husband’s parents and we could not add them as dependents - and this is with both of us working for large companies with fairly progressive benefits packages. I think a decade or two back that was more possible, but now it’s only the employee, spouse/domestic partner, and children up to age 26.
Depending on their income they may as others have noted be able to get subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. Bear in mind, if they are living with either of the children, the value of their housing may be considered as part of their income, which might reduce their subsidy amount. We found that to be the case for other benefits when looking for aid for the in-laws - as we’re providing their housing, the fair-market value of the housing would be considered as if it were income to them, pushing them above the eligibility threshold.
They do need to look into this ASAP - as this year’s “open season” has passed. There are some life events that make it possible to enroll mid-year, but I don’t know the cutoff. If need be, they could force a “life event” by moving from one state to the other.
When we were looking at Medigap policies for informational purposes, I put in our home state (DC metro area) as well as Florida (where the in-laws live) and the rates were dramatically different - much higher in Florida. You may find the same with Florida vs. California though I don’t know which way - Florida (at least southern Fl) has a pretty high percentage of elderly given that it’s such a retirement destination.
Also if they decide which son to “live with”, they should make sure the plan is portable in that if, say, they live with you 6 months and your brother 6, they’re covered in either place.
If your mother (or heck, father) is physically able to work, it may be worth getting at least a part-time job - the income would be nice, she might get access to insurance (even as a part-timer it might be a better deal than the marketplace), she’d get to meet more people, and if she keeps at it she might even make it to Medicare-eligibiltiy.
I looked into it and if they move in with either of us, their household income is too much to qualify, and if they live by themselves and don’t make over 13k a year or something, their income is too low to qualify for subsidies (Huh? That’s kind of messed up…).
They both want to work. My dad is allergic to retirement and would like to start a business (he has a background in agriculture and banking) but his english is not as good as my mother’s (who was an english teacher) but I am loathe to see them uninsured in the interim.
It sure is. A friend received a subsidy for insurance through the ACA because her income was quite low due to a partial year of unemployment. The following year, had she not found a job, would have rendered her ineligible for any aid whatsoever, as she was in a state that decided the utterly destitute were not entitled to anything (i.e. no Medicaid expansion).
Keep checking though: is it really the household income, or can you do something with figuring out the fair market value of what you’d charge for rent, and have THAT counted as income? No clue here, just hoping there’s a way.
but I guess they’re more adventurous than I thought…