Medicaid for Pregant Legal Immigrant in Texas?

[ceresa 3]

My husband got laid off from his job and so our health insurance has stopped. I am a permament resident (been here 8 years) and 5 weeks away from giving birth !!

We applied for Medicaid but got turned down cus the woman from Texas Health & Human Services didn't know what she was doing and put that we are getting much more on Unemployment than we are. After spending days and days to get it corrected we were told the only way to get it corrected was to appeal which will take 60 days ! We logged a complaint and someone called us back today and said yes, the woman had completely messed up our application, but he also said that because I had only been a legal resident for 8 years I can't get Medicaid anyway, but should appeal to get CHIP which will cover our 3 year old and newborn.

Does anyone know if this is correct that Medicaid is only given to legal residents if they have lived here 10 years? - we keep being given different information by different people from Texas Health & Human Services - they need to get their act together.

[Darnell 8,478]

CHiP will cover you. Gotta be adamant when there - if any doubt in the clerk assisting you, ask for the supervisor.

[milimelo 4,236]

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf p45 clearly says you have to have been a resident for 5 years (not 10) to qualify for medicaid.

Contact the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov.

Good luck - hope you sort this out soon!

[ceresa 3]

Thank you so much for the information and link !! ... Amazing that people here know more than the government workers that we have been speaking to on the phone.. every time we ask them a question it's "I dont know the answer to that" or we get different answers.

Thank you

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

~ Moved from Off Topic to General Immigration-Related Discussion- topic is about benefits for immigrants so seems to fit best there ~

[EM_Vandaveer 2,370]

Also for labor&delivery ask for EMERGENCY Meddicaid. Everybody can get it, even illegals. And yes, it counts as an emergency, even if there are no complications. Reason being that childbirth is POTENTIALLY dangerous.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

One way to avoid stress like this is to file for naturalization. If you have been a resident for 8 years, I'd say you had plenty of time to do that already. Procrastination is not a virtue.

[newacct 688]

My husband got laid off from his job and so our health insurance has stopped. I am a permament resident (been here 8 years) and 5 weeks away from giving birth !!

You can continue to get the health insurance he had from his work using COBRA. You would have to pay the premiums though. But it's better than having to buy individual insurance yourself.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/M-618.pdf p45 clearly says you have to have been a resident for 5 years (not 10) to qualify for medicaid.

States can optionally offer Medicaid to pregnant women under other conditions. For example, here in California, special pregnancy Medicaid is available to any resident of California who is pregnant. They could be illegal immigrants, international students, new permanent residents, or whatever; it doesn't matter. I don't know about Texas.

Edited October 3, 2013 by newacct

[EM_Vandaveer 2,370]

In Texas a pregnant permanent resident can get CHIP Perinatal (similar to Pregnancy Medicaid). I know this for a fact as I used it when I was pregnant with my son.

Edited October 4, 2013 by EM_Vandaveer