State Medical Insurance

[Always+Forever 7]

Ok...I know they don't want us on food stamps, tanf/welfare, etc...but does State Health Insurance count towards one of those "burdens" on the government?? Any help would be greatly appreciated...and I'm talking about my daughter & I being on it.

Thanks,

Monica

[az110965 252]

State sponsored health insurance (ie: Medicaid) is considered a public benefit and therefore a no-no. The petitioner can be held liable for the costs of state paid health care.

Alan

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Ok...I know they don't want us on food stamps, tanf/welfare, etc...but does State Health Insurance count towards one of those "burdens" on the government?? Any help would be greatly appreciated...and I'm talking about my daughter & I being on it.

Thanks,

Monica

I assume you're talking about Medicaid, or some other medical assistance program, and not a subsidized private insurance program like OMIP.

As a US citizen, you are free to take advantage of these programs if you are eligible for them. LPR's are generally prohibited from using these programs until they've been LPR's for some minimum period of time (I believe it's 5 years). If your affidavit of support is still in effect at that time, you could be held liable for reimbursing the government for the costs.

Many government benefit programs depend on your income level in order to qualify to receive them, but that doesn't automatically make them "means tested benefits". A lot depends on where the money comes from to pay for the program. For example, LPR's are eligible to collect unemployment insurance payments or Social Security Disability Insurance payments. Although the payments come from the government, these programs are funded by payments from workers and employers. In other words, you earn the right to apply for them by helping pay for them when you're working. On the other hand, they aren't eligible to collect Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) nor Supplemental Security Income (SSI) until after they've been LPR's for some minimum time, and the I-864 sponsor can be held liable for the costs after that if they do collect from these programs, because these programs are funded by taxpayers. Funding by taxpayers is the "public" part of "public charge".