Medical assistance for our baby

[KittyPollitt 284]

Hi all,

My fiance has his interview at the end of this month, and we are planning for when he arrives in the States. I have been living with him in his country for the past 4 months, as we have a 7 month old daughter together and I didn't want them separated. The issue I'm asking about is healthcare. As we all know, it's damn expensive, and during my pregnancy, I qualified for medical assistance, as I've never held a job that's offered affordable healthcare. When we return to America, I'm not so much concerned with securing health insurance for myself or my husband right away, but our daughter needs it. My question is this- my state has mandated eligibility for all children under the age of 18 for reduced cost healthcare through social services. But in order for us to apply, both legal parents names must be on the forms. I want to be very careful that I don't use any means tested benefits in his name. Would getting medical assistance for our baby be considered a means tested benefit for him? I've tried to ask social services in my state, but they're inept.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Sarah

[milimelo 4,205]

Hi all,

My fiance has his interview at the end of this month, and we are planning for when he arrives in the States. I have been living with him in his country for the past 4 months, as we have a 7 month old daughter together and I didn't want them separated. The issue I'm asking about is healthcare. As we all know, it's damn expensive, and during my pregnancy, I qualified for medical assistance, as I've never held a job that's offered affordable healthcare. When we return to America, I'm not so much concerned with securing health insurance for myself or my husband right away, but our daughter needs it. My question is this- my state has mandated eligibility for all children under the age of 18 for reduced cost healthcare through social services. But in order for us to apply, both legal parents names must be on the forms. I want to be very careful that I don't use any means tested benefits in his name. Would getting medical assistance for our baby be considered a means tested benefit for him? I've tried to ask social services in my state, but they're inept.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Sarah

You're good to go. Your child will be covered under State insurance for children and since the child is a USC there's no issues. Your husband's info may be used to calculate the income but it's not a means tested benefit as he is not the one using the insurance, it's for the USC child. They may even choose to exlude him from the household number if he doesn't qualify for assistance.

[KittyPollitt 284]

You're good to go. Your child will be covered under State insurance for children and since the child is a USC there's no issues. Your husband's info may be used to calculate the income but it's not a means tested benefit as he is not the one using the insurance, it's for the USC child. They may even choose to exlude him from the household number if he doesn't qualify for assistance.

Yay! Thank you!

[DeniseBill 4]

Try applying for Husky. They'll go by your income. (that will decide if u have to pay monthly or nothing) and will be insurance for your child and for you as a US Citizen. They gave me all that information when I was pregnant. I can't tell you how it all went because of a miscarriage but you can apply. The baby is US Citizen by birth so no problems for the non-usc

Good luck ^^

[hala_amira 1]

I think your child will automatically be accepted for health care since being a US citizen. The only thing to make sure is that after you get married and you are applying for the green card its not good to have anyone on assistance. When we were applying for my husband in 2006 that was one of the questions my lawyer asked. She said that it would be best not to be on any from of assitance. She did say that health care is not as big as other forms of assitance but can be used against you showing "burden". Even if the assitance was for the child, because the father of the child is still considerd responsible. Again, it could be different for each case, I think or lawyer was just playing it safe and making sure to have less red flags.

[hala_amira 1]

I forgot to mention that I did have our daughter on medical assitance for 1 year after she was born. ( I was a full-time student and my health care under my parents ended on my 21st birthday! And I was pregnant in Oct. and my 21st was in Nov..did not know.) My husband(which at the time we were not married)did sign the birth certificate. He also had no status at the time, so no social security was on it either. Again my lawyer said it was fine that our daughter had been on medical assitance for a short while, but didn't want ANYONE of us on any assistance while filing for anything. She said the worst is to be on any form of housing assistance or things like that.